Are the Laida HSO 5nm filters any good?

For the money, yes. In my comparison the centre of the Ha frame was sharp and my colour images came out well, but bright stars show halos and the frames were the noisiest of the five sets.

Why do the Laida filters show star halos?

In my test the halos sat off-centre, which I put down to using 1.25 inch filters in front of an APS-C sensor. I removed them in PixInsight by separating the stars with StarXTerminator and touching up the halo.

Can I use 1.25 inch filters with an APS-C camera?

With care. On my ASI2600MM Pro the corners vignetted; 20 flats fixed most of it on the North America Nebula, but the Dumbbell, shot close to dawn, still shows it.

How is the brand spelled?

Laida: the filters and boxes say LAIDA. The boxes give the model as DA1100, 1.25 inch, 5 nm FWHM.

Where can I buy the Laida filters?

On AliExpress. The link I use opens the brand's 2 inch listing (the SHO set or single filters); my own set is the 1.25 inch version.

The Scorpio 3 nm set beat the Laida in my comparison and showed no halos, but it is 2 inch and costs several times more. For a 1.25 inch wheel the Laida is the cheaper way in.

What have I not tested on the Laida set?

I have not measured the transmission or bandpass, and I have not tried these 1.25 inch filters on a small sensor that matches their size.

Laida HSO 5nm review: budget 1.25 inch narrowband filters

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 13 filters on my board, against price
Rank	Filter	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	Scorpio HSO 3nm	100 out of 100	£448
2	Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″	94 out of 100	£154
3	SVBONY SV220 Ha OIII 3nm	92 out of 100	£249
4	Altair LRGB	79 out of 100	£240
5	Altair HSO 6.5nm/7nm Narrowband	76 out of 100	£475
7	Antlia 2.5nm HSO	75 out of 100	£1,740
9	Altair Solar Contrast Booster Filter	73 out of 100	£80
12	Optolong L-Ultimate Dual-Bandpass 3nm	43 out of 100	£216
13	ZWO HSO 7nm Narrowband	32 out of 100	£734

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 The same target through each filter
04 In use
05 How good is it? Here's what I captured
06 Raw against finished
07 What is it for
08 In my words
09 Watch the review
10 Should you buy it?
11 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 94/100

Reviewed 19 May 2026 Updated 25 Sep 2026

Rank: #2 of 13 filters
Verdict: Damon's pick

Written by Damon Scotting 6 min read

Buy it if

You have a 1.25 inch filter wheel and a mono camera with a small sensor.
You want to try narrowband for the least money.
You are happy to remove star halos in processing.

Skip it if

Your camera is APS-C or larger: 1.25 inch filters vignette and halo off-centre on it.
You image bright stars and want no halos straight from the stack.
You want a UK or US dealer rather than AliExpress.

“I'm happy to vouch for these filters: they offer real value, especially at this price.”

AliExpress £154 Ad

Specifications and features

Against the filters I have reviewed

Compare with

Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″ reviewed #2 of 13	Scorpio HSO 3nm #1 of 13	Antlia 2.5nm HSO #7 of 13	Altair HSO 6.5nm/7nm Narrowband #5 of 13	ZWO HSO 7nm Narrowband #13 of 13
Recorded UK price	£154	£448	£1,740	£475	£734
Stars for Your Buck	94/100	100/100	75/100	76/100	32/100
Type	Narrowband imaging filters, a set of three	Narrowband imaging filters, a set of three	Narrowband imaging filters, a set of three (Ultra series)	Narrowband set: SII, Ha and OIII filters	Narrowband set: Ha, SII and OIII filters
Bandpass	5 nm FWHM	3 nm	2.5 nm FWHM (+0.3/-0.1 nm)	Ha 7 nm; SII and OIII 6.5 nm	7 nm each, tolerance ±0.5
Lines passed	Ha, SII, OIII	Ha, SII, OIII	Ha 656.3 nm, SII 671.6 and 673.1 nm, OIII 500.7 nm	Ha, SII and OIII	Ha 656 nm, SII 672 nm, OIII 500 nm
Peak transmission	not recorded	not recorded	95% or more (Ha, SII); 92% or more (OIII)	not recorded	About 90% at each line
Sizes	1.25 inch (mine, model DA1100); a 2 inch set is also listed	2 inch mounted, D50 (mine); a 36 mm set is also listed	2 inch mounted, M48 x 0.75 (mine); 36 mm unmounted also sold	2 inch	1.25 inch, 2 inch, 31 mm and 36 mm
Thickness	not recorded	not recorded	2 mm (+/- 0.05 mm)	1 mm BK7 glass	2.0 mm (1.25 inch, 31 mm and 36 mm)
Coating	not recorded	not recorded	Quartz glass coated to the edge; OD5 out-of-band blocking	UV/IR blocking and anti-reflection coatings	IR cut from 700 to 1,100 nm; off-band OD3
In the box	Ha, SII and OIII filters, each in its own box	Ha, SII and OIII filters, each in its own case	Ha, SII and OIII filters, each with its measured transmission and blocking data	SII, Ha and OIII filters, each in a sealed case	Ha, SII and OIII filters

The same target through each filter

The Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″ against four other filters on North America, Sadr and Owl, one telescope and one camera, star-aligned

Against

⇔

Scorpio HSO 3nm Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″ North America drag

North America (emission nebula) · Askar SQA106, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, ZWO AM3N · Ha only · Bortle 6.8 (in my garden) Left: Scorpio HSO 3nm, 15 min (5 x 180 s) Right: Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″, 15 min (5 x 180 s)

On the Scorpio HSO 3nm

“The Scorpio filter has even smaller and tighter stars while still making the nebulosity feel abundant. That is a clear and obvious improvement over both of the 7 nanometer filters.”

From my filter comparison video

On the Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″

“Star haloing. And perhaps even more worrying is that the haloing is off-centred.”

From my filter comparison video

Read my review of the Scorpio HSO 3nm

North America: Askar SQA106, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, ZWO AM3N, Bortle 6.8 (in my garden); Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″ 15 min (5 x 180 s); Altair HSO 6.5nm/7nm Narrowband 15 min (5 x 180 s); Scorpio HSO 3nm 15 min (5 x 180 s); Antlia 2.5nm HSO 15 min (5 x 180 s); ZWO HSO 7nm Narrowband 15 min (5 x 180 s)
Sadr: Askar SQA106, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, ZWO AM3N, Bortle 6.8 (in my garden); Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″ 15 min (5 x 180 s); Altair HSO 6.5nm/7nm Narrowband 15 min (5 x 180 s); Scorpio HSO 3nm 15 min (5 x 180 s); Antlia 2.5nm HSO 15 min (5 x 180 s); ZWO HSO 7nm Narrowband 15 min (5 x 180 s)
Owl: Askar SQA106, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, ZWO AM3N, Bortle 6.8 (in my garden); Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″ 15 min (5 x 180 s); Altair HSO 6.5nm/7nm Narrowband 15 min (5 x 180 s); Scorpio HSO 3nm 15 min (5 x 180 s); Antlia 2.5nm HSO 15 min (5 x 180 s)

In use

Ha, SII and OIII, 1.25 inch

The boxes: DA1100, 5 nm FWHM

Beside the 2 inch Altair set

In the filter wheel behind the Askar SQA106

The five sets I compared

Mine, on camera

How good is it? Here's what I captured

Three targets

Elephant's Trunk, ASI2600MM Pro, Laida 5 nm

Integration: 1 h 30 min (30 x 180 s)
Field: 2.67 x 1.78 degrees
Telescope: Askar SQA106
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Mount: ZWO AM3N
Target: IC 1396 Elephant's Trunk Nebula
Type: Emission nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

NGC 7000, ASI2600MM Pro, Laida 5 nm

Integration: 1 h 30 min (30 x 180 s)
Field: 2.67 x 1.78 degrees
Telescope: Askar SQA106
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Mount: ZWO AM3N
Target: NGC 7000 North America Nebula
Type: Emission nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

M 27, ASI2600MM Pro, Laida 5 nm

Integration: 45 min (15 x 180 s)
Field: 2.67 x 1.78 degrees
Telescope: Askar SQA106
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Mount: ZWO AM3N
Target: M 27 Dumbbell Nebula
Type: Planetary nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

Raw against finished

What is it for

The 3 targets, the raw combined stack against my finished image, each with its integration, the camera and the palette:

IC 1396 Elephant's Trunk Nebula: 1 h 30 min (30 x 180 s) of light, ASI2600MM Pro, Laida 5 nm Ha, SII, OIII (1.25 inch), the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
NGC 7000 North America Nebula: 1 h 30 min (30 x 180 s) of light, ASI2600MM Pro, Laida 5 nm Ha, SII, OIII (1.25 inch), the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
M 27 Dumbbell Nebula: 45 min (15 x 180 s) of light, ASI2600MM Pro, Laida 5 nm Ha, SII, OIII (1.25 inch), the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch

Two things it is for

Fixing the halos

We reduced the vignetting by taking flats, and now we're going to remove the star haloing by separating the stars and the nebula with the StarXTerminator tool in PixInsight. With the two separated, I fixed the halo with the blemish tool, and you wouldn't even know it was there.

The Dumbbell's outer wings

Those of you who have shot the Dumbbell Nebula before in colour will know that you can't quite capture these outward-stretching wings of nebulosity, but it is so much easier to do when imaging in narrowband.

In my words

“I think it's nice. The colours are decent. The nebulosity is very sharp and clear.”

From my video review

“It's practically a deal breaker for most astrophotographers, and that is the star haloing.”

From my video review

“The Laida filters put up a good fight. I won't be scoring them harshly on the corner vignetting since they are just 1.25 inch filters, but the star haloing and the general noisiness make this our lowest rated images of the set.”

From my filter comparison video

Watch the review

I Bought £58 Astrophotography Filters, Here's What Happened · published 19 May 2026 · 7:48 · Watch on YouTube · 3,373 views, 208 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

0:21 Tonight's rig, SQA106 + ASI 2600MM
0:46 North America Nebula raw stack
1:11 The elephant in the room, star halos
1:31 Fixing halos with StarXTerminator
2:08 Final North America Nebula reveal
2:41 Elephant Trunk Nebula raw stack
3:25 Cropping and finishing the Elephant Trunk
5:23 Dumbbell Nebula, my favourite shot

Transcript of the review video 718 words · 7 chapters · searchable

Press a time stamp to play from there.

0:21 Tonight's rig, SQA106 + ASI 2600MM

0:21 Okay, so here's my rig for tonight. 0:21 Spoiler alert, it's an absolute beast. 0:26 As far as backyard setups go, this is amongst the very best. 0:29 We have an Askar SQA106, partnered with an ASI 2600 monochrome. 0:34 Together, they are capable of producing some incredibly beautiful shots. 0:38 But the last remaining important factor is, of course, the quality of the filters used. 0:43 So let's see how these £58 filters fare against the North America Nebula.

0:46 North America Nebula raw stack

0:47 Here is the raw stacked 1 hour 30 minute image. 0:51 This combines 10 times 3 minute stacks of images captured with each of the Hydrogen Alpha, Sulfur 2 and Oxygen 3 filters. 0:58 I also captured 20 flats, stacked them and applied them to this image, leading to the corners looking, at first glance at the very least, pretty good. 1:06 Applying NoiseX and BlurX to the image leads to the nebulosity and stars looking sharper and cleaner.

1:11 The elephant in the room, star halos

1:12 But let's be honest, there is one hell of an elephant in this room. 1:16 It's practically a deal breaker for most astrophotographers, and that is the star haloing. 1:21 Sheesh, look at that. 1:21 It's even off-centred. 1:24 You can make arguments that a lot of the issues with the images captured with these filters are simply due to the larger than allowed camera sensor being used.

1:31 Fixing halos with StarXTerminator

1:31 But hey, that's nothing we can't fix. 1:33 We reduced the vignetting by taking flats, and now we're going to remove the star haloing by separating the stars and the nebula with the StarXTerminator tool in PixInsight. 1:42 Please be advised that that tool alone costs more than the filter set does. 1:46 But with the two separated, I actually now just fixed a halo with the blemish tool, and you wouldn't even know it was there. 1:52 This is what you'd call a cosmetic level edit. 1:54 It doesn't detract from how the deep sky object really looks, so generally it's okay. 1:59 No one's going to throw you into astrophotographer jail for it. 2:02 Then we blend the two together, have a play around with the levels and colours, and voila, the North America Nebula.

2:08 Final North America Nebula reveal

2:08 Wow. 2:09 Can you believe I captured this with nothing more than a set of 58-pound filters? 2:13 I should make a third tier to this meme where I include an enormous amount of fat and add PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurX, NoiseX, and StarX. 2:23 I think it's nice. 2:24 The colours are decent. 2:25 The nebulosity is very sharp and clear. 2:27 Yeah, seriously, if you compare this image with the one that I captured with the 800-pound ZWO filter set beneath some of the best skies in the world on the edge of a volcano, then you certainly wouldn't think that these were less than 10% the cost of those filters. 2:40 Anyway, same again, one hour, 30 minutes worth of stacked images, leading to this raw image of the Elephant Trunk Nebula.

2:41 Elephant Trunk Nebula raw stack

2:46 I think the vignetting is becoming a bit more apparent here in this image. 2:49 Also, no idea where that is here. 2:51 Maybe a light leak. 2:52 Perhaps someone in the comments can highlight what this discrepancy likely is. 2:56 I've applied the same level of NoiseX and BlurX here, and I'm certain the effects appear minuscule when viewed via this video. 3:02 But nevertheless, they improve the sharpness and clarity of the shot. 3:06 You can really see the effects of the vignetting now that I've isolated the nebulosity from the stars. 3:11 I think I am going to fix this disco light in the top left-hand corner, and hopefully it won't affect the final image too much. 3:17 Fortunately, there's no issues in the star image. 3:19 Alright, what do we think of that? 3:21 I think it will look significantly better if I crop the edges a little bit and rotate it to be portrait.

3:25 Cropping and finishing the Elephant Trunk

3:26 Yeah, so how's that? 3:27 Is it worthy of being in an art exhibit? 3:29 Yeah, maybe not. 3:30 By themselves, the camera and telescope cannot produce images this vibrant. 3:35 They would strictly be black and white. 3:36 The nebulosity would also not be isolated anywhere near as well as it is being done here. 3:42 So the fact that you can go from black and white mere to vibrant works of art like this for as little as £58 is very impressive. 3:49 I decided to Google and see how much the cheapest set of narrowband filters are on the market right now.

Check out more videos on the Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″

£58 vs £1369 Filters, Can You Tell the Difference?

18 May 2026

Should you buy it?

94/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

5 nm filters where most budget sets are 7 nm.
Sharp in the centre of the frame, with good colour in my Hubble-palette images.
A full Ha, SII and OIII set for a fraction of the price of the others in my comparison.
My North America, Elephant's Trunk and Dumbbell nebulae each took 45 to 90 minutes through this set.

Cons

Halos around bright stars, off-centre on my APS-C sensor.
At 1.25 inch the corners of an APS-C sensor vignette; flats fixed most of it.
The noisiest Ha frames of the five sets I compared.
The listing I link to sells the 2 inch version; my set is the 1.25 inch one.

I think the Laida is a must-have as a cheap handy set.

Who the Laida set is for

Small-sensor mono camera

Buy

The 1.25 inch size suits a small sensor, and it costs far less than any other set I tested.

Narrowband on a tight budget

Buy

The cheapest way I have found into Ha, SII and OIII imaging.

PixInsight user

Buy

The halos come out with StarXTerminator and a blemish touch-up, as on my North America Nebula.

APS-C or full-frame mono camera

Skip

My recommendation is the Scorpio HSO 3nm: 2 inch, 3 nm and no star halos in my test.

Wants halo-free stars from the stack

Skip

My recommendation is the Antlia 2.5nm HSO if budget allows.

Colour camera owner

Skip

My recommendation is the SVBONY SV220, a 3 nm dual-band filter for colour cameras.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Seven questions, answered

Questions about the Laida HSO 5nm 1.25″

Reviewed 19 May 2026 ·Updated 25 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

Are the Laida HSO 5nm filters any good? For the money, yes. In my comparison the centre of the Ha frame was sharp and my colour images came out well, but bright stars show halos and the frames were the noisiest of the five sets. The same target through each filter ↓
Why do the Laida filters show star halos? In my test the halos sat off-centre, which I put down to using 1.25 inch filters in front of an APS-C sensor. I removed them in PixInsight by separating the stars with StarXTerminator and touching up the halo. What is it for ↓
Can I use 1.25 inch filters with an APS-C camera? With care. On my ASI2600MM Pro the corners vignetted; 20 flats fixed most of it on the North America Nebula, but the Dumbbell, shot close to dawn, still shows it. The raw stacks against the finished images ↓
How is the brand spelled? Laida: the filters and boxes say LAIDA. The boxes give the model as DA1100, 1.25 inch, 5 nm FWHM. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Where can I buy the Laida filters? On AliExpress. The link I use opens the brand's 2 inch listing (the SHO set or single filters); my own set is the 1.25 inch version. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
Laida or Scorpio? The Scorpio 3 nm set beat the Laida in my comparison and showed no halos, but it is 2 inch and costs several times more. For a 1.25 inch wheel the Laida is the cheaper way in. The same target through each filter ↓
What have I not tested on the Laida set? I have not measured the transmission or bandpass, and I have not tried these 1.25 inch filters on a small sensor that matches their size.