I have a lot of optical filters for my camera, including an on-the-lens, full kaleidoscope filter. That kind—the kind that screws onto the lens—is very convenient, but it's a little restrictive. Also, the full kaleidoscope is a "Pow!", in-your-face effect, so its range for effective pictures is limited.

This half-kaleidoscope, handheld filter misses the convenience of an on-lens filter, but you get the benefits on the other side. You can easily alter the tilt angle for slightly different effects, the handle makes it easier to hold than an on-lens filter, and the half-kaleidoscope isn't really *subtle*, but it's subtler than the full kaleidoscope, so it's easier for the picture not to be all about the kaleidoscope. On the other hand, if you want to, you can always crop to fill the frame with the effect.

I've always enjoyed the K&F Concept filters, and this one seems to be well constructed, too. There are screw threads in the handle because some handheld filters also come with a post you can screw into it, so you can hold it like opera glasses. But I haven't found that to be particularly easy or helpful, so I don't really care that the post isn't included.

100 mm is pretty big, especially since interchangeable lenses are often around 67 mm outer diameter for mirrorless/DLSR cameras. But I think that allows you to get around 2.5 extra versions of a subject without covering half the frame in their multiples. So again, I think that helps on the subtlety side.

I included samples with my iPhone SE's single camera and my Sony A74 mirrorless camera with an 85 mm lens so you can see that you shouldn't expect this to work well with a cell phone camera. But I played around with it for some dog portraits and had some fun.

A bit of advice, though, whenever you're using these weird filters. If you are photographing something that's happening once and you really need to get it right the first time, these filters are tricky, so you shouldn't use them. If you can take multiple shots, then feel free to make *some* of them attempts at artistic fun, so you have a chance at making something unusually cool. But try to remember not to overuse it, because it can quickly get gimmicky and you'll be mad at yourself in the editing room if every shot has the same effect!