47 replies to this topic

[KrisJot]

Hi All,

 

I'm newbie, I'm starting with astrophotography. I'm looking for filter for nebulas. I thought about Optolong L-Enhance but I'm curious of what are Your suggestions.

My rig: TSA120 with 0.8x reducer + ASI 533MC PRO.

 

 

Kris

[Skysmacker]

L-Enhace is a good affordable one. Search the classifieds here and you will likely find one.

 

L-Extreme is similar but narrower bandpass (7nm vs something like 12nm for the enhance).

 

Antlia Golden filter is similar but even narrower at 5nm and gets very good reviews.

 

There are a few others out there but these are very popular and a lot of us use one or more of these with OSC.

 

If you are in a light polluted area, get the narrowest band pass you can afford. It will significantly help in those situations.

 

If nothing else, these are good to consider and hopefully you will find something that works for you!

 

Clear skies!

[bobzeq25]

Try the LEnhance.  I think you'll like it a lot.  Many do.

 

It's part of the class of duoband filters.  Many people have different favorites in that class.  So, they'll post a recommendation for their favorite.  Nothing wrong with reading those, but ignore any suggestion that they have THE answer.  There are pros and cons for each, and different people will like different ones.

 

Pick the duoband you like, they're all pretty good.  Hard to make a big mistake.

 

Personally I use an NBZ because it was pretty much designed for my RASA.

[KrisJot]

Hi,

 

Thx for reply. I forgot to add, that my sky is ~4.5 Bortle.

@bobzeq25, sorry for silly question, what does NBZ mean?

 

 

Kris

Edited by KrisJot, 25 September 2023 - 06:47 PM.

[DirtyRod]

Agree with Bob in that they all work well. I use the Enhance, Extreme, and Ultimate and I like the enhance on targets with lots of subtle hues like the Eagle and Seagull or if there is any Hb present. The Extreme has more contrast so I think it’s best on high contrast targets like the Veil. The Ultimate is great when the target is getting close to a bright moon. Lots of examples in my gallery.

[arbit]

One additional point.

All the above are good for emission nebulae. Not so much for reflection nebulae.

Eg, if you image Trifid or even Orion with a dual band, you should get nice detail on the Ha (red) areas, but very little, if any, on the reflection (blue) areas.

For reflection nebulae, if you are in B4/5, you can try just a UVIR cut. If you have any non LED street lights around, something like an LPro can help.

Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

[Robert7980]

The IDAS NBZ is nice, high quality made in Japan… That’s what I use with my OSC camera… 

 

These are with the NBZ “Nebula Booster” dual band… IDAS is the company NBZ is the name of the filter… 

 

 

This was one of the 1st images I took with it so it’s edited poorly and not a very good image, but it shows how it does on stars like Alnitak, famous for being a very difficult star to image as it’s incredibly bright…

 

Edited by Robert7980, 25 September 2023 - 11:08 PM.

[bobzeq25]

 

@bobzeq25, what does NBZ mean?

 

 

 

https://astrohutech....la-booster-nbx/

 

Click on the product page link for the bandpass graph.  If you're buying any filter, you want to look at that.

Edited by bobzeq25, 26 September 2023 - 02:06 AM.

[mjanzou]

https://astrohutech....la-booster-nbx/

 

Click on the product page link for the bandpass graph.  If you're buying any filter, you want to look at that.

+1, The NBZ would be my preference to the LExtreme in the $300-ish cost category.

 

However, if your leaning towards the LEnhance, you should consider the zwo DUO filter which has the same bandpass specs at $150 (2-inch).

 

I do know my DUO works great and have not experienced any star halo issues.

[jml79]

Budget but decent - ZWO or SVBony Dual 7nm filters. Personally I don't think the older L-Extreme outperforms these newer, lower cost filters. But I also don't want a flame war so I shouldn't say that.

 

Under good skies (less than B6) I also really like the IDAS NBZ. It has a 12nm bandpass vs the more popular 7nm but it is completely halo free and a little bit faster than narrower filters.

 

I often recommend the Astronomik L3 UV/IR, especially if you have a doublet but I would hope your scope doesn't need the tighter blue cut off that many do.

[chvvkumar]

Hi All,

 

I'm newbie, I'm starting with astrophotography. I'm looking for filter for nebulas. I thought about Optolong L-Enhance but I'm curious of what are Your suggestions.

My rig: TSA120 with 0.8x reducer + ASI 533MC PRO.

 

 

Kris

I just posted this comparision here:

https://www.cloudyni...nd-first-light/

 

I also use the ASI533 but with an 80mm doublet.

[jml79]

I just posted this comparision here:

https://www.cloudyni...nd-first-light/

 

I also use the ASI533 but with an 80mm doublet.

I stand corrected. The ZWO is not a 7nm but much wider at 35nm/15nm. The SVBony SV220 is a dual 7nm filter below $200

[chvvkumar]

I unforunately have halos with my ZWO duoband:

 

https://www.cloudyni...th-a-refractor/

[danny1976]

I just started to use the L-Ultimate and I am surprised about the lack of gradients, even when the moon is out. 

 

With your relatively slow optics I can highly recommend it. If you go faster than F4 I would look somewhere else, the L-eXtreme v2 or Antlia ALP-T high speed version.

[Aquawind]

I unforunately have halos with my ZWO duoband:

 

https://www.cloudyni...th-a-refractor/

Same. I do not like my stars with that filter. 

[TDPerry]

I went with an L-Extreme... but my processing doesn't do it justice.  It was a little more, but I figured I also did not need the L-Ulitmate since I mainly shoot in Bortle 5 or less area (usually 3-4).

This is a whole 23 minutes of data and the smoke from fires was bad in the sky during the capture.

 

 

This image is quite a bit more data acquisition with the same kit (I would have put it inline in the post but the image is large and this version of IPS doens't have the ability to resize the image in the editor easily)...

Edited by TDPerry, 27 September 2023 - 04:31 AM.

[KrisJot]

Hi All,

thx for sharing Your thoughts. For now I choose four potential candidates:
- Optolong L-Enhance;
- IDAS NBZ;
- Antlia ALP-T;
- SVB DuoBand.

To be honest I still have some concerns. In example some people reports white balance issue with Optolong LEnhance or that current version of NBZ is passing through some partial light waves mess where it shouldn't (between major transmision lines). Fortunately they are not so too intensive but they are.

Kris

[arbit]

Hi All,

thx for sharing Your thoughts. For now I choose four potential candidates:
- Optolong L-Enhance;
- IDAS NBZ;
- Antlia ALP-T;
- SVB DuoBand.

To be honest I still have some concerns. In example some people reports white balance issue with Optolong LEnhance or that current version of NBZ is passing through some partial light waves mess where it shouldn't (between major transmision lines). Fortunately they are not so too intensive but they are.

Kris

Kris, just checking again that you are looking for emission nebulae only?

Dual band filters will not give a good result on reflection (blue) or dark nebulae.

For dual band filters, white balance is really not relevant, imo.

Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

[KrisJot]

Kris, just checking again that you are looking for emission nebulae only?

Dual band filters will not give a good result on reflection (blue) or dark nebulae.

For dual band filters, white balance is really not relevant, imo.

Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

Hi Arbit, the best option for me would be to buy one filter for all types of nebulas (emission, reflection or dark), but probably not possible to achive. I suppose for each nebula types may be required different filter due to different spectrum in which we can digitally register their cosmic beauty :-).

 

Kris
 

[arbit]

Hi Arbit, the best option for me would be to buy one filter for all types of nebulas (emission, reflection or dark), but probably not possible to achive. I suppose for each nebula types may be required different filter due to different spectrum in which we can digitally register their cosmic beauty :-).

Kris

It's difficult, but there are some options, all with some tradeoffs.

You can use the duoband filters suggested above for the Ha/O3. Then image the same area with just a UVIR cut or a broadband filter like LPro (if needed). Then merge the two in processing. This is cheaper, but needs more imaging time.

Another option is to take a look at the Antlia Triband filter, which passes blue, green and red. I haven't used it myself, but there are good reports. It's expensive but then imaging time needed is less than the option above. I dont think this will work well for dark though - not really sure.

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[KrisJot]

This Antlia Triband RGB looks interesting.
Are IDAS DTD B& GNB similar ones?
Did some one of You have any experience with those filters?
How did those triband filters working comparing to dual band ones (in the matter of contrast, exposure time, white balance, etc)?

Edited by KrisJot, 28 September 2023 - 05:17 AM.

[AhBok]

For someone just starting out on a budget, the ZWO Duoband is not a bad option. For even lower cost, the 1.25” version works well with the 533MC. It is susceptible to haloes (as are some other more expensive options.) That said, options such as the NBZ and L-Extreme are superior products for experienced imagers.

 

Here is an example, however, of my ASI533MC Pro and ZWO 1.25” Duoband on the Wizard.

 

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[jml79]

One filter to do it all doesn’t exist. If it did they would just put it on the camera. 
 

What you need - UV/IR filter. I haven’t found a bad one but I have found « better » ones. I have an SVBony, ZWO and Astronomik L3. They all work just fine without issue. Used for broad band targets. 

 

What most people have - Some sort of dual NB filter like discussed here. Used for émission nebulas. 
 

Optional - Some form of light pollution filter. These are debated and vary from a very mild CLS to a UHC. I have not had great luck, you need a photography specific one and the right bandpasses. The L-Pro seems to be a very good choice but I haven’t tried it. Like many, I gave up using them and just use an UV/IR plus gradient extraction. 
 

So if you ignore the LP filter like many do, a UV/IR only costs between $25-$100. Then it’s whatever you can afford for the NB. Most people only use these 2 filters. Some buy an inexpensive Sii filter like the SVBony and others buy a second expensive Sii-Oiii filter that have come out recently but only if they want to shoot true SHO. 

[chvvkumar]

This Antlia Triband RGB looks interesting.
Are IDAS DTD B& GNB similar ones?
Did some one of You have any experience with those filters?
How did those triband filters working comparing to dual band ones (in the matter of contrast, exposure time, white balance, etc)?

From my research when I was buying the ZWO duoband, the tri-band ones don't offer an increased performance proportional to the price they command (like the triad). At that price, I'd rather go mono. With a triband, Hb and Oiii are mixed in so I am not sure how the extra band will be useful in editing.

[KrisJot]

Ok, that sound logical. Better to choose dedicated filters for emission nebulas(like Dualband) and second one like LPro for broadband DS objects. Fortunately this one I've. I t looks that in my case for now I need to buy the only first one.

Edited by KrisJot, 28 September 2023 - 10:32 AM.