OSC imaging with L-Ultimate, L-eNHanced

Get an SII filter and do SHO. Combining the l-ultimate with SII filter works reasonably well with the 533MC. That gives you a lot more options on color in your images without adding a lot of cost.

Bill Blanshan's Narrowband Normalization process is fantastic.

Alonso Uribe:
Hello all,

First and foremost, I apologize for this newbie question that perhaps has been answered many times before.


I own the ASi533MC along with a few filters, L-Ultimate and L-eNHanced, I mostly image DSO, Nebulae specially, and I want to bring out more blue colors into my images.

What would be the best way to accomplish this? 

I usually separate RGB in PI, create color masks, adjusting curves and work around that. Is this the only way possible for my current equipment?

Normally I process my images with about 12-14hrs of data, not sure if increasing this would help to bring more of the blue I am looking for.

I haven't tried it myself yet, but the new Optolong L-Quad filter supposedly brings out much more blue than the other filters.

Thank you so much to all for your replies. Already placed an order for some new filters and will definitely try out the unlinked stretch!

Arnie:

Alonso Uribe:
Hello all,

First and foremost, I apologize for this newbie question that perhaps has been answered many times before.


I own the ASi533MC along with a few filters, L-Ultimate and L-eNHanced, I mostly image DSO, Nebulae specially, and I want to bring out more blue colors into my images.

What would be the best way to accomplish this? 

I usually separate RGB in PI, create color masks, adjusting curves and work around that. Is this the only way possible for my current equipment?

Normally I process my images with about 12-14hrs of data, not sure if increasing this would help to bring more of the blue I am looking for.

I haven't tried it myself yet, but the new Optolong L-Quad filter supposedly brings out much more blue than the other filters.

I havev the L-Quad and it does bring out blues with a little help. Im new at this so you all can probably do a better job. This was my first successful imagining session with the L Quad, Im still learning the processing of DSOs.

 

Alonso Uribe:
Thank you so much to all for your replies. Already placed an order for some new filters and will definitely try out the unlinked stretch!

Wich filters did you order, just out of curiosity ?

I went with the same brand I've been using, Optolong, S-II and also an O-III

Alonso Uribe:

Alonso Uribe:
Thank you so much to all for your replies. Already placed an order for some new filters and will definitely try out the unlinked stretch!

Wich filters did you order, just out of curiosity ?

I went with the same brand I've been using, Optolong, S-II and also an O-III

I very strongly advise you cancel your orders if you have chosen individuals oiii and sii filters. These are made for monochrome cameras ! As color camera users, we have to go with the duo narrowband ones. For example, the Ultimate is a Ha/oiii filter, then you have to use a sii/oiii for the second one !
Some references : askar color magic D2 (or the cheaper C2), i think Altair is making one too, i dont know for other brands. You will struggle with the ones you ordered, its a common mistake and maybe the previous answers were not clear enough, sorry for that.

That's just not correct. Any narrowband filter can be used for OSC, whether it's dual or single. Choosing a dual band, you can make use of the OSC Bayer array (mind the channel mixing!), and if you use a single narrow band filter you should consider that you probably can only utilize one of the 3 color channels. 

I would strongly suggest to get a single SII filter and not mixed SII filter.

Ahh dang it! I am so confused guys!

So if I use mostly the L-Ultimate I should pair it with a S-II only or S-II/O-III but doing this will get me twice the O-III ??

Anyone know any good tutorials I can study in detail to make a better choice? 

I already canceled the order until I have a better understanding 

D. Jung:
It's complicated 😬

The Dual narrowband filters for OSC are great, but they don't give you true narrow band due to the overlapping transmission regions of the color filter array. SII and Ha from the red channel will always bleed into the Oiii signal in the green and blue channel and vice versa.




And mixing the Oiii signal from 2 filters with different bandwidth is a whole different story. Different SNR and contrast and different mixing with SII and Ha.

In the end, both ways will work, but come at different advantages and disadvantages. 

If you take the SII single narrow band filter you can later use it for a mono camera and at least your SII data is clean

For reference, these are the RGB channels for the Rosette Nebula with my Sii filter

​

True, D. Jung , regarding the 2x OIII.  In a perfect world, with no background light (and lots of other considerations), it will theoretically work.  **Disclosure: just ordered the D1+D2 and haven't had opportunity to test reality versus theoretical.  I'll just be happy if I can get reasonable background extraction for emission nebula from Bortle 8 skies.

Personally I love the Askar D1 and D2 dual band filters. The pros/cons of using dual band filters has been discussed in several other threads both here and on Cloudy nights. I use Raul Hussein's script, DBXtract, to extract Ha, OIII, and SII signals from two dual band images. So, far I've liked the results.

The tread describing the script can be found here:

https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/equipment-forums/pleiades-astrophoto-pixinsight/new-script-dbxtract/

Im new to astrophotography but not new to photography. In any type of photography, colour is perception. We all perceive and process them differently with personal preferences. It's no good to have a colourful object and have poor transmission. Even a superb black and white image is better than a colour that lacks clarity and impact. Even NASA produces SHO to better show the structures of objects, though SHO is not a "true colour" representation of that image.

So, I guess it comes down to, barring buying a mono camera, what is the best solution to create an impactful image in a OSC camera keeping in mind the time it will take to acquire that image? Where I live, in the UK, between real-world demands and the weather, time to shoot is very precious.

Im favouring the duo narrowband idea atm. With the Askar Duo D1&D2 package you can get all three bands of light and come into post at your leisure. If I have to shoot 3 individual bands of light, I'll likely not finish a target that season.