I've been enjoying getting into astrophotography for the last year or so and have always referenced back to the great images on this site to learn and get a grasp of what is possible even if I'm nowhere near it! Imaging with a portable setup mostly from my backyard 7km from central Brisbane, so not the greatest skies but do get the odd chance to head out of town every now and then. I've just begun learning to process in StarTools and am enjoying that aspect but have tended to oversaturate things a bit. An awful lot to learn…
Hello from Brisbane
Well Written Respectful Engaging
Hi Ben,
I live in St Lucia, so also close in to the CBD. I do some narrowband from home and travel to dark skies when I can. I also do a lot of imaging on shared remote systems. I process pretty much exclusively in PixInsight.
Cheers,
Rick.
I live in St Lucia, so also close in to the CBD. I do some narrowband from home and travel to dark skies when I can. I also do a lot of imaging on shared remote systems. I process pretty much exclusively in PixInsight.
Cheers,
Rick.
Well Written
Hi Ben,
I live in Paddy so even closer to the CBD. Unfortunately I usually lack time, so must image from home - thus I only do narrowband.
Similar to Rick, I exclusively use PixInsight, but ocassionaly can do an initial data stretch with FitsLiberator, just for fun really
amd to do something a bit different
Suavi
I live in Paddy so even closer to the CBD. Unfortunately I usually lack time, so must image from home - thus I only do narrowband.
Similar to Rick, I exclusively use PixInsight, but ocassionaly can do an initial data stretch with FitsLiberator, just for fun really
amd to do something a bit different
Suavi
I'm envious of the narrowband imaging! That's my next dream. Maybe one of the Zwo Asi 1600 kits (?), but for now time is a bit restricted with the little one and a music research degree to knock off. Looks like between us we have the CBD triangulated.
The ASI1600s seem to be very good value. I'm still using CCD technology because I like a big sensor (KAF-16803 with 52mm diagonal.) Unfortunately, good NB filters are expensive but are a good investment if you live in the city.
Finding spare time seems to be a problem even with grown up kids and no study to do
Cheers,
Rick.
Finding spare time seems to be a problem even with grown up kids and no study to do
Cheers,
Rick.
I get the feeling that the Zwo ASI1600mm-cooled with the Zwo electronic filter wheel is okay but maybe I should consider other filters? Or maybe the basic LRGB are okay and then spend more on better narrow band filters? Anyway questions for a later time really! I think the research/study helps with the astro stuff - the need for countless distractions and procrastinations 
I started with a mono camera and just one Ha filter- skipped LRGB altogether because IMO these give rather poor quality data for the majority of targets when imaging from a site close to the city.
Hi Ben, Hi everyone. I live in Italy where the light pollution is a big problem. A lot of friends use narrowband filters (a good choise are the Baader set or the Astrodon filters) and a friend bought an ASI 1600 mm-c and he is very satisfied.
Vittorio
Vittorio
Hi Vittorio,
I have always used Astrodon filters and they are very good, but pricey!
Cheers,
Rick.
I have always used Astrodon filters and they are very good, but pricey!
Cheers,
Rick.
Well Written Respectful
What makes the filters better (say Astrodon v Baader)? Efficiencies in passing light at the bandwidth or precision of the bandwidth itself?
I think it is the consistency for every filter of being efficient in passing what's wanted, and, equally important, the effectiveness in blocking what's unwanted. Also, the narrower the band, the more pricey the filter.
On my opinion the various filters quality (baader, astrodon, astronomik ecc) are very closed. Probably I'm on mistake but I think we have just to decide about the bandwidth and price (and the size of filters!). In my case (with a QHY10) I have prefered an Astronomik 12 nm Ha T2 to a narrowed filter (7 or 3), first for all for an higher price of the narrowed filters and, second, for the less sensibility of my ccd compared to a monochromatic camera and, third, because in may case is very usable a T2 mounted filter.
And fourth…sorry for my english 
I understand you very well Vittorio! It would seem the Zwo filter wheel and asi1600 work together to eliminate most vignetting with 1.25" filters when combined with scopes f5 and above (which mine are), so would be tempted to go that way, with maybe a set of 1.25" Baader narrow band filters (although the set Baader offers includes a H-Beta filter which seems a little redundant for a lot of objects?). This post doctorate gift to myself is certainly growing in many ways!! Anyway, thanks for the comments as it all makes sense of it
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As Suavi said, transmission efficiency and narrow bandwidth are important parameters for narrowband filters. Absence of reflections and halos is also important but not something you'll see in the specs.
Cheers,
Rick.
Cheers,
Rick.
Well Written
I used to have a set of 12nm Astronomik filters and these were great in overcoming light pollution, which in nearing extreme in my area. But when I invested in a 3nm Ha Astrodon, the improvement in SNR over 12nm Astronomik was very noticeable, to say the least. So I gradually replaced all Astronomik filters with 3nm a Astrodons. Perhaps a set of 5nm Ha, 3nm OIII and 3nm SII would be equally effective, but I decided to have all narrowband filters with a 3nm band pass.
Helpful Concise
My thinking is two fold with new image gear: faster/more efficient image acquisition, and better image acquisition (value for time spent is probably a way of summing it up). I never have heaps of time and with a portable setup (takes about an hour with alignments, guiding etc.) I'm keen to automate where I can and figure better image acquisition means reduced processing time. It's all very enjoyable of course, but spending hours processing is not really an option for the next decade or so. Narrow band in the city makes sense but I wonder how much more exposure time is needed compared to LRGB. HaRGB is what I had planned but maybe this is more trouble than it's worth in the city?
Engaging
Collecting sufficient narrowband data does not necessarily take a lot of time. Combine large pixels with a short focal length fast telescope and you will get great SNR in nearly no time! But such system can be quite costly.
Given I'd be sticking to my ED80 (f6.35 with FR), ED100 (f7.65 with FR) and 8" Newt (f4.5 with CC), and then adding the ASI1600mm-c, would 5nm narrow band and RGB filters make sense in terms time well spent, given say a 2 hour period to capture something?
I have not had a chance to use the ASI 1600 camera, so I cannot comment on the integration required with this camera. With my setup 2hrs will give some result, but I usually try to dedicate much more than that to each target. I think searching images on Astrobin taken with ASI 1600 should give some idea. If you have very limited time, perhaps imaging solar system could be on the cards?
Solar system is certainly on the cards but I love observing DSOs and, consequently, imaging them so guess I'll need to up my time! Have enjoyed the scraps I've gotten so far and had been toying with the idea of a cooled OSC (given summer temps and the DSLR chip hitting the 36° mark) but was thinking that LRGB (or HaRGB) would be more efficient, especially in LP. Not after gob stopping amazing images, but would love to at least follow an acquisition process that could lead that way, IF I had more time (if that makes sense?). So limited time DSOs (not great but not too bad) but more efficiently acquired and with way less noise than the current modded 40D. This is probably more a discussion for some other forum but have really appreciated the advice here.