Baader RGB Filters and LP - Forums

Topic starter

Oct 2, 2017

Hi all,
I'm considering to buy a mono cmos camera with narrowband filters and RGB filters. I live in Venice (Italy) and the light pollution is medium.
I'm considering Baader set of RGB filters. Baader declares, about their filters, that "Peak transmission are extremely high but at the same time encased tightly within each of the three colour channels, with a very important and deliberate overlap between the B and G spectral region and a calculated wide gap between G and R to exclude a whole family of undesiderable terrestrial street light emission lines (just like a UHC nebula filter)".
Now…my question is: I need a light pollution filter in front of rgb filters (with a filter quick charger) or can I use a light pollution filter as L filter (I think to an Idas P2)?
Thanks and…sorry for my english.
Vittorio

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 3, 2017

Hi Vittorio,

If you will buy an astro mono cmos or ccd cooled camera for narrowbanding then the best set of filters you can buy are the following in order:

1. Ha
2. RGB
3. OIII
4. SII

I am doing this order as above, i bought Ha only and i am enjoying to get nebula in mono, sooner than later i hope i will buy LRGB so i can add colors, i can wait longer for OIII/SII, those filters will give you more practical use with mono than IDAS L P2 or whatever, i will buy IDAS only if i am shooting color camera mostly, it can be used for mono, but 98% of DSO images out of mono cooled are done with Ha/LRGB/O/S filters, 2% you can see IDAS involved.

Best luck and clear sky
Tareq

Supportive

Vittorio

Topic starter

Oct 3, 2017

Hi Tareq,
thank you for your answer. I'm considering to buy both set of filters togheter, narrowband and RGB filters, because I have a good deal. Ha is a "must to have" filter and I can use it anytime, OIII and SII are good for light pollution but less usable with a very bright moon (but I'm not expert :-).
I need to suppress LP for RGB imaging, for this reason I thought to an idas filter to take Luminance, but my question is: can I use baader RGB filters without LP filters in front of? Really Baader filters cut very good LP as they declare?
Thanks

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 3, 2017

Hi again,

You said you will buy a mono astro camera [i hope you mean cooled too], those cameras are sensitive enough and designed for astrophotography, even under light pollution it may give you more than other cameras, and Ha is the main filter here, i saw many using those filters even in LP, so don't worry, i am buying LRGB later and i do live in a bad light pollution area, Ha did serve me well, and i can use OIII or SII in the future if i get them in nights where the moon is invisible and LP is less or better sky clarity, then you can combine both data, and with RGB you just go with shorter exposures than H/O/S, so it won't be affected much by light pollution.

Vittorio

Topic starter

Oct 3, 2017

All clear, thanks

Adel Kildeev

Oct 4, 2017 · Edited: Oct 4, 2017

Hans, excellent advise, great thanks, I would follow it.

Vittorio

Topic starter

Oct 4, 2017

Thank you Hans.
I'll buy the new ASI 1600 mm-c (in october there will be a new release). I prefer a cmos sensor to have shorter exposures and ASI seems work very well (I see a lot of beautiful images on astrobin). I would buy 36mm Baader filters set (RGB and Narrow) and my question was if really Baader RGB filters cut some LP as they promise, in this case I could use a 36mm Idas filter just for Luminance.
I know astrodon filters…but they are very expensive!

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 4, 2017

Good that i bought QHY163M, it is as good as ASI1600mm or maybe better very little, look at this one instead of ASI1600mm, there is also Atik One they said it will come out soon, i did saw that new ASI1600 which they call it Pro version, just little improvement over V3, while my QHY163M is improved all together without need for more improvements, i chose QHY163M due to anti dew control system and 128mb buffer, even the black color with blue strip i like it ore than red body camera.

If you want, there is cheaper filters than Baader but it is better quality than Baader filters, i gonna buy 36mm of it, and the shipping is free for me, so you may save a bit with those filters and have better or at least same quality of Baader, i am buying Astrodon only in 1.25" size, but that other brand because cheaper then i buy their 36mm sizes, almost half price of Astrodon 1.25" filters price, so in this case i will have 2 different sizes of filters, for smaller chip sensor Astrodon 1.25" will do the job, if i go full frame mostly with DSLR maybe then i really don't need Astrodon quality filters with them.

Vittorio

Topic starter

Oct 4, 2017

As Hans wrote, Astrodon are the best!! probably in town with LP is the better choose bat they are really to much expensive :-(
So I have to choose a good RGB filter set but with affordable price.
Tareq…you wrote about another brand…which one? Optolong or others?
Thank

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 4, 2017

Yes, Optolong, but the salesman person i bought my mono cooled camera from told me that they produced a newer better set for LRGB, which is Cyclops Optics LUX-Series.

I looked at filters comparisons on sites, take out Astrodon because it is the top of the line, most reviews i saw they put Optolong filters as slightly better than Baader filters, and i saw incredible results images from Optolong filters, so that alone made me to think that Optolong is a winner over Baader filters, but the person said that this Cyclops LUX filters is better than Optolong, so it means it is even better than Baader, it is Parfocal, and they designed it to give great results, it is like they are trying to be similar to Astrodon but not in same praice, and sure not same quality but closer, so i will choose this set later for 36mm, and Astrodon only for 1.25", and the price of this Cyclops Optics LUX-series is cheap compared to Astrodon and Baader and Zwo and even Astronomik because i get free shipping, i can't ask for more then.

Vittorio

Topic starter

Oct 5, 2017

Thank you Tareq,
on my opinion is a great thing to compare our experiences on this forum and learn a lot. :-)

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 5, 2017

Vittorio:
Thank you Tareq,on my opinion is a great thing to compare our experiences on this forum and learn a lot. :-)

You are welcome Vittorio, and yes, it is always nice to share knowledge or experiences to learn on forums, i learnt a lot, i just started this astro thing this year 2017 and i didn't stop to learn something everyday since then [started on February].

Vittorio

Topic starter

Oct 5, 2017

I'm looking for Cyclops optics LUX-series filter information, the price is great. Do you know ehre I can found a graphic of these filters? How they cut LP respect to optolong and baader filters?
Thanks

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 5, 2017

I think there is no reviews or tests about this filter series, they are very new, in fact i saw them in stock just last month, so they are still not used all around by users, but there is a person in that site who is doing astrophotography too and tested many equipment, and he assured me that this series or set of filters is better than Optolong, and i told you already that i saw some reviews showing Optolong filters as better than Baader filters, so i will trust this guy and i will go with this LUX-series.

And if you want to see the result from Optolong RGB filters then there is one guy here who did use this RGB filter of Optolong, mind blowing images and something to drool over, forget about charts and graphics, they will never make the images, and you will keep going back and forth about filters, and i will tell you that those filters of ZWO or Optolong or Baader are almost in the same quality level, so no wrong to go with any, in this case go with cheaper, but with LUX-series being new and improved filters then you will be even more happy than Baader or Optolong filters, later when i will have the budget i will buy them without graphics, he showed me only one image doing by someone, sounds amazing image.

Tareq Abdulla

Oct 5, 2017

Also, just in case, if you want i can chat with that person, and ask him to send more details about this set, like graphics or analysis or test result or even more images if possible then show you if i get them, i will ask or tell him that i can't buy it until i see more test or details about it, and i will tell him that others asking for details, so he can try to give that, but why he tell me to go with this set if he also used and sell Optolong filters? i hope he can give more data about this filter series so you or others can be sure about its quality or performance.

About light pollution, i told you that the main filter to use here is Ha, you can add OIII for bi-color and also SII for tri-color, i ven read somewhere that someone used N filter, not sure which color it will add, those are the NB filters, LRGB can give some data but they are mainly for colorful hubble palette, it doesn't need to be bad light pollution or good, and i live in a worse light pollution than yours maybe, but i will buy LRGB anyway, so just wait someone else to tell you if LRGB isn't useful in light pollution condition, but i saw some who did shoot with only LRGB without another filters in light pollution areas, so it can be done, i did try to take images in my yard under light pollution without filters and i did see something as M42 or M45, with filter it helps better, so using LRGB will give you something, if you get Ha to add that even give you better results.

Another idea is, buy Ha, use in light pollution area, buy LRGB, use it in dark sites or better conditions for same target, then later combine both results for final output, i see some did 1 photo in 3 years for collecting data only, Ha in one year, LRGB another year, then OIII/SII in third year, in each year he showed the results and then he showed the final result when he combined them all.

Good luck and clear skies.

Adel Kildeev

Oct 7, 2017

Person, collectiong data fir three years, has to get a world recognition WITHOUT any good astrophoto - for patience only