RayD

I have a Mesu 200 and a CEM120 EC. CEM is excellent, but the Mesu takes it due to the 100% friction drive and 100Kg payload. Exceptional mount within its price range, in my opinion.

Nice work, Adam, a really good image. The dual rig seems to be working a treat and APP is very good at matching up the different scales.

Well that was a shame. I thought I'd give the Baader data a couple of hours just in PI to see how good it was, and ended up blinking all the subs and having to ditch pretty much half of them. Should have looked at that first!! It seems that, whilst it appeared pretty clear and guiding was good at the time, there was a ton of high whispy cloud. One of the issues with imaging remotely I guess, mark 1 eyeball doesn't work. Anyway, I had a couple of hours so, taking in to consideration @vlaiv's recent comments regarding more natural (or true) colours, I reigned in the blue and used the few reasonable subs left. Again I didn't feel like I was fighting with anything (other than the rubbish data) and the Baader filters seemed to produce pretty balanced and predictable results. I didn't take it in to PS for any finishing off, just using deconvolution, DBE, SNR, ACDNR, curves, HT and HDRMT etc in PI. Oh well, fingers crossed for some clear nights soon so I can start again and do a valid comparison 🙁

I'm glad you didn't, that tickled me.

It felt like 150!!! 🤒

Cheers, Ahmed. These tests are being carried out under Bortle 5 in the UK, so provided you select your targets carefully and adjust your integration accordingly I don't see why the difference wouldn't apply. That said, I haven't used the ZWO filters and whilst I appreciate they are cheap, if their cameras are anything to go by, it certainly doesn't mean their performance is any less. You'll never be a one trick pony to me, mate 🙂

Thanks, Sara. Likewise I currently use Chroma in Spain on my FSQ106 (Atik 16200) and Baader here on my Esprit 100 (SX 814) but, as you quite rightly say, it is impossible to compare as the data acquisition is so different. When I got the opportunity to get the Chroma set here I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a reasonable comparison using exactly the same equipment and location. I'm really interested to see you use a LP filter for luminance; something I hadn't considered. Do you see a noticeable difference using this rather then a L filter, or is it just personal preference? Thanks for your valued input.

Thanks for your input and that confirmation, Steve. As noted to John above, I suspect the halo on the bright star was me as I really didn't spend any time on it, but I certainly didn't see anything that caused real concern in the data. In fact, for a £200 set of filters I am always impressed at how well they perform. I think you have concurred with Olly, in that it appears to be the OIII which potentially gives issues. I'm very intrigued to see the results myself.

I had my steel pier made and more than happy with that decision. If it is a good quality one you are unlikely to save much money, but you do then get exactly what you want without any compromises.

Yes, I had the Baader 3.5nm, James, but I don't think they make a 3nm.

Thanks, Olly. This seems to echo my initial thoughts which are the Baader LRGB set is actually very good, and the Chroma set is going to have to do very well to drastically outdo them. Did you mean Astrodon here? I don't believe Baader makes a 3nm Ha filter.

That's interesting as I have older ones and newer ones, so can try both to see if there is a noticeable difference.

I can't say as I have noticed this as an issue that has immediately stood out for me, John, but then this really was a quick process just to make sure the data was there to make a fair judgement, so this image isn't really meant as a demonstration of the Baader capabilities, more just a "ok, not bad at all." There is a blue halo around the brightest star but that could well be me just pushing the saturation a tad too high, and I wasn't working to reduce/remove it, but I think this is going to be easily manageable when I spend a bit more time on it. If you click to get it full res, on my screen there doesn't seem to be halos of any significance on any other stars that would be of concern. I certainly didn't feel like I needed to spend loads of time as I was battling with any. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the Baader performance generally for the money (I've used them for quite a while) and, whilst I use the Chroma 2" in Spain so know they definitely perform, I'm not convinced that they are going to out perform the Baader by more than double at the level of imaging most of us are at. The difference between the Ha filters was immediately very noticeable (Chroma 3nm and Baader 3.5nm), but even then I think this is going to be target specific, whereby if you are looking for Ha just to add to a LRGB image, then maybe it isn't going to be such an issue. I'm not yet convinced the difference between the LRGB filters is going to be sufficiently great as to justify the significant price difference FOR THE AVERAGE IMAGER LIKE ME, but I'm dead keen to find out. Don't get me wrong, I think when you get to the upper end of quality amateur images produced by the likes of @swag72, @ollypenrice & @steppenwolf then every part of every photon counts so probably more than justifiable, but for average Joe..............hmmmmm, I'm not so sure. I can't wait for the next clear night to gather the data for the comparison as I think it is going to be very interesting. Naturally all of this is going to be subjective, and just my thoughts and feelings, and may not be the thoughts or experiences of others. It's certainly not intended to be the definitive answer to which is better, just my view on them at my level of imaging (with consideration given to my imaging train and location/skies of course).

I guess ultimately we, in the guise of astrophotographers, are making pictures, we are not producing data for scentific research. For most the primary objective is to produce an image that looks pleasing and satisfies the basic general expectations of atrophotography i.e. not blown out in the cores, round stars and good detail in structures etc. I like looking at astro images (pictures) with some colour, even if that is somewhat by way of artistic license ALA narrowband. I like your images, Rod, as you do have some colour in them, and the level if this colour is to your persoanl preference which, in my opinion and looking at the positive comments you get, is to the liking of very many people.

Set to record. On 20:00 - 22:00. Thanks for that.

I am currently doing a video for my YouTube channel on whether Chroma filters (LRGB specifically) are really worth more than twice the cost of Baader. I collected some data with the Baader filters on Saturday, and took some flats to see how they look and perform. I will do the same with the Chromas and see how they stack up. Below is a very quick (about half hour) process of the Baader data, which wasn't under ideal conditions, but with a bit more time spent would produce more than respectable results I think. I suspect the Chroma filters are going to have to do pretty well to justify their price. Once I have both data sets in I'll spend some more time processing both sets using the same workflow as far as possible. I do use Chroma (2") in Spain, and am delighted with them, and the NB ones are noticeably better, but LRGB............we'll see!

The rust will soon drop off, Nick, and with the decent kit you have there it makes perfect sense to give it another go. Welcome and clear skies.

I had exactly the same, Karen, and can assure you that this place is very different to FB and you won't get the same here. They're a welcoming bunch. Enjoy the forums and the wonderful hobby.

Still feel like bidding on it repeatedly just to annoy him 👍

My only concern would be them wanting to take the transaction outside eBay, meaning you lose any buyer protection. Other than this it could be a reasonable purchase if you're able to see it before buying or, as they say, there is a 30-day money back guarantee.

Almost feel like putting a £12 bid in just to annoy him 😂

Thanks for that, I'll definitely give that a watch.

A very happy 30th Birthday to the Hubble Space Telescope. On this day in 1990 it was first put in to space to carry out its amazing mission of giving us some of the most spectacular images ever imaginable of our incredible universe. Hard to believe that was 30 years ago!! Hope it has a great day 🎉

Very sad and so sorry to hear this. A nice thing to remember her by, which will be there for your lifetime.

Good luck 🤞