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UHC Filters

Woolleson

By Woolleson
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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rory

rory

Posted
Posted

skies unlimited ( skies the limit for e bay) selling uhc filters cheap. the advantage of buying from these ,is you'll easily get contact if your unhappy as they have exellent reputation.

1.25" UHC (Ultra High Contrast) Heavy light pollution & nebula filter, no IR cut | eBay

not sure how cheap the one you was looking at, but this seemed cheap to me.

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John

John

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If it's a true UHC filter it will only really have a beneficial effect on nebulae. They don't help with galaxies and star clusters.

I know a saving is a saving but it's worth bearing in mind that these unbranded filters are only £5 less expensive than the Skywatcher UHC filter which does have a number of satisfied users on this forum. But a fiver is a fiver I suppose.

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Woolleson

Woolleson

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The other one is only £3 cheaper, I've bought from skies the limit (BST 5mm) and found them very good.

Are the nebula filters worth it, I'm a bit sceptical. In my limited noob viewing loved seeing M42 in my SW 150p, be good to see a comparison picture of with and without filters.

Are the STL as good as the SW?

Sorry for the questions, but it is a high cliff I'm climbing!

Jason

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John

John

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There are some objects that UHC and / or O-III filters have a really significant effect on - the Veil Nebula and the Owl Nebula are two that spring to mind. Without a filter they are virtually invisible in smaller scopes but with the filter in they become much more obvious - I've been able to see 3 segments of the Veil with my 4" refractor and a wonderful object it is

It's true to say though that the O-III filter that I use does not come out that often - I tend to prefer the unfiltered view of objects such as M42, M57 and M27 although the filter does enhance them to some extent.

I've no idea how good the Skies the Limit unbranded filter is but the Skywatcher UHC's work pretty well.

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RikM

RikM

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I recently got a UHC filter and it makes a nice difference to my eyes. While it does dim the view a bit, it does what is says and gives the nebulae more contrast against the background sky and stars.

I found that the filter works best with mid / low power EP's and you have to match them to the prevailing viewing conditions.

I have made an attempt to show the difference with and without a filter using a sketch I made with my 10". It hasn't uploaded very well but I hope you can see that the effect is subtle but worthwhile.

rikmcrae-albums-sketches-picture15734-sketch-comp.jpg

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Woolleson

Woolleson

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I recently got a UHC filter and it makes a nice difference to my eyes. While it does dim the view a bit, it does what is says and gives the nebulae more contrast against the background sky and stars.

I found that the filter works best with mid / low power EP's and you have to match them to the prevailing viewing conditions.

I have made an attempt to show the difference with and without a filter using a sketch I made with my 10". It hasn't uploaded very well but I hope you can see that the effect is subtle but worthwhile.

rikmcrae-albums-sketches-picture15734-sketch-comp.jpg

Thanks, thats a really good representation.

The contrast is really there to see, does make the nebula "pop" from the background. I'm lucky as I live in a Fairly low LR area and this time of year Orion is over the Pennines so tend to look that way from my garden.

I read UHC seem to be the jack of all trades filters, would assume that's the way to go?

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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The UHC filters are indeed the best 'all-rounders' in the sense that they can be used on more objects, planetaries and diffuse etc, like John, I don't like to filter some nebula like M42 but for others the UHC filter is indespensible. As with others, I like the Sky Watcher, it is great quality and at a reasonable price.

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  • 2 weeks later...
John

John

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Just been shopping on eBay is the skywatcher UHC the same as their light pollution filter?

Need to know before I buy :p

No, I don't think it is the same. The LP filter blocks a different set of light wavelengths to do a different job.

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Don Pensack

Don Pensack

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A funny story:

I did a housecall at a man's house in the middle of Los Angeles. His night sky was blue! I kid you not--about like a dark site 20-30 minutes after sunset, with maybe 50 stars visible in the entire sky.

He wanted to see the Orion nebula.

We popped in a Lumicon UHC filter and lo and behold--there it was. It was not visible to the naked eye and the belt stars were only visible with averted vision.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Now, to put things in perspective, the view was closer to the "before" image in Rik's post, but it showed me that the contrast enhancement was a little more than "subtle" and spilled over into the "profound" category.

Don Pensack

Los Angeles

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John

John

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Welcome to the forum Don :p

.... it showed me that the contrast enhancement was a little more than "subtle" and spilled over into the "profound" category.....

The effect sure is profound with objects like the Veil and Owl nebulae - virtually invisible without a UHC / O-III in small to medium scopes but rather lovely with the filter in place, especially the Veil :)

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Don Pensack

Don Pensack

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Thanks for the welcome, John.

As for enhancement, the Helix Nebula, NGC 7293, is an example of a profoundly changed appearance with a UHC filter. It's ghostly without a filter, yet detailed and bright with one.

Another like that is Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 with an O-III filter. The before and after is stupendous.

Ditto the Crescent nebula, NGC 6888.

Not every nebula necessarily needs a filter. Some are so bright, like M57, that the appearance is not profoundly changed by use of a nebula filter.

But many are.

Examples other than the aforementioned:

IC434/B33 (Horsehead) with an H-Beta filter

Veil Nebula with an O-III filter

M17/M16 with an O-III filter (did you know these two nebulae are just bright knots in one large nebula?)

M8 with a UHC filter zooms up to nearly 2 degrees wide.

etc.

Don Pensack

Los Angeles

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RikM

RikM

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I have found that the UHC seems to make more of a difference in less than perfect conditions. A little while ago we had some thin high cloud. Just whispy stuff but it really brightened the sky background to the extent that the orion nebula (again) was really washed out. With the UHC filter in it was really obvious, like day and night difference. The view wasn't spectacular even with the filter, but it made a more dramatic difference than with a good sky.

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