colour filters

[steelyglint]

morning sports fans! after having a think last nite i wanna get some good basic red blue green filters for with ep's and the webcam for imageing and stacking...i am just starting out in planerty imageing so forgive me newbie question so early in the morning......any comments welcome

[Freddie]

Isn't that a colour cam anyway, so why would you want the filters? Filters are used with mono cams.

[steelyglint]

yeah it is but the image is so overwelmingly bright i thought if i did r b g images (of jupiter say) then stacked them i might end up with a better pic

[Freddie]

I'd have thought you would be better off adjusting gain/exposure to reduce brightness otherwise I think you will end up with an odd situation where you will be filtering with say a red filter and then the camera will filter again as it obviously has a built in filter.

[Shibby]

Webcams are normally used with their own filter removed and a 1.25" adapter fitted. The minimum you will probably want is an IR cut filter as the sensors are very sensitive to IR, meaning you will lose detail without the filter.

You can indeed achieve better results using RBG filters as you suspected steely. Through a red filter, the image is often more detailed which is why capturing each channel separately can result in better planetary detail.

I should add that I haven't tried planetary imaging with filters myself yet, having also only recently forayed into it.

[hemihaggis]

yeah , dont bother with colour filters , you will need an ir cut filter though , just use the gain/exposure settings on the software you are using to control the bbrightness of the image

[steelyglint]

Okay that's food for thought. I dunno if I could get into the webcam as it's tiny and I'd probably wreck it in the process. Duty I'll have a look at it...I see what you mentioned about the filters bringing out the detail....I have actually got a 80 blue and a 25 red that came with Barlow...the blue did sharpen up saturn and Mars a bit...the red was way to dark to see anything at all....all help.welcotme

[steelyglint]

okay ant recomedations on what brand filter? the cheaper the better im skint

[hemihaggis]

i have read the sw lp filter is great for the money .....

my astronomik is great though

[steelyglint]

yeah seen those everyweres outa stock lol....iv seen the baader one aswell...nearly twice the price but i wonder if its twice as good?

[Freddie]

Must admit I'm getting a bit lost on this. Are you wanting to do LRGB colour filter imaging which is done with a mono camera or are you just looking for filters to improve on light polution and coloured filters to highlight different features?

[steelyglint]

coloured filters to highlight different features...like the cloud bands on jupiter and stuff for viewing and for just experimenting with the webcam.....

[Shibby]

No you won't need an LP filter! Planets are so bright that LP is not really a problem. Just an IR cut filter, you can get them for around £25. I don't know about the MS webcam you have, but with the SPC900, the filter is integrated with the lens unit, so removing it removes the filter hence the need for a 1.25" IR cut filter.

Edit: When I say you don't need an LP filter, I just mean for planetary.

[Freddie]

Ok, so as Lewis has said an IR cut filter is all you will need with the webcam. You may get some interesting colour results with some colour filters but for the best true colour image, just the IR cut.

[steelyglint]

Cool guys I know were to go now...such a learning curve this astronomy lark...thanks ....

Sg