Which Narrowband filters

[NickRose2006]

I'm getting a real bad itch for a CCD imager and have no more then $1,400 to spend. The imager I'm looking at is the Orion StarShoot Deep Space III, which Orion throws in a filter wheel and color filter set, total cost would be $1000. I would also like to get narrow band filters. They have a filter set for $319 but do I really need all three. Could I just buy two of them and combine the two in photo shop to get the third color, it would save me around $100. If I can would the combo be the Ha and the OIII filters.

[pete_l]

You could get by with just the two filters, and compromise on synthesizing the third colour. But you'll always be asking yourself "what would this image look like with s full set of filters?". If you're spending 1400US, then the difference that an extra 100 bucks makes is a small price for getting a "proper" set of narrow band filters.

Ha'porth of tar ... and all that.

[riklaunim]

With narrowband imaging color output is not always the final goal (some nebulae are just H-alpha). From narrowband the [s II] can be skipped as it's the weakest.

The other option is to skip narrowband filters and get one or two light pollution filters - narrow and broad. You could stack one of them with RGB filters to get color result without light pollution. If you use a narrow LP filter then the output would be similar to narrowband (but maybe not as similar as achievable with very narrow narrowband filters). Orion Ultrablock is the narrow one. Astronomik CLS is a broad one (+ Orion has something too).

[davew]

I'm not familiar with the camera but have used narrowband filters for a while.

You could start with just Ha for now.

Ha and O111 can be combined in a few ways. 1. Ha / O111 / O111. 2. Ha / O111 / Ha & O111. 3. Ha red and O111 blue and synth green. Mix and match as you please really.

Have fun

Dave