Are colour filters worth buying?

[pblackwell]

Hi all,

Are colour filters any good and should I buy a set?

One shop said don't bother as the Neodymium I have is better, another said they were good, another said he had never bothered using them in his 20years astronomy. Mixed verdicts on the Internet....

I've already got a Baader Neodymium filter (the guy in the shop said that's better than colour filters), and I've also got a Nebula filter which works really well.

Many thanks guys

Paul

[Putaendo Patrick]

For planetary observation they can be helpful. However, the improvements they give are relatively slight, and they are certainly not essential. To use darker filters with less light transmission, you normally need a decent aperture (8 inch plus). Lighter filters are more flexible. Personally I would avoid buying sets, which seem rather poorly selected. Instead I would gradually build up a collection of individual filters intended for specific tasks depending on your criteria.

Here's quite a useful basic list:

http://agenaastro.com/choosing-a-color-planetary-filter.html

[John]

Having tried a whole range of planetary type filters, including coloured ones, over the years I don't find that I get any real benefits from them but I know of others who do so maybe it's a personal thing ?

[Mak the Night]

I've never had much success with Wratten coloured filters personally. These Baader filters look promising: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/visual-oberving-rgb-filter-sets/baader-6-colour-filter-set.html

Some of the Celestron filters supplied with their kits look OK, I have several.

The Celestron threads don't always completely thread into most of my diagonals or eyepieces and I wonder about this. My Baader UHC and Neodymium filters thread into all of my diagonals, which include William Optics, Omegon, Antares and Orion. They also thread into all of my eyepieces which include William Optics, TeleVue, Astro Hutech, Sky-Watcher and Baader. The Celestron filters thread effortlessly into my Celestron diagonal (surprisingly) and even some of my Celestron eyepieces.

So I'd avoid inexpensive filter sets if I were you.

[Dave In Vermont]

Hi Paul -

I'm a certified filter-nut. I have 35 of all sorts. As for the colour filters, they can be good for teasing out fine details on the planets in our solar-system. Some folks swear by them, while others wouldn't bother. It's an individualized taste, I guess. But you may find this useful:

http://agenaastro.com/choosing-a-color-planetary-filter.html

I occasionally use a Wratten 80A Blue-Filter on the Moon and Jupiter. A Wratten 12 Yellow is another I sometimes pop in for Mars. The sets sold by major telescope manufacturers are likely to sit and collect dust though.

Hope this helps,

Dave

 

PS: Looks like we all jumped in at the same time!

[Moonshane]

I try them occasionally. A red filter can help with the brighter stars like Sirius when splitting doubles. Also a yellow or green filter can help with solar contrast in conjunction with an objective filter of course.

[bomberbaz]

I occasionally use them as above, I was using a yellow on the moon a couple of weeks back, I have tried all kinds of variations to varying degrees of success. I found blue very nice to use on Jupiter although I am sure I once stacked the yellow and blue together on it which gave a much darker image but with a great deal more contrast but for some reason I never went back to it.

NOTE TO SELF: Retry the filter stack on Jupiter 

[Ruud]

It clearly is a personal thing. I have two small telescopes and with my filters (yellow, red, green and blue) I don't get any improvement in observed detail. Just a dimmer, coloured image. I may feel differently once I get a larger telescope though ... 

[pblackwell]

Hi folks, many thanks for your replies and opinions. That, combined with what I've been reading, Hmm....the odds are swinging against buying them.

Thanks again everyone

Paul

[bomberbaz]

buy a cheapo set from Amazon, £13 worth a punt surely. You could flog em on if you don't like them but unless you try!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Standard-Filter-Telescope-Eyepiece/dp/B018JWXCGY/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1456657622&sr=1-11&keywords=1.25%22+filters

If you like them you can upgrade to something better. I only have a similar cheapo filter set and it meets my needs nicely.

[mikeDnight]

Ive found little use for coloured filters for visual planetary observation. Well selected filters can help in detecting slight differences in albedo or bright areas such as clouds or the polar cap of Mars, or white ovals in the belts of Jupiter or Saturn. What I've found is that they can help to draw your attention to a feature you'd not previously noticed, but on removing the filter, the feature can still be clearly seen. It's better, I think, that you spend time patiently studying the planet because all the detail is there, but a colour filter will always harm the over all view, so they should never be a permanent fixture.

Larger apertures benefit more from colour filters, as the planets can appear so bright that their brightness blinds the subtle detail, and a colour filter will reduce the glare.

Mike.

[Mak the Night]

I've come to the conclusion that buying cheap sets of filters is a waste of money. Save the money for something worthwhile.

[sungrazer]

+1 for 80A (blue) on Jupiter, really enhances the belts for me when i'm lucky enough to have the seeing.

[SonnyE]

I have a 9 filter wheel mounted in my imaging train. It is forward of my flip mirror box so I works for both visual or the CCD camera at the rear.

I started off with run of the mill, set type filters and found little to no use for them. (RGBY, and some other iffy pieces of colored glass.)

Then I decided I needed a good Ha7nm to bring out the reds in my target nebula. So I got a Baader Ha7nm. At $200, that was quite a leap of faith for me. I like it so much, I've since invested in a Baader Moon and Sky Glow, and a UHC.

Since I live in a light pollution zone, the Moon and Sky Glow is typically always in use. When I am imaging red nebula, I will always bring in the Ha7nm. I also have a 13% Moon filter I use for, what else, the moon.

So filters are a lot of "What do you want it for?" For me, I had specific wants/needs.

[pblackwell]

Hi SonnyE, yeah I'm hearing good things about the Baader  kit. I've got the Neodymium filter which I haven't been able to use much because of the  clouds in the UK, London.

After all the advise and reading I've ditched the idea of a colour filter set and will concentrate on using the tools at hand.

If you dig Nebulae, I can recommend the 'Explore Scientific UHC Nebula Filter'. It works really well for me. I'm no expert btw, so don't get one because of my say so! lol

.... Thats the first time I'm actually recommending something!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I gave away my first set of coloured filters. I bought a new set about a yr ago and have not used them. I personally find no benefit from them.

[pblackwell]

cheers LukeSkywatcher

[Alan64]

I have an almost complete set of Lumicon 1.25" colour filters, made in Japan, and of Hoya(?) optical-glass...

...and I've yet to use a single one.  Click on the image for a larger view. 

Sensitivity to colour varies from one individual to another, but does it follow that the sensitivity to the effect of a colour filter also varies?  In any event, the filters are awfully pretty, just to look at if ne'er to make use of a single one.

Just as with eyepieces, so it should be with colour filters.  Acquire them one at a time, and not ever a set.  Hmm, for a 130mm f/5 or f/7 Newtonian, only the lighter filters should be considered...

I would suggest at least one, and the most popular, and therefore the most useful?  Would that be #80A Blue?  Perhaps...

http://www.365astronomy.com/Castell-80A-Blue-Planetary-Filter-30-Transmission.html

Here's a guide with which to select, per planet, and beginning on page 6...

http://www.lumicon.com/pdf/3filterspec_prnt.pdf

There are numerous other guides on the internet; and remember, only the lighter and lightest of colours.

[LukeSkywatcher]

This is the latest set i bought:

http://www.omegon.eu/omegon-color-filter-set-1-25-6-pieces-/p,11333

[Paz]

I find I don't really use my moon filter as I can see more detail without it.

I do use my light pollution filter - I'l chuck it in and forget leave it in for a session - but it makes a small difference.

I've got a baader semi apo filter I use with an f5 achromatic refractor which I have to say does tidy up the chromatic abberation well and without messing too much with the colour balance. This goes on for bright targets.

I've got some cheap colour filters (second hand - of course!) but they are not very inspiring.

[Dave In Vermont]

Hey Alan64!

I see you, too, are a certied Filter-Nut!

All the best -

Dave

[Alan64]

1 hour ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Hey Alan64!

I see you, too, are a certied Filter-Nut!

All the best -

Dave

Dave,

Alas, I have none of the really good filters, like for nebulae and what-not.