Help With Filter Purchase!

[SyedT]

Hi guys,

Really stuck here regarding which filter(s) to buy for imaging use. My setup is as follows:

Imaging: Skywatcher 200P f/5 on HEQ5, ZWO ASI120MC-S/Canon 5D MKIII unmodded

Guiding: Skywatcher ST80, SPC900NC, PHD2

My main targets for now will be the planets, milky way and a few of the brighter DSOs. I'll be doing the vast majority of imaging from my garden for the time being.

I live in an area with moderate light pollution within the suburbs of a major city. The lamps directly outside my garden are white LEDs and switch off at midnight, but there are some sodium lamps on the other side of the house which can cause a skyglow.

My questions are:

1. Which one filter would be best for DSO imaging? I'm currently looking at a second hand Astronomik 1.25 inch UHC CCD filter which is said to be suitable for both visual and imaging for £25.

2. Is it worth getting a planetary filter, e.g. Astronomik ProPlanet 742 IR-pass filter?

3. Lastly, is it worth getting a DSLR lens light pollution filter for imaging the milky way?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Syed

[wimvb]

Several people on this forum use an Astronomik clip filter as LP filter:

http://www.astronomik.com/en/clip-filter/clip-filter-canon-aps-c.html

A light pollution filter is always a good investment if LP is a problem (usually is in the suburbs). It will allow longer exposures and less hassle getting rid of gradients (due to LP) when processing.

Since your camera is not modded, an IR pass filter would be of little use. DSLRs have an IR filter that blocks any light with wavelength longer than approx 700 nm. Your cameras IR filter would block any light transmitted by the IR pass filter.

Hope this helps,