Going to the dark side ZWO ASI1600

[ChrisLX200]

13 minutes ago, souls33k3r said:

Yes i remember a lot of people had the halo issues with i guess OIII Baader filter but that issue has now been resolved.

Yes there was a production fault that affected a batch of OIII filters, Baader recalled these and offered to replace those affected. New Baader filters are free of the problem.

 

[astrocatinfo]

19 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

Sorry I guess i wasn't clear. The Baader set includes LRGBC and Narrowband filters so that makes a total of 8 filters. This set comes as a package setup by one of the vendors which is very cost effective if I were to buy them separate (around £60/£70 cheaper as a package).

saying all that, I've just seen the results from the astrodon nb filters and compared them with the Baader, now I'm sad

My choice for NB will be for the ASTRODON's. I don't mind if it takes me some time to have the full set. The first one to be purchased will be the 5nm Halpha. I don't want to be using a 3nm Halpha, NII,... In my site there is little LP, so enough with the 5nm Halpha.

For OIII, SII the 3nm.

For the LRGB maybe the ZWO. 

But do you think the 36mm will cover a future camera upgrade? Maybe the step forward on CMOS technolgy goes further away... to the 40mm sized sensors (!). Exciting times to come in the CMOS technology.

[astrocatinfo]

10 hours ago, Gina said:

I have never used more than 7 filters even in the 9 position Atik EFW2 - can see no reason to. 

I recall a mention above that there is some difficulty using 3nm filters but what?  Narrower filters just block out more white light such as the moon and stars and give better result that I've found easier to process - not harder.  They still let plenty of star light through for focussing using a few seconds imaging time.  I would be interested to hear what problems very narrow filters produce for some people.

I see the other point about SII and NII which I already knew about but does give me food for thought.

Maybe because 3nm Halpha exclude NII line. For OIII for sure 3nm. 

From ASTRODON website:

 

 

These are my thoughs. But just a newie myself.

[souls33k3r]

38 minutes ago, astrocatinfo said:

My choice for NB will be for the ASTRODON's. I don't mind if it takes me some time to have the full set. The first one to be purchased will be the 5nm Halpha. I don't want to be using a 3nm Halpha, NII,... In my site there is little LP, so enough with the 5nm Halpha.

For OIII, SII the 3nm.

For the LRGB maybe the ZWO. 

But do you think the 36mm will cover a future camera upgrade? Maybe the step forward on CMOS technolgy goes further away... to the 40mm sized sensors (!). Exciting times to come in the CMOS technology.

You're actually right, maybe save on the LRGB side of filters and go ZWO and pour the remaining in to Astrodon filter. Question is the size and the bandpass. I live in East London and light pollution here is bad but I would also want to make sure that whatever filter size is suggested or I choose has to work on a faster scope ... Something like up to f/4 - f/5 and also to work with any potential upgrades in the future. I know someone wil come up and say "Go for the 36mm Astrodon and be done with it" which would make sense but it really is a tough call because these filters aren't cheap by any means lol

[astrocatinfo]

37 minutes ago, souls33k3r said:

You're actually right, maybe save on the LRGB side of filters and go ZWO and pour the remaining in to Astrodon filter. Question is the size and the bandpass. I live in East London and light pollution here is bad but I would also want to make sure that whatever filter size is suggested or I choose has to work on a faster scope ... Something like up to f/4 - f/5 and also to work with any potential upgrades in the future. I know someone wil come up and say "Go for the 36mm Astrodon and be done with it" which would make sense but it really is a tough call because these filters aren't cheap by any means lol

That's the point. The 5 and 3nm 36mm Astrodon filters are quite expensive. Let's say double the price of the 31mm's. So... it has to be really well considered before just jumping to the 7position EFW (36mm).

One thing that can be assumed is that the ASI1600MM-C is a real "winner" when compared to other lower end CCD's. It's price and outstanding performance closes any debate.

[souls33k3r]

back and forth and then all over again i went with the decision and in the end i think i'm going to settle down on the following

- Go for the ASI1600MM CCD with the ZWO 1.25" LRGB filter set and couple it with a light pollution filter if i have to because i've heard that the L filter is crazy bad

- Will not opt for any narrowband filters yet and then save fund for astrodon / Chroma 1.25" 3nm filter set or the unmounted 31mm Astrodon filters depending upon what size i go for but that will be done in the future.

OR

I throw all my toys out of the pram and go for Baader 36mm LRGBC +  Narrowband set

Help?

[astrocatinfo]

3 hours ago, souls33k3r said:

back and forth and then all over again i went with the decision and in the end i think i'm going to settle down on the following

- Go for the ASI1600MM CCD with the ZWO 1.25" LRGB filter set and couple it with a light pollution filter if i have to because i've heard that the L filter is crazy bad

- Will not opt for any narrowband filters yet and then save fund for astrodon / Chroma 1.25" 3nm filter set or the unmounted 31mm Astrodon filters depending upon what size i go for but that will be done in the future.

OR

I throw all my toys out of the pram and go for Baader 36mm LRGBC +  Narrowband set

Help?

My thoughts are that for RGB it should be enough with the ZWO...no? But I didn't know that L was not good... weird! So maybe the Baaders LRGB? Similar price.

For NB I would go for the Astrodons.

This is my choice. I will soon do the same decission. Do not have any experience with this gear. Maybe some other users can help.

 

[souls33k3r]

With these decisions and the amount of time I'm taking with it, it's only fair to say that the last few weeks haven't been too kind on my good looks lol ... I'm not going to worry about future ccd purchase and will just concentrate on a future scope (refractor) because if this Ccd is going to play nicely then I don't see any reason to change for the next 3/4 years at least.

Can anyone shed some light on 31mm Astrodon filters? Yes they do seem to do them but they're optimised shall I say for the QSI range, will they work/fit the ZWO filter wheel you reckon? 

[DaveS]

I would not want to be without my 3nm HII and [NII] filters. You could get away with 5nm for [OIII] and [SII] but really 3nm are, if anything, easier to use than broader bandwidth, especially in LP as you will get less pronounced gradients to deal with.

You could combine the HII and [NII] data in post if you have them.

Two versions of the Rosette from the same data set.

First, {H+N}, O, O

And now NHO, mapping N to red, H to green, O to blue, like the HST palette with [NII] replacing [SII].

2 hours each HII and [NII] in 10 min subs, and 4 hours of the weaker [OIII], also in 10 min subs.

Megrez 90 plus AFRIV, Trius 694.

[souls33k3r]

wow! those are some breath taking images. Nice one Dave.

I take it these were done with the 1.25" Astrodon filters right? 

Do people get vignetting with the NB filters as well? If so, then it's the same as you would get with the LRGB or are NB more forgiving?

[DaveS]

Hi, sorry for the delay, yes they were all 1.25". I think there would be very little, if any, difference between different filters where vignetting is concerned, only down to thickness of the retaining ring in extreme FR.

[souls33k3r]

That's extremely helpful mate. Cheers

I'm now thinking that rather than going Astrodon (which will most certainly cost me an arm, both my legs and most probably my kidneys) i go with the Astronomik 6nm

Seeing that you live in London as well, how does that sound to you?

[DaveS]

Astronomik 6nm sounds OK to me. I started off with Baader NB filters but the halos I was getting with [OIII] pushed me to change, so I decided to go the whole hog to a set of 3nm Astrodons. This was when they were still £385 each instead of £460 or £480 as they are now. Not sure I'd still go that far now.

[SkyBound]

19 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Astronomik 6nm sounds OK to me. I started off with Baader NB filters but the halos I was getting with [OIII] pushed me to change, so I decided to go the whole hog to a set of 3nm Astrodons. This was when they were still £385 each instead of £460 or £480 as they are now. Not sure I'd still go that far now.

£480 for one filter..... ???

[ChrisLX200]

You could buy a Chroma 1-1/4" 3nM Ha for £388 at the moment, IMHO equal to Astrodon (I have both).

ChrisH

[DaveS]

I'm not sure you'd like to know how much the 50mm square are 

http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_product.php?id=1014

 

[astrocatinfo]

Do you all think that going to Halpha 3nm is better than 5nm (I've seen that Dave does :)? What about the lack of the NII band when using 3nm?? Does the sharper images make worth having to add an extra filter and also extra amount of images?

[DaveS]

I think that depends on your budget and how much you're willing to spend. For me, at the time, I could afford and *just about* justify the cost.

For most people the 5nm Astrodon or 6nm Astronomik would be fine. The question is, would you rather have the H and N together giving a brighter combined signal, or would you like to explore the distribution of the separate signals?

Only you can answer that. I know where I came on that question.

[astrocatinfo]

Thanks so much for your thoughs Dave. I'll have to explore a bit more.

 

Regards,

 

Aleix