Lunt for Visual only, any filter out there for Pink->Yellow?

[rank]

Hello ladies and gentlemen.

I'm in the process of buying a Lunt LS50 and had a short peek into it. Was rewarded with a juicy prominence, as soon as I looked into it.

What stuck me, is how painfully pink the visual is compared to the processed images.

Since my intention is strictly visual, wanna know, if there's any method of getting the visual image in orange color?

I presume, the blue filter is not really going to improve anything here?

Cheers!

[Stu]

The colour is red because that is the frequency of light which is being filtered in order to see the features you want to see. Applying any other colour filter after that will merely result in a dark (or black!) view I'm afraid.

[Pete Presland]

The colour is similar to the PST, i have not heard of anybody using filters to change the colour. Most images you see are originally monochrome and coloured after processing. I don't think i would want to block any of the precious light coming through to the eyepiece with another filter, its hard enough to see the detail at times anyway.

[rank]

Sweet!

Thanks for your replies, guess it's just about getting used to it then.

On a positive side, no more money need to be spent, apart from, perhaps, doublestacking the little hero )))

[Pete Presland]

I bought the Double stack filter for mine last year. It made a big difference to the images i was producing, but i wasnt massively won over by the visual views. I guess at £700+ for it only the buyer can decide whether its worth the investment or not. I know at least one person on here that bought the D/S and sold it due to the views not being what he hoped for regarding the price.

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, rank said:

Sweet!

Thanks for your replies, guess it's just about getting used to it then.

On a positive side, no more money need to be spent, apart from, perhaps, doublestacking the little hero )))

It's actually amazing what you can get used to. I use a continuum filter when viewing with a Herschel Wedge in white light. The filter turns the sun a vivid green colour, but does enhance the detail you see. I am so used to it now that I'm always quite surprised when people looking through it say "Why is the sun green?"

[Stu]

10 minutes ago, bunnygod1 said:

I bought the Double stack filter for mine last year. It made a big difference to the images i was producing, but i wasnt massively won over by the visual views. I guess at £700+ for it only the buyer can decide whether its worth the investment or not. I know at least one person on here that bought the D/S and sold it due to the views not being what he hoped for regarding the price.

I suspect this relates to the varying sensitivity between people's vision in different frequencies. I've heard a number of accounts that double stacking makes the image too dim for visual and is best kept for imaging, but you do also read a similar number of reports that it enhances the surface contrast and is worth doing. Obviously aperture counts hear, so double stacking a PST40 is a different ball game to a Solarmax 90 for instance!

By the way, don't ever look through a double stacked Solarmax 90 unless you want to bankrupt yourself. Astounding views!

[Moonshane]

I think you also really need to blank out any ambient light (e.g. with a dark T shirt or towel over your head) with visual double stacking. It makes a difference with single stack but DS it's really critical from my discussions with people experienced in this. As Stu says though, more aperture = brighter image to start with.

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Moonshane said:

I think you also really need to blank out any ambient light with visual double stacking. It makes a difference with single stack but DS it's really critical from my discussions with people experienced in this. As Stu says though, more aperture = brighter image to start with.

Very true Shane. I think it is more important with Ha than white light as you say, but given the dimming of the image with double stacking it must be all the more so. That certainly wasn't a problem with the DS SM90!

[Pete Presland]

I agree with the comments above, blocking out the strong light is essential for any solar observing. It is very important for imaging as well. As for the Solarmax 90 how i would love 90mm of aperture   

[DrRobin]

The image should appear red to your eye, but it is possible that your white balance is changed, the eye and the brain change colours to what we expect to see and depending on what you were viewing just before looking in the scope might have influenced the colour you perceived.  As others have mentioned a filter won't work as Ha is very narrow band in the red spectrum and a filter will just serve to dull the image.  Most imagers use a mono camera and then apply false colour otherwise the camera chip is only using a third of the sensor area.

Double stacking does reduce the brightness as it reduces the bandwidth of the image, so less light gets through and a cloak of some description might help.  I have had some funny looks and comments hiding under a towel (whilst on holiday) looking or imaging the sun but a general air of eccentricity helps to avoid all but the most determined individuals.

Robin

[rank]

Thanks folks!

She's here with me now

And of course, it's raining Today..