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New Range of Tele Vue Filters


John

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2 hours ago, Stu said:

Interesting move, but makes you wonder what they will offer that Astronomik filters don’t, especially for the inevitable premium. Isn’t the Nebustar filter basically a UHC?

Yes, the Nebustar is basically a UHC. I had one of the "T1" Nebustars for a while in the 1.25" fitting and found it a competant but not outstanding UHC. A much lower cost UHC seemed to pretty much perform the same way, put it that way !

I find Astronomik filters very good so it will be interesting to see if the TV "T2's" are Astronomik plus or Astronomik with TV branding (and TV pricing).

 

 

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4 hours ago, alan potts said:

Lets hope so though I doubt they will be cheap.

 

Hi Alan, the Widescreen Centre are offering the 2" at £255 but AgenaAstro have them for $220 (168GBP) so a lot cheaper.  In the past I have bought all my filters from AgenaAstro and they are both efficient and fast, and on many occasions was not charged import tax.  Links here:

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/B2N-0200.html

https://agenaastro.com/televue-band-mate-2-nebustar-uhc-filter-b2n-200.html

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2 hours ago, Louis D said:

If Televue wanted to go with high end rebranding, they should have gone with Astrodon filters.  I've only ever heard good things about their filters.

They don't do visual filters do they Louis?

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1 hour ago, Stu said:

They don't do visual filters do they Louis?

I'm sure if Televue could guarantee volumes at the right price, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

There's nothing that prevents using photographic filters visually other than your own eye's sensitivity to certain frequencies being passed.  I prefer dichroic photographic RGB filters to simple dyed ones because of the greater transmission values and purer colors.  I just wish they came in a greater range of colors or have multiple passbands.  I have some 1970s Optica b/c dichroic filters in 8 narrow passband colors (violet, deep blue, light blue, green, yellow, yellow-orange, orange-red, and red IIRC), but they only pass about 30% of the available light in those bands, so they're actually fairly dim.  They're mostly interesting to use on the moon to give it a rather psychedelic appearance.  However, if the passbands were widened a bit and the transmission improved to 90%+, they'd be awesome on planets.

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Rechecked on those Optica b/c interference filters in the 1974 catalog.   There are 6, not 8 as I initially recalled.  There is no blue or red distinction, just violet, blue, green, yellow (I'd call it yellow-green), orange (I'd call it orange-red), and red.  Would you believe they were $256 for a set of 6 in 1974?  That's nearly $1400 today!  Ordinary dyed filters were $28 ($150 today, a bit high, but likely USA sourced) for a set of 6 from them that year (note they came in 3 densities each, try to find that today).  That's over 9 times more expensive!?  No wonder they never caught on.  I feel really fortunate to have picked them up in new old-stock condition for $80 5 years ago from one of Optica b/c's original catalog astro photographers.  I'm guessing they gave them to him to try out, but he never even removed them from their packaging in 40 years.

Catalog excerpts below.  The two interference pricing columns were for 24.5mm (0.965") and 1.25" sizes.

1776572995_Opticabcinterferencefiltersdescription1.JPG.03384c7ac659e93d9dad99fb3074cf8d.JPG2027685762_Opticabcinterferencefiltersprices.JPG.25465cbd35181af1110cff3d92f23af3.JPG

1816303487_Opticabcinterferencefiltersdescription2.JPG.3de3028d8859ed979ab7801ea5c70bca.JPG547885405_Opticabcstandardfilterprices.JPG.226d7f7bb710d70fbddb565f1353343f.JPG

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14 hours ago, Louis D said:

If Televue wanted to go with high end rebranding, they should have gone with Astrodon filters.  I've only ever heard good things about their filters.

Can't say I have heard any bad reports anout Astonomik though , I have a few of them and have always been happy though very much doubt that I would swap for a more expensive cherry picked on with a different name on it.

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On 13/09/2018 at 08:24, estwing said:

Same here Alan...fantastic filters

That's from a pretty big TeleVue fan too, can't do much at the moment the mosquitoes are terrible, I went out to water the lawn the other night with Autan on and came back looking like Spotty Dog, they must wear gasmasks.

Alan

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1 hour ago, alan potts said:

That's from a pretty big TeleVue fan too, can't do much at the moment the mosquitoes are terrible, I went out to water the lawn the other night with Autan on and came back looking like Spotty Dog, they must wear gasmasks.

Alan

I have terrible mosquitoes and other biting bugs in my back yard from April to October.  I use a big, vintage box fan on high blowing across me to keep the bugs away all night and morning while observing.  I keep the airflow behind or to the side of the scope(s) so as not to introduce local disturbances to the air column.

I try to wear long pants when putting out the sprinklers.  It helps a bit.

For camping, I use at least 25% DEET in one form or another and have never had issues with biting bugs, even right next to stagnant ponds.  I haven't tried any of the newer icaridin repellants like Autan.

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On 12/09/2018 at 00:30, John said:

Looks like Tele Vue have re-launched their Bandmate filters with a Type 2 version, made by Astronomik in Germany:

http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=24&Tab=_spec

I wonder if FLO will be stocking them in due course ?

We have them in stock already but haven’t yet added them to our website. Sorry. Will do our best to make them live Monday ?

HTH, 

Steve 

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20 minutes ago, Pig said:

I have never had much joy with any filter...... are they more suited to large aperture scopes ? 

My Lumicon OIII always presents a more contrasty view of most emission nebula in my 8" f/6 Dob.  My Lumicon UHC less so.  I use a generic moon & skyglow when comet hunting along my light polluted western horizon after sunset to increase contrast slightly.  Color filters rarely help on planets in my experience.  They just make things dimmer.  They're kind of fun to use on the moon to make it all sorts of weird colors.

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1 hour ago, Pig said:

I have never had much joy with any filter...... are they more suited to large aperture scopes ? 

I’ve had plenty of fun with OIII and UHC filters in smaller scopes Shaun. I have two lovely examples of the old style Lumicons which would be the last things I ever sold in a crisis because they are pretty much irreplaceable.

Obviously any filter reduces the total amount of light available, so dark adaptation is still very important, even more-so with a smaller scope. I’ve had my best successes under decently dark skies, widefield views of the Veil and NAN can be amazing. If at home, a blanket or hood over your head can make a real difference.

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3 hours ago, Pig said:

I have never had much joy with any filter...... are they more suited to large aperture scopes ? 

I've had a lot of fun as well with UHC's and O-III's (especially the latter) with apertures from 100mm.

If I owned just one (which I did for a while) it would be the Astronomik O-III which seemed to deliver the goods in a wide range of scopes. I have a Lumicon O-III now and an Omega DGM NBP filter (a UHC type) and they both seem very good but it's the O-III that gets used quite a bit more often because it has the biggest impact.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Pig said:

I wonder what I am doing wrong then as I have owned 2 of the 3 filters you have mentioned with no:success., mine were 1.25 format. Maybe I should try again now that I have more experience.

When you say no success, what do you mean? Do you just not see anything at all?

I assume this is in your Tak or the 110mm you had previously? Which targets did you try and what were/are your skies like?

I’ve had wonderful views of the Veil and NAN in the Tak and other 4” scopes, and have usefully used them in smaller scopes.

Perhaps worth starting a new thread then we can discuss more.

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4 hours ago, Pig said:

I wonder what I am doing wrong then as I have owned 2 of the 3 filters you have mentioned with no:success., mine were 1.25 format. Maybe I should try again now that I have more experience.

I first tried my O III filter (1.25mm) on the Veil with a TV 25mm plossl and could barely see anything apart from darker skies ? 

What made the difference was my 24mm panoptic, maybe the addition of an eyepiece with a larger FOV?? 

As a test with the filter fitted I could see the Veil, without the filter just stars. I’m in a fairly LP area but the difference was quite remarkable. 

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I would not have thought that the switch to a 25mm TV plossl to a 24mm Panoptic would have made much / any difference to how the O-III performed ?

While the AFoV is larger with the Panoptic, the overall performance, light transmission etc is pretty much thye same with the 25mm TV plossl I think. With regards to light transmission the plossl is probably a touch better than the Panoptic (TV plossls are some of the best there is for light transmission).

Exit pupil does make a difference to the performance of narrowband and line filters but the focal length of the eyepiece determines that, not the AFoV.

The Veil is a large target (a bit over 3 degrees for the whole complex, each of the brightest arcs are approx 1.3 degrees in extent) so a wide true field is required.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Stu said:

When you say no success, what do you mean? Do you just not see anything at all?

I assume this is in your Tak or the 110mm you had previously? Which targets did you try and what were/are your skies like?

I’ve had wonderful views of the Veil and NAN in the Tak and other 4” scopes, and have usefully used them in smaller scopes.

Perhaps worth starting a new thread then we can discuss more.

I have not tried any with the TAK Stu, and if I remember correctly i was using the 110mm frac and maybe a 9.25 SCT. There is a good chance I was over doing the magnification so I may have to purchase another OIII . I tried many targets to make sure it wasn’t target specific and the skies were pretty good at the time and I saw nothing at all. However,  I did view the ring and veil nebs through Mikes last Dob using the Baader OIII and they were fantastic. Is it possible you could post a link to the filter you use or an equivalent that is available ? ?

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32 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

I first tried my O III filter (1.25mm) on the Veil with a TV 25mm plossl and could barely see anything apart from darker skies ? 

What made the difference was my 24mm panoptic, maybe the addiction of an eyepiece with a larger FOV?? 

As a test with the filter fitted I could see the Veil, without the filter just stars. I’m in a fairly LP area but the difference was quite remarkable. 

That’s interesting ..... maybe I over egged the magnification.

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