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Which light pollution filter?


smr

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Hi all,

Bought my first refractor telescope today, a Zenithstar 73, and also a field flattener which can house a 2" filter. I have an APS-C DSLR.

I'd like to know which light pollution filter I'd need please. I have semi-urban skies and we do have those new LED street lamps in the village but having said that maybe because the village is in quite a rural location the light pollution doesn't look too bad. I think it's worth trying a filter anyway- ideally I'd like a 2" one to fit in the flattener, but if not a clip in will do.

It'd be for imaging DSOs with nebulosity.

Thanks for any advice.

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The idas d2 is supposed to be really good, while preserving the blue colors. Unfortunately I do not speak from experience on that one, I found it too expensive and perhaps not necessary in my case.

But if you say the light pollution isn't too bad, I would recommend the baader Moon and skyglow filter. It really had a noticable effect on my osc pictures, much cleaner background, and good colors. It is a filter i would probably use from a darksite even.. bonus is it is not too pricey..

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Thanks for the replies. 

I image from class 6 Bortle skies. On Friday night I was imaging with ISO 200 and 90 second subs and the histogram peak wasn't far off the LHS, probably only about 15-20 percent in. And the image I did take came out ok. That said I do want to get into guiding quite quickly so I can expose for longer and therein will be the problem with LP. 

I've just had a look at the D2 filter on FLO. I like the way that it's meant to block LED lighting as my village has virtually replaced all the sodium lamps with LED ones instead, but they say in the description optimised for modded cameras.

I have no intention of modding my DSLR, would this filter still work well or are there better alternatives? £175 is probably do-able, especially if I can find one second hand for cheaper, but I don't really want to be spending over £200 for an LP filter - around £150 is more what I am looking at.

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If you go with an IDAS clip-in for prime focus imaging like I did for my Canon T6i, keep in mind, if you also plan on using camera lenses for wide-field imaging, to make sure that the lenses are compatible with the clip-in. My 50mm and 50-250mm EFS lenses will not fit with the clip-in in place, and I now have to purchase a 2" LPS filter or buy new EF lenses. I was told that trimming off the superfluous flange on the EFS's will allow it to fit, but in trying this with an old beat-up EFS 50mm, I found it did not work (and as a millwright I know it was not because of anything I did wrong).

Just curious r.e. your comment about not modding the DSLR. I think you may be limiting your ability to capture the widest possible range of colours without this mod. I checked out the tutorials and was ready to give it a go until my brother, who has worked all his adult life repairing electric and electronic instruments and equipment, told me he had done several over the years, so I jumped at the chance to have it done by a pro I trusted, and at 1/3rd the price! Perhaps a member of this forum has a connection to pass on? Just saying.

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50 minutes ago, smr said:

Thanks for the replies. 

I image from class 6 Bortle skies. On Friday night I was imaging with ISO 200 and 90 second subs and the histogram peak wasn't far off the LHS, probably only about 15-20 percent in. And the image I did take came out ok. That said I do want to get into guiding quite quickly so I can expose for longer and therein will be the problem with LP. 

I've just had a look at the D2 filter on FLO. I like the way that it's meant to block LED lighting as my village has virtually replaced all the sodium lamps with LED ones instead, but they say in the description optimised for modded cameras.

I have no intention of modding my DSLR, would this filter still work well or are there better alternatives? £175 is probably do-able, especially if I can find one second hand for cheaper, but I don't really want to be spending over £200 for an LP filter - around £150 is more what I am looking at.

I believe the "optimised for modded dslrs" just means that they have taken more precautions to ensure correct colour balance 

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18 hours ago, Seanelly said:

If you go with an IDAS clip-in for prime focus imaging like I did for my Canon T6i, keep in mind, if you also plan on using camera lenses for wide-field imaging, to make sure that the lenses are compatible with the clip-in. My 50mm and 50-250mm EFS lenses will not fit with the clip-in in place, and I now have to purchase a 2" LPS filter or buy new EF lenses. I was told that trimming off the superfluous flange on the EFS's will allow it to fit, but in trying this with an old beat-up EFS 50mm, I found it did not work (and as a millwright I know it was not because of anything I did wrong).

Just curious r.e. your comment about not modding the DSLR. I think you may be limiting your ability to capture the widest possible range of colours without this mod. I checked out the tutorials and was ready to give it a go until my brother, who has worked all his adult life repairing electric and electronic instruments and equipment, told me he had done several over the years, so I jumped at the chance to have it done by a pro I trusted, and at 1/3rd the price! Perhaps a member of this forum has a connection to pass on? Just saying.

The reason I don't want to modify my DSLR is because I also use it for other photography. As well as this I've seen quite a lot of astro photos where nebulaes are just red and no other colours. 

There's also an article written by Roger Clarke where he explains why not all stock cameras need modifying. I can confirm this with my Canon 80D after imaging the Soul Nebula and I was able to process plenty of red nebulosity. 

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/do_you_need_a_modified_camera_for_astrophotography/

 

 

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32 minutes ago, smr said:

The reason I don't want to modify my DSLR is because I also use it for other photography. As well as this I've seen quite a lot of astro photos where nebulaes are just red and no other colours. 

There's also an article written by Roger Clarke where he explains why not all stock cameras need modifying. I can confirm this with my Canon 80D after imaging the Soul Nebula and I was able to process plenty of red nebulosity. 

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/do_you_need_a_modified_camera_for_astrophotography/

 

 

I used to image with a modded 600D and now have a stock 80D (not for astro but did try once while waiting for my CCD), for M42 at least there is no comparison, sadly i deleted the images from the 80D because they just wern't worth keeping.

I'll follow this thread because i now need a 2" LP filter and don't know wether to just get the £26 one from FLO or go £179 for the Astronomik, now reading this there is a third to consider.

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18 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

I used to image with a modded 600D and now have a stock 80D (not for astro but did try once while waiting for my CCD), for M42 at least there is no comparison, sadly i deleted the images from the 80D because they just wern't worth keeping.

I'll follow this thread because i now need a 2" LP filter and don't know wether to just get the £26 one from FLO or go £179 for the Astronomik, now reading this there is a third to consider.

As with everything, you get what you pay for

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1 hour ago, geordie85 said:

As with everything, you get what you pay for

Yes you do, but i have what i would consider a small amount of sodium light pollution from a very small town to my NE.

If anyone has bought the FLO one i would be interested in your thoughts.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm still wondering which light pollution filter to get, I don't know if it's possible to say from this image taken tonight what kind of light pollution I have and which one to go with. As said we have the newer led street lamps in our village but the light seems quite well directed. It doesn't look like the orange glow from the old sodium style street lamps? So do you think I should go for the IDAS D2 or would a filter like the Skytech CLS or Moon and Glow filter work ?

 

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