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Lumicon's new O3 filter


allen g

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I'd like to try one. I have a Lumicon O-III from a few year back and it's a wonderful filter. There was a short phase a few months (maybe a year ?) back when Lumicon went a bit downhill under the new ownership but it sounds like the latest version is back at the top of the performance tree.

I understand that the Tele Vue Bandmate's have improved in their version II as well now that Astronomik are involved in their production.

 

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I just purchased the new one and will try to compare my version from around 2010 to the new one on PNs.  If all goes well will give my feedback.  However they do make fine filters.

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3 hours ago, allen g said:

will never depart from my 32 nagler.  Are they not made any longer by TV?

I think Louis is gently teasing you. TV don't make a 32mm Nagler. There is a 32mm Plossl or a 31mm Nagler. I assume you have the latter which is still made?

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I don't believe there are any UK dealers that carry Lumicon stuff. There are some European dealers but their prices are very high and you would not be sure whether you where getting a Gen 3 filter or  older stock. I suspect that unless you were very experienced with filters you would not see much diffrence and the Astronomik is a fine filter.

 

Owen

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I agree. I've owned the Astronomik O-III and it is very good. Some think it's band pass a little wide but I found that helpful in my smaller aperture scopes. I currently have an excellent, few year old Lumicon O-III which I will be holding onto. The new Tele Vue Bandmate II narrowband and line filters are now made by Astronomik and seem to be gaining much better reports than the Bandmate I's did. If I was in the market for a new O-III I'd be giving the TV Bandmate II O-III strong consideration:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tele-vue/tele-vue-bandmate-oiii-filter.html

Maybe FLO would be kind enough to loan me one so that I can do a "head to head" with my Lumicon and report back ! :smiley:

 

 

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Head to head ?? Good plan! New vs Old vs TeleVue! Side by side is the only way to test filters.

Are the old Lumicons noticeably better than cheaper offerings? I have 1 1/4” and 2” O111 versions, but have never used any other make of O111. UHC and Hb, yes m, but not O111.

Paul

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26 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

Are the old Lumicons noticeably better than cheaper offerings? I have 1 1/4” and 2” O111 versions, but have never used any other make of O111. UHC and Hb, yes m, but not O111.

 

The Lumicon 2 inch O-III that I have is around 4-6 years old I think. It's not one of the very old ones in the blue case with the gold sticker but it's not one of the most recent ones either. The emission transmittance figures for my filter are:

486nm HB: N/A

496nm O-III: 97.8%

501nm O-III: 96.6%

656nm HA: N/A

Not long ago (last year ?) Lumicon were bought out by another company and there were rumours that there was a temporary drop in the quality of their filters. This concern seems to have passed now and the new O-III that is the subject of this thread seems set to re-assert their place as a top filter brand.

 

 

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The TeleVue OIII and H-Beta filters are pretty much identical to the Astronomil versions. The main improved one is the TeleVue Bandmate 2 UHC type filter which is really nice so I would not waste money trying to get a TeleVue OIII and compare to the Astronomik OIII as they are the same.

Lumicon have undergone several buyouts since the orginal filters by Jack Marling. The current owner is Farpoint.

Owen

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I find the TeleVue Bandmate II O-III (2018+), the Astronomik O-III Visual (2018+), and the Lumicon Gen.3 O-III all equal in the field.  You can't lose with any of them.

My own personal filters were lab-tested and here are the results:

Filter bandwidth FWHM H-B line O-III (1) O-III (2) H-a low wavelength High wavelength
Astronomik O-III 2017 12 N/A 92.9 93.9 N/A  493 505
TeleVue O-III 2018 12 1.6 99.2 98.4 N/A  492 504
New LumiconO-III 2018 11 3.5 95.1 94.7 N/A  494 505
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I kind of look at the TV filters as special versions of the Astronomiks (Astronomik makes them for TeleVue).

I've seen some recent Astronomiks edging up on 98% transmission, too.

In the field, though, I've been unable to see a brightness difference among the 3.  Remember, a 10% difference is only 0.1 magnitude, which is much less than the hour-to-hour sky variation at most sites.

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FLO have kindly consented to lend me one of the new TV O-III filters in due course. I will compare it with my current Lumicon O-III and report back on how it fares. Obvious target objects will be the N America, Veil, Crescent and the Owl Nebulae plus M27 and M57. Happy to take suggestions of other interesting test subjects for this comparison :smiley:

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53 minutes ago, John said:

FLO have kindly consented to lend me one of the new TV O-III filters in due course. I will compare it with my current Lumicon O-III and report back on how it fares. Obvious target objects will be the N America, Veil, Crescent and the Owl Nebulae plus M27 and M57. Happy to take suggestions of other interesting test subjects for this comparison :smiley:

Glad to hear you are testing these Televues John and am curious as to any differences on the Eastern Veil. I have tried the DGM NPB, Lumicon UHC, Lumi OIII and Astronomik OIII on it and find it interesting how things show in this object with them. My guess is that the new Televue will mirror the good Lumicon versions and possibly exceed some of them because of transmission differences.

When does the testing begin?

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4 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Glad to hear you are testing these Televues John and am curious as to any differences on the Eastern Veil. I have tried the DGM NPB, Lumicon UHC, Lumi OIII and Astronomik OIII on it and find it interesting how things show in this object with them. My guess is that the new Televue will mirror the good Lumicon versions and possibly exceed some of them because of transmission differences.

When does the testing begin?

Towards the end of the month I hope Gerry.

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