First LP filter purchase

[CaptainShiznit]

Hi guys,

New to imaging in general and I'm after a good LP filter for my terrible Bortle 8 skies. I also have a street lamp right behind my back garden lighting up the alley way and some of my small garden. I've read the filters tutorial and it mentions the following 3 popular filters:

Astronomik CLS

Hutech IDAS

Baader Neodymium

I've taken this to mean the following ones on FLO so please correct me if I've found the wrong ones:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomik-filters/astronomik-cls-ccd-filter.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/idas-filters/idas-d1-light-pollution-suppression-filter.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-filters/baader-neodymium-filter.html

My current setup is a Canon 600D (unmodified), SW130PDS, HEQ5 Pro.

My questions, as well as making sure I'm looking at the right filters, are:

Which would offer the best performance for my situation?

Which version of said filters would be preferable (i.e. clip filter or 2")?

Will the differences I see be worth the cost?

Cheers for any help

[RT65CB-SWL]

What type of streetlight is it ? - sodium streetlights could be filtered reasonably well with a Baader Neodymium, though not so sure about the other brands you have listed, (I have Bortle 6 skies), but not so good with LED streetlights.

[TerryMcK]

The IDAS D2 works well with all the light pollution I have including bright LED street lights. Well recommended for OSC or DSLR. Go for the 2” - more expensive but you can still use it if you decide to upgrade to a dedicated astronomy camera.

Edited January 25, 2020 by TerryMcK

[CaptainShiznit]

I'm pretty sure we have LED street lights. How can I be sure? Is it just a case of them being yellow or white?

[CloudMagnet]

Agree with the IDAS D2 2", works great for LED polution. The first link you posted is advised for modified cameras so that might not be the best unless you plan to modifiy the camera in the future.

Just to give a comparison, the first image below is without a filter and the second is with the IDAS D2. Both are 30 sec exposure looking almost directly at an LED steetlamp. Please forgive the poor focus on the first image :)

Edited January 25, 2020 by CloudMagnet

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, CaptainShiznit said:

I'm pretty sure we have LED street lights. How can I be sure? Is it just a case of them being yellow or white?

LED street lights tend to be a blueish white and have flat heads on them.  The LEDS are usually arranged in rows.

 

[TerryMcK]

The IDAS D2 works to suppress old style sodium lights (the ones that gave that yellowish/orange light) as well as modern LED lights so whatever you have in the street it will probably be ok. 

[Whistlin Bob]

 

10 hours ago, CaptainShiznit said:

Astronomik CLS

Hutech IDAS

Baader Neodymium

I actually have one of each of these! I bought a 1.25" Baader Neodymium before I got into imaging as it works well as a visual LP filter- but I then found it also worked well with my ASI224 as an IR blocker and improved the image quite a lot. 

I managed quite well with this until the lights  on my street were upgraded to LEDs (including an 8m monster right outside my house)- I decided to really bite the bullet and purchased a 2 inch IDAS D2. It felt like a hell of a lot of money for a small piece of glass (still does) but it made all the difference in the world to my setup - which is extremely close to yours (my 600d is modified and I use a SW Coma Corrector). Filterless, my subs fog out at less than a minute- with the filter they'll happily go out to 5 minutes ( @CloudMagnet's post shows the effect very well).

I also picked up a 2nd hand CLS clip filter for combining with standard photography lenses (which the 2" format can't support)- it's pretty good, but not as good as the D2.

[CaptainShiznit]

Thanks all for the great responses. IDAS D2 2" it is. Pay day on Friday 😅

[ebdons]

Hi, yes the idas should be ok, i have the astronomic cls and uhc and  have a good rep, but the IDAS versions are better but not by much,  I have the idas NB1 filter with some narrower bandwidths catered for and you could combine with the NGS1, i also have  the NGS1 filter which is like a D2 filter and a broadband filter which I use with the brighter objects. like galaxies and brighter nebs etc. think the NB1 filter would be a good filter to use with the new cmos type cameras? tony