Skywatcher OIII filter

[Ben Ritchie]

Anybody used the Skywatcher OIII filters?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=skywatcher_oiii_filter

i've not used OIII visually so not too sure what to expect, would be with the 12" Dob + 28mm UWAN and 13mm Ethos . Don't really want to spend £69 on a whim and get something that I won't use, so feedback welcome!

[John]

I'll be interested to hear on this as well Ben - been thinking the same myself after having some real fun with the Orion Ultrablock tonight with the 12" dob. I was getting hints of the Owl's Eyes in M97 and I'm wondering if an OIII would do the trick.

John

[ZOG]

I bought a Baader OIII filter and used it for the first time last night on the 12" Dob. On the Orion nebulae, it made the gaseous bits a lot clearer and dimmed the stars down to a faint violet glow.

Definitely more detail in the nebulae with it and, I think, a worthwhile buy.

[Merlin66]

We used the Lumicon OIII visually regularly with scopes from 8" upwards.

Visually it kills EVERYTHING other than a little of the Hbeta and lets all the OIII get through. 90% of the light pollution goes as well!

Great for Gaseous Nebulae and Planetary Neb, but doesn't leave much for starlight or Galaxies

[Andrew*]

OIII's a great filter for anything over 8", but can still work in smaller apertures. Of course you need to pick your targets sensibly - it's phenomenal on the veil nebula, okay on M42, cracking on planetary nebs... I would say it's worthwhile to try one out. Speaking personally, it's the ONLY filter that's truly transformed the view for me.

Don't knwo specifically about the SW OIII filter, but if their UHC is anything to go by, it will be fine. I've used Baader's and Astronomik's 1.25" OIIIs and they're both excellent.

Andrew

[Ben Ritchie]

Thanks guys, i'll have a rummage around the back of the sofa for some cash and order one - there's an irritating amount of LP around here, and I think OIII may be useful (with the obvious caveats about only being effective on some targets!).

Any idea what the difference between the Baader and Skywatcher filters are? Apart from £59 of course

[steve51450]

hi ben i have emailed you:)

[dark knight]

I did a search on this a while back and there is a review on the net of lots of different filters including the OIII, it even tells you what each one is best used for. If I remember correctly the OIII filter proved to be one of the best all round filters with the most uses. Heres the link http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1520

Hope it helps

Carl

[John]

Any idea what the difference between the Baader and Skywatcher filters are? Apart from £59 of course

Ben,

I think the Baader OIII is a little more "severe" than some other OIII's which may or may not be a good thing.

John

[Ben Ritchie]

John, I assume for visual that's not going to be a huge issue? Especially in the 2" format the SW looks good value, the alternatives look rather out of my budget, but want to make sure it's not a false economy!

[Merlin66]

Ben, The difference is the amount of secondary Hbeta light that gets through. For visual not a major issue.