M42 with 2" neodymium filter on 200mm f/5 Newt.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

As a test, I think that this has come out well. the wind was wobbling everything around so I had to go for ISO 1600 to get the subs shorter. Each of the 20 subs was 60 seconds, and 8 came out well enough to stack. Stacked in Registax and messed with in Photoshop CS2.

The "how to" is in the workbench section if anybody is interested.

Compared to the CLS filter, the neodymium is a big improvement in this image. I suspect that the CLS takes out too much red and hence Ha from the incoming light. This is a guess based on the very blue cast that CLS filtered images have (I'm going to look at the spectra later) but the result seems to work.

Now I can't wait for a good session on this beauty as I think some ISO 400 for 5 minutes each could be good. I'll have to see if the tracking is good enough though.

Thanks to Gordon C for the loan of the filter!

Captain Chaos

[GordonCopestake]

Great shot CC! Glad to see the filter working well for you

I look forward to your product review heh

[moondog]

Very nice image CC. Good colour and nebulosity, and you got the Running Man Nebula as well !

With a proper nebula filter you'd have pulled out even more detail.

When you have another go try different exposures , some shorter ones of 30 - 40 secs to keep the detail in the core and some longer ones for the extended nebulosity.

MD

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Very nice image CC. Good colour and nebulosity, and you got the Running Man Nebula as well !

With a proper nebula filter you'd have pulled out even more detail.

When you have another go try different exposures , some shorter ones of 30 - 40 secs to keep the detail in the core and some longer ones for the extended nebulosity.

MD

What kind of proper nebula filter? Very interested now that the vignetting has gone away, and I might be able to use the 2" FR that I have in a drawer somewhere.

I wasn't going for a "real" bash at this, just enough to "prove the concept" as it were. The straight out of the camera results were so much better than I had been getting with the 1 1/4" CLS or Antares LPR filters that I had a go only in as much as I did a few subs to get some good ones (even they aren't really any good due to the wind). It seems to have a lot of use coming up.

Wohoo! The images aren't either all red or all blue! That kind of thing you know?

Captain Chaos

[SteelRat]

Nice stuff CC 8) - interesting filter write up too, cheers.

[GazOC]

Nice detail CC, have you tried an OIII filter?

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Nice detail CC, have you tried an OIII filter?

I don't think that a DSLR would work well with a narrow band filter, would it?

Captain Chaos

[CELESCOPE]

nice one CC glad you getting something more from the DSLR, LOOK FOWARD TOI THE PROGRESS ON THIS

Rog

[GazOC]

Nice detail CC, have you tried an OIII filter?

I don't think that a DSLR would work well with a narrow band filter, would it?

Captain Chaos

God knows mate!

[MartinB]

Well done CC, good detail and a well framed shot.

Personally I don't think LPR filters are a good idea with colour images since they mess up the colour balance too much (except for luminence maybe). Think it's easier to process out the sky glow. No experience myself but using narrow band filters with colour chips means that only 1/3 of the pixels will be doing anything.

[moondog]

CC

What kind of proper nebula filter?

I used a Baader UHC-S nebula filter. This made a huge difference to the amount of nebulosity on M42 using the Canon DSLR.

With your scope's greater light grab than mine a nebula filter should give you some excellent detail.

MD