THANK YOU!!... This is the first time I really understood about the various type of filters and why the variance in the thickness of each filter. Plus now I understand why I would use one filter over the other for imaging my DST. I currently have the L extreme and L enhance but didn't know when to use one over the other. I live in a bortle 9 area in southern california. I have enjoy your videos and you have given me good advice on equipment I am choosing. Especially coming from a newbie point of view and not trying to make the very expensive mistakes.
I'm glad to hear that! I think if people are able to get a basic understanding, then they can carve out their own upgrade path towards their own individual goals.
After having watched a lot of videos about filters I have to say this is EXACTLY the one i was looking for. Like you said your self in video. Not about someone telling you what to use but some one educating you and helping you to understand what to choose! Perfect! Thank you so much!!!
Not a boring video at all.. just technical or, 'dry as a popcorn fart', as one of my teachers used to say. Looking forward to seeing your setup at the new place Angus so keep us posted.
Nicely explained video I certainly learned things about those graphs I didn't know. I live in a bortle 4 zone but I got an L-Extreme to help with moonlight (always seems to be clear around a full moon) and also the much smaller stars it produces.
I'm just starting to understand filters and your explanation was great. Where do you find recommended filter information for a specific target? If you are imaging a galaxy in dark skies then probably not use a filter or just a broadband to improve contrast? For nebula you mentioned reflective and emission types? How do you know a nebula is reflective or emission? Is there a list of targets by M or NGC names that has imaging recommendations? Rather than searching Cloudy Nights.
I'm glad it helped. My goal was to help people make their own purchase decision based on their own individual needs, versus "here, buy this, because I said so" haha :) Hope you'll like your Optolong L-enhance! Although, I would recommend the L-Ultimate if you have the budget for it. I did a video on it.
Highly instructive video : thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I just got myself an l-pro for shooting my broadband targets. I’m in a bottle 4 but sadly, I am surrounded by lots of city lights that ruin my sessions. Good video as always ! 👍 ´hope you will have better sky quality in your new location !
Hey thanks for checking out the video as always! My new location technically has worse conditions. I am still in San Francisco, except now I am now two blocks away from the Pacific Ocean. I don't know how much of that ocean moisture will affect me, but hey... it can't get any worse right? Either way, I am looking forward to start imaging there. Besides, the new place actually poses a new challenge for me already. More of that in the next video (hopefully, weather permitting).
I have an L-ultimate and L-pro on the way for bortle 7 backyard and I do a lot at bortle 2 when camping. I got the L-pro for bortle 2 I didn’t realize it was strong enough for a place like San Francisco I’ll definitely use it in the backyard now too!
I am planning to get Optolong L-pro for my bortle 8/9 backyard imaging. I will get the clip-on filter so I can use multiple lenses and scope. My only concern is that some people said focusing is tricky.
Thank you. Very good video and now I understand the difference between the filters. I am wondering is there value to have and use these filters with an astro modified camera. I guess I am still confused over removing filters to let more light in and adding filters to cut down on light let in. Or are these filters really only of benefit with unmodified cameras?
Here’s my question, and small concern, I guess - With the narrowband filters, are they going to cut out so much light that the stars are too faint for scope alignment/tracking? Should I use something like L Pro or Baader Neodymiam until slewing to vicinity of specific nebula, and then swap to narrowband? 🤷🏼♂️ I’m in bortle 6-7 skies, and the last couple of nights, the moon has been so bright, on top of yellow street lights, that I didn’t even bother to get outside. The only thing I’d be able to align the scope on is the moon (Nexstar 8SE) via solar align.
It's not a concern, it's an actual thing. 😀 Sometimes I can't plate solve properly because the starts are not apparent enough with these narrowband filters. So I end up having to plate solve without a filter, then swap in my narrowband. Or bump up the plate solving exposure time.
@@nocturneastro2539 yeah, I was thinking maybe L-enhance or even something a little less aggressive from lumicon or Baader - just something to get the moon and light pollution down to a level that allows me to see stars .. and then, when already on target with a particular nebula, swap to one of the more aggressive, contrasty narrowband filters. We’ll see. Have yet to buy any filters at all, so trying to keep the expense down while not wasting money on crap that doesn’t work, and without sacrificing decent quality as well. The video was helpful - Sub’d. The L-enhance might be a good middle of the road. Then, can get less/more aggressive based on results. Funny, because the next town over, approx 5 miles west, is supposedly Bortle 3 skies.
I'm afraid what you've read is true for most cases when it comes to the Optolong L-Extreme. I too have issues with it when it comes to halo. I have a way to minimize the halo in post editing, but optically, it is there. I have a video on how to get rid of halos in post editing.
