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View Full Version here: : Light Pollution Filter or Ha Filter?


Jasp05
09-09-2019, 11:24 AM
Hi guys,

I'm looking into whether I should I just get a light pollution filter to help with my imaging from the backyard or whether a Ha filter would be better.

My skies are somewhere around a bortle 4-5 here in my town I think. (It's an orange zone on Dark site finder.com) But I can spot M8 with the naked eye most nights if the moon isn't around.

I have a car dealership across the street that uses strictly white lighting so I do have an excessive amount of "white" light versus a normal street with the usual Sodium vapor bulbs. I am shielded by the light as my house sits between the observatory and the lights, but I still imagine this impacts my imaging substantially.


I image with a modified Canon 550D. (one internal filter removed. not replaced with Baader glass or anything).

I am considering the Ha Filter over a light pollution filter as this will allow me to image during the times the moon is up. However I have read that these are not great to use on one shot colour cameras due to the RGGB Bayer matrix. (Only registers 1/4 of the signal of a mono camera with the same filter. so I have to increase exposure time a huge amount, or just deal with terrible signal to noise ratio in Ha subs). I generally image widefield so increasing the sub lengths to 10-15min is probably doable, but I know my DSLR will hate that from a temp point of view).

My current imaging setup is in my signature.

I would like your opinions on which would provide what benefits and why one would be more useful than the other?

If you have any preference towards brand, type - clip in/ screw in etc. I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance

Nikolas
09-09-2019, 11:33 AM
If you purchase the optolong L-Enhance filter you are effectively doing both. Google it for the reviews and there are some great youtube reviews as well, otherwise I also use the Optolong Lpro filter a great help as well.

crs
28-11-2019, 02:26 PM
I had a 'moon and sky glow' filter that i heard was supposed to cut down the light pollution but it was not very good. I ended up with Ha (and OIII, SII) and it seems to do the trick. They are ZWO so not sure how they stack up against others.

RyanJones
30-11-2019, 09:04 AM
I use the other version of the same thing as Nik. Mine is an STC Duo Filter. I image in bortle 8 skies but I think even calling it an 8 is generous. I use it on an astromodified Canon 350d. I can image happily up to about 70% moon and up to 5 min subs where I start getting amp glow anyway, well before LP wash out.