Baader or Astronomik UHC

[nobbygon]

Hi,

I've moved to Sydney where the light pollution is much worse than where I’ve imaged from before. Traveling to a dark site is out of the question so I’m going to have a go with filters to try to block out some background light. I’m shooting through a GSO RC8 and QHY9 mono. It will basically replace my L filter.

I want to use the filter for both nebulae and galaxies. I understand that shooting galaxies through a UHC filter will block out some light but will it be worth it in terms of the darker backgrounds? I was leaning towards the Baader as it seems to be a bit broader than the Astronomik and should lessen this effect.

Has anyone got experience with both of these filters? What can you recommend?

Also, are these filters UV/IR blocking? I saw that the Astronomik site said theirs wasn’t and would need a separate filter. Can’t find anything on the Baader though.

Cheers,
Gus.

[Max Vondel]

The Astronomik is supposed to be the best. I have some of the Baader filters and am happy with those. A friend has the Astronomik filters and I couldn't notice much difference. But it wasn't a straight comparison so no firm conclusions. Used visually only and not for imaging. Ref the UHC and OIII only
:)

[nobbygon]

Thanks for the reply Peter.

From my latest research it looks like the UHC filters will be a no go. They are intended for visual use. I've been recommended the Astronomik CLS-CCD for what I am trying to do.
Has anyone got any experience with this filter or know of any good alternatives?

Cheers.

[cometcatcher]

No, the Astronomik UHC and Baader UHC-S can be used for photography. Both these filters pass Ha and OIII bands for single shot colour.



This is a good filter also. The CLS has a wider bandwidth than the other two, primarily at the blue end of the spectrum.



In that case I'd be more inclined to go narrow band for nebula with Ha and OIII filters. Maybe SII and H beta also, then do some combination with them for RGB colour.

[alocky]

I'm using the CLS-CCD filter, it works quite well from a semi dark site (bortle 3 or so), but I've never bothered from suburban Perth. I'll give it a go sometime out of curiosity.
Regards,
Andrew.