Filter Frustration

[Mr. Subatomic]

Hey guys,

I've been looking at filters, especially some of the less expensive colour filters made by GSO and Meade as shown in the online Bintel store. Some of these have transmissions down to 25%, whereas the more expensive, obviously higher quality Astronomink coloured filters are scraping 100% transmission.

Is it bad that some of these less expensive coloured filters only let through as low as 25% of a particular wavelength when they're meant to be letting in as much as possible?

Thanks for your help.

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Mr Subman,

Its very bad to cut down on the amount of light you are letting through BUT you get what you pay for. If you are trying filters to see which ones you will use then the GS ones are good for a trial but if you find you use them a lot then get a good one of that colour.

Some people swear by the colour filters for planets but I find I mainly use the 80A light blue more than any and then only very rarely. If you think about it then the blue one will work on Jupiter and Mars which are both basically reddish as they will increase the contrast (because blue is the opposite to red in the colour wheel), the others will have very specialist tasks but the light blue will work most times if you need a colour filter on a planet.

Good luck

[Mr. Subatomic]

Thanks for that Rob, you've really helped.