Idk about useless, I'm in bortle 6 and the SVBONY (cheapest one) has literally been the difference between nebulosity being there and not, as in completely invisible to visible, seems pretty significant to me.
@@coleisman - That depends what camera you use. I am at Bortle 5-6 and I get nebulosity without any filters with osc cmos camera Except my stars are bloated due to the filter I got has no UV/IR cut capability.
@@Cuntymccuntface123 There are so many variables and, despite Nico has made such amazing job, his excelent work didn't cover all of them. For example: differente ISOs, total exposure time vs apparent magnitude, telescope aperture and so on. You should test the limits of your gear bf buying a filter and this video can give you some directions.
OMG i am so excited to see this. You mentioned you were going to make it a while back and I have been eagerly waiting for it to drop. Thank you for all you do to bring us the best information we can use to become better at our craft.
This is by far the most informative and direct review. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this, and really look forward to checking out your website. Thank you
I have the svbony cls filter, one thing ive noticed is it seems to reduce star size a bit, which is always a good thing in astrophotography. but I would only suggest these in heavy light pollution as It seems I've been picking up less faint detail with it in comparison to shooting without it, and I'm in a bortle 4/5.
@@NebulaPhotos Great in depth video btw. I just started this hobby in may of this year, and your videos have been a big help. thanks for your contribution to astrophotography. Clear skies from here in eastern long island.
Excellent presentation, the best I have seen on this topic. Having just watched this for the second time, I absorbed a little more information. Greetings from Tasmania Australia 🇦🇺🦘👍
I'm only 30 seconds in, and Nico said "exhaustive." I thought, "Oh dear," it being Nico. But hey - its just 20 minutes. I don't need to set aside a whole evening. (Not a complaint!! Nico's stuff is worth spending the evenings.)
This is a great, well researched review. I live near Seattle, under a bortle 7 sky. Just bought the Svbony CLS as it's the cheapest I could find and I'm still figuring out if this is a hobby I can get into. The filter arrived 5 days after I ordered it and right on the night I got it it started raining. We've had 2 semi clear nights in the month that I've had it and I don't think it'll get better soon. I guess I will have to wait till spring given that traveling is still not such a good idea. Bummer!
www.seattleastro.org/activities/2 Ask around about dark sites at the Seattle Astronomical Society Astrophotography Special Interest Group. As long as we all stay 6 ft apart and mask up, I don't see why we can't do astrophotography safely as it is all outside which is a lot safer than inside. The rain/cloud problem I can't help with. I know Seattle is particularly bad for that aspect. Best of luck!!
Awesome review. I got the SVBony CLS clip-in for my unmodified Canon T2i + 70-200mm lens to shoot under my bortle 8-9 skies (with my Skyguider Pro) and it seems to do a very nice job. I also have the 2" version of the Optolong L-eNhance, but I can't really use it with a camera lens, so I'll wait with it until I upgrade to a small refractor.
This is the best comparison video I've seen of these filters, and one I wish existed a few months ago before I made my LP filter purchase! I love the extensive knowledge and information that your videos provide. Thank you, Nico!
Fantastic job Nico! Thank you for going above and beyond. This combined with your new website will prove to be extremely valuable for the community. I hope you have opportunities to continue adding to the list in the future. I'm sure people would love to see what you could do with the L-Extreme!
The Svbony CLS is only $35 and my sky is bright at night from the city and money is important so I use that. The others are beyond my budget. So great reviews
Thank you so much for this video. A lot of useful information. I can´t see how to attach to 5D Mk III the baader filter, unles you have a 48 mm lens...because, there is not clip version, or I´m grong? Anyway. Thank you so much.
@@NebulaPhotos waiting anxiously for that one! Please include single band as well as dual-narrowband ones like L-eNhance and L-eXtreme as well. That would rock!!! :-)
For the Boston area where you did the test for Bortle 9, would you say the predominant kind of streetlight is old fashioned sodium (yellow) or have they moved mainly to LED?
@@NebulaPhotos Arrrgghh, I have just found out that altho my city (Victoria, BC, Canada) has now moved to LED streetlights, they are largely of the warmer 3000K temperature. They use the cooler, 4000K for street crossings and roadways. I live in a residential area, so it would seem that my main influence would be the warmer LED's. In that case, using an UN-modified DSLR (Canon 5D4), would the regular CLS (Astronomik or Svbony) be best?
@@neild108 Any of these ones would work well with a stock Canon 5D4, but I believe that particular camera model doesn't work with clip-in filters. Do you use a telescope? If so, you might have a place to mount a 2" filter which makes it easier. In that case, I'd probably just go for the cheapest one (the Svbony CLS) since it performed very well for the price.
@@neild108 Unfortunately, no. Straight from the Astronomik website: "Please note that the XL-Clip filters will not work with the Canon 5DS, 5DSR, and the 5D Mk IV" www.astronomik.com/en/clip-filter/clip-filter-fur-canon-vollformat.html With just lenses and the 5D Mk IV, I think you will be limited to filters you can put on the front of the lenses, none of which I really recommend unfortunately. So I'd just do many short exposures. Light pollution can also be overcome with just more total time on target. See my recent imaging battle with Cuiv where he got an amazing shot of the Pleiades from Tokyo!
@@NebulaPhotos Hey, thanks for the head's up on the Astronomik XL for 5D4. And for the great tips about total time on target and doing more short exposures. Will try that.
I appreciate the work you put in. I know that must have been exhausting. I got the l-pro but have not had a chance to play with it. My camera just got modified and I’m waiting to get it back. I’m under bortle 6-7 so I’m eagerly waiting clear skies. Thanks for your efforts.
Just found your channel in the last couple of weeks since I bought a star tracker and have been experimenting with it and deep sky objects. I actually tried shooting the North American nebula last night from my balcony in Somerville as well, and was quite disappointed to see the lack of color and details. I may have to look into a filter, though I frequently go to the white Mountains in New Hampshire and dark skies are quite good up there! I've learned a lot already from your videos, I'd say the biggest thing I have to improve my knowledge on at this point is image stretching and editing! Thanks for your great work!
Nico, thanks. The spectrograph presentation was OUTSTANDING!!! A Master class, really. Your comparison helped me decide on getting a light pollution filter. As you know, these can be quite costly, and I don't have to get the very best, but I do buy so that I do not have to replace later on, if that makes any sense? I opted for the Svbony CLS, 2". I live in a city. And I do shoot both astrocameras, and unmodified DSLRs, so at less than $50.00 I can justify the cost for the DSLR use .... Again, nice job. And thank you!
Great review! I have a couple of technical comments for you to consider. Since these are all thin film interference filters (thin film stacks of high and low index), their design is probably established with normal incident light. It was unclear if the stand you developed included a collimated light source. If not, you could have a large portion of the light at substantially non-normal angles. In that case, the optical thickness of each layer will be different and each filter design will behave differently (less transmission and wavelength isolation shifted). This could be a key contributor to your "as measured" results varying from the manufacturer's specification. You might want to attempt to collimate the light a bit (could even emulate the focal length of the lens you intend to use) and then see how the filters perform on your spectrometer.
Yes, that is what added substantially to the cost of building the device. I bought my collimated tungsten lamp from Thor Labs. I could try to emulate my focal length by adding more lenses, but I don't think that should be necessary. From what I understand talking to others is that it's pretty normal for these filters to be not completely 'in spec'. The transmission charts they send are not that particular filter measured, but rather an ideal filter. Most filter manufacturers don't state how much variance is acceptable. All that said, I didn't see really anything out of the ordinary in the real world imaging tests which is what really matters more to me.
@@NebulaPhotos If you could draw a "idealized" filter spectrum showing transmission by wavelength, what would it look like? Which specific wavelengths would you want to block? There are a few companies out there making more advanced optical thin film products for fluorescence microscopy, telecom applications, etc. Like the filters you reviewed, these can be bandpass, multi band pass in nature or even designed for specific slope shapes over the entire visible spectrum. They typically have ion beam or magnetron sputtering systems with advanced optical endpoint control to deliver higher transmission >95% and very steep and deep optical isolation OD5 or even OD6 performance. It would be an interesting design challenge to see if a manufacturable design solution could be created for your "ideal" spectral response.
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Awesome and reassuring that the filter that I have already ordered (optolong cls) and is hopefully somewhere in the mail was the right choice (bortle 8 in Reykjavík)
Hey Nico great job on this comparison - I missed it when it first came out. I own the Astronimik CLS and the Baader Neodynium and found very similar results to you in my bortle 5 region in Monroe, CT. I purchased the CLS first but was unhappy with the colors and more apparent noise that I got with it so I went with the Baader. I really don't use either much since I do most imaging with a monochrome camera, however, I now have an ASI 294MC Pro to be used with a new setup (once it arrives) so I will be using the Baader a lot more. I also purchased the IDAS NBZ for Ha and OIII imaging as well. - Cheers Kurt
Thanks Kurt. Yeah the Baader gives nice colors, and is very similar to the Optolong L-Pro. If I was doing much OSC work with moderate light pollution that is what I'd use too.
I’m just about to send my DSLR out to be for spectrum modified. From what I’m gathering, the benefit of doing this is to get the IR light that is normally cut out on a stock camera. Wouldn’t a filter like the L2 also do the same as the built-in DSLR IR filter and block out the IR? I thought IR passing through was what I want for nebula. Thanks and great video!
Hi Christopher, Stock DSLRs often have a very aggressive IR-Cut filter that actually cuts well in to "the visible spectrum" making red nebulae less bright (e.g. pass the Ha line at 35% transmission). Now what is a bit confusing is what we normally call "the visible spectrum" is 400-700nm, but humans can't really see much past 650nm. Ha is at 656nm and SII is at 672nm. These are the main spectral emission lines we want for nebulae, especially the Ha. They are both deep red. We are typically not interested in picking up the infrared (IR) in amateur astrophotography, and due to the way optics work passing the infrared will actually result in star bloat typically because most lenses can't focus on the infrared and the visible light spectrum at the same time. So the reason to use an "Astronomik L2" or other UV/IR cut filter with a full spectrum camera is to block the IR, but it still passes the Ha and SII (nebula emission lines). If you do go "full spectrum" with your mod, you will want to use a UV/IR cut filter too. Really the only reason to go "full spectrum" over an "ha mod" is if you want to shoot IR photography with an IR pass filter either during the day or for planets with a telescope. More on these topics in my intro to filters video: th-cam.com/video/ys-28z4qTYw/w-d-xo.html Clear skies, Nico
What a GREAT review. We love that it is to the point, and let's the photos speak, and love your opinions at the end.....please do more of these....IDAS 1 is what i have , and pleased so far...would like to see how it stack up to your scrutiny.
Excellent review and thoroughly done. I look forward to seeing further tests of more extreme dual band filters in the class of the Optolong L-Enhance, Astronomik UHC or Radian filters which OPT should be able to supply you, if they haven’t already. And keep in mind that it isn’t necessary to shoot only through a filter. Under darker skies shooting unfiltered and filtered images and blending them later gives you the best of both worlds: the natural star colours and more subtle tones of some nebulas along with the richest and greatest extent of faint red nebulosity. It isn’t either/or. Unless you are shooting under light polluted skies, then a filter and modified camera is essential. And in that case an even more extreme filter than what you tested here would likely be better. Clear skies!
I'm pretty much in agreement. Confirmation Bias aside, I had both a full-spectrum T3i and a 294MC-Pro as well as UV/IR, Astronomik, Baader Neo and a few no-name CLS filters. The Baader definitely seemed to produce the best results on both when I was closer to light pollution. Especially with color. I ended up having to part with half of my gear but kept the Baader and UV/IR for use with the 294 because they were my favorites. I'm happy I did. Now if the sky would clear up, that'd be great.
Around 13:17, if you compare Baader Neodymium and Astronomik CLS, the stars from Astronomik CLS is larger. I think it may be due to thin cloud which can also cause lower contrast in the image.
GREAT Review! I appreciate the non-bias comparison and then your thoughts at the end with your personal selections. Hope to see more in the future - especially liked your LAB setup to compare the published specs. I would like to see what this comparison looks like with LED light pollution, Incandescent, Low-pressure sodium, and high-pressure sodium to round out the comparison because my Bortel 8 may not be the same as someone else's Bortel 8.
Man this is a great review. Really breaks it down in detail. Personally I thought the Optolong L-Pro was the best optically. And the SVBONY was close enough to the others that it’s price makes it the best if you’re on a budget.
Really impressive method and delivery, Nico! Recently found your channel by referral from a photography friend and I've been so refreshed by your atypical, scientific approach to photography. Also Boston-based, so it's nice to know there's hope for me to get some good shots one day. Cheers!
Hello Nico! It was great to meet you at NEAF this year. I was going back through your videos as I am filter hunting for the new ZWO Duo. In this video, you briefly discuss your spectrometer setup. I would be curious to see an in-depth video on this as I might be interested in building one of my own.
WOW Nico!!!! What a GREAT review...But please next time start to measure the filters glass thickness, why? Because depending on what the filter thickness is that effects back focus, so let's say a 2mm think filter changes your back focus about 30% + or -, and what's very important is if all of your filters are all the same thickness like 1.85mm thick then they should be parfocal, that is the focus is about the same, so once you set your focus it may not need to be changed unless the temps change. 1 reason to purchase the same brand of filter is when you change a filter like LRGB your focus is very much are the same. What you did here is the best I have ever seen and I hope you will continue to do this kind of testing / reviews? I would get the Optolong L-eXtreme & the Optolong L-eNhance 2 of the best filters for the money.
Thanks Christopher! I did plan to measure filter thickness, but I couldn't figure out how to get the mounting off the Baader or Astronomik. Now that I'm thinking more clearly, I can use a measured shim and still use my digital calipers without removing the filter mount. I will do that soon, and add filter thickness to the website. I do plan to continue reviewing astrophotography products including many more filters. The L-eXtreme and L-eNhance are on my list. I won't give any estimate of when such reviews will be done, but I tend to be slow. This review took six months from concept to completion. Clear skies, Nico
Excellent review Nico! It works out great for me I only bought the Astronomik cls for my Canon 80D. Going to look into the IR cut filter now. Thanks for the review!
I'm a beginner at Astrophotography and only use my telelense to shoot and a non-modified camera. I'm usually under a bortle 5-6 sky, and getting nebula to show was pretty tough. I purchased a Hutech LPS-D1-N5 clip-in filter and it helped a lot to get the red nebula to show. The downside: for my Nikon D5300 there was almost no other option to use (most seem to be produced for Canon users), the price tag of 200€ seems like a lot, and what I wasn't aware of (but it's kinda obvious NOW) is how much these filters multiply the "bad effects" of lenses like vignetting & aberrations. Taking wide angle (11-16mm) milky way shots of 3 minutes or so with the filter, usually means I will have to crop quite a bit to get rid of the nasty deformed stars. Summary: I'm not disappointed by my filter, but there are definitely issues I encountered when using it and if the sky is clear enough, I often opt for no filter.
Yes, deformed stars and vignetting are a big issue when using filters with wide angle lenses. Unfortunately, this isn't talked about much, but I did mention it a bit in my previous filters video, and the solution Astronomik has come out with their "XT" line. th-cam.com/video/ys-28z4qTYw/w-d-xo.html Unfortunately only Canon APS-C :( To keep it simpler for this video I only used a small telescope, which takes out a lot of these variables and made it easier for me to compare filters.
3-5min exp is good with non mod camera. Wide lenses is not good with filters, than u need to use the samyang/rokinon 100-135mm, than it will work better. My fav. is the 135mm f2, it is like Gold to me :) 4min exp on that lens. holy crap man, it is amazing!
Great job Nico. Clear and objective; more so than most other comparisons I've viewed. I'm using Orion SkyGlow filter but still doesn't darken sufficiently my Bortle 5 skies outside Pittsburgh. Need a more effective CLS filter! Thanks much.
great review. do you think the Optolong L-Pro and the Skytech L-Pro Max are very similar ? someone said that the Optolong L-Pro produces a litte bit more starhalos.
Hi Nils, I haven't tested the Altair Skytech L Pro so I can't say for sure, but my guess is they are literally identical and Optolong is the supplier for Altair, as they are for ZWO. Cheers, Nico
this was incredibly helpful. almost made me wonder if i ordered the wrong filters haha i have the asi294mc pro coming and i have the l-enhance and l-pro filters. but watching this, there are clearly better filtering options to use. i live in an area with bortle 5 skies, that being said there are areas close by which i have not gone to that are bortle 3. you gave me something to think about for future purchases
Great review, very nice! Keep it up! A small feedback for your website: It would be awesome if you could add a slider to compare the before (without) and after (with) picture using the filter, because you already have all the data. Also at the first moment I found it a little bit confusing, that in the description of the pictures there is no note that a filter is used. Especially because in the Video you compared the picture taken with a filter to the picture without.
Thanks for the feedback. I don't know how to do the slider thing, but I can look in to it. I did make this page for directly comparing the filters in the review against no filter: www.astrofilters.com/2020/10/15/light-pollution-filter-shootout/
Great review! I shoot under bortle 8 skies with an unmodified Canon 80D, I use the Astronomik CLS. Really like that filter, so it was nice to see your results with it and all the other. Keep up the good work and clear skies.
Thanks for that exactly what I was looking for. I'm Bortle 6 using a ASI183MC, so look torn between the Neodymium and the L-Pro... but this has helped a lot. Probably start with the Neo at nearly half the price of the other!
So far I have learned from Nico: - My CLS filter does not block the light here (LED lights on streets) - Also doesn't block IR What does it do? - Lengthens my exposure time for no benefit -Making my stars bloat -Block useful light information Solution: Cheap option: I'm at Bortle 5 I'm shooting dedicated osc astro camera , so just get a quality (!) UV/IR block filter and adjust my exposure time to my sky brightness. Expensive option -Get a mono astro-camera + narrowband filters along with the LRGB filters.
Great video! Really useful! What type of adapter do you use to attach a 2” filter to a dslr? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again… great content :).
This is a great review. I am looking for a filter for EAA so live stacking with typically sub 10s exposures in Bortle 6 using a ZWO camera. I want something to knock down some of of the pollution without losing too much of the object. I think for an all round choice for galaxies and clusters as well as nebulae I will go for the Neodynium. It seems to produce a more natural image although be less effective as a CLS filter. If I was in Bortle 8/9 I would go for the CLS filters. I tried the Svbony UHC and it introduces a fairly aggressive purple cast like even on Arcturus. Their CLS filter actually looks a good budget pick though..
Thanks for carrying out such a thorough series of tests and image captures! One major issue I have with your results however is that you actually combined two filters in some of the tests. I would have preferred you not to have confused the results with the pairings with the Astronomik L-2 in each case. The headline 'Light Pollution Filter SHOOTOUT' should be just that or else modified to include 'in combination sometimes with an Astronomik L-2'! And what about combinations with the Astronomik L-1 or L-3?
Hi Ed, There seems to be a misunderstanding here. To be clear: I didn't double up filters in any of these image captures. In the QHY tests, I only used the L-2 as the control filter for comparison to the other filters. I used an L-2 rather than a bare sensor because in real-life shooting I would never suggest someone shoots deep sky with the QHY168C without some kind of IR-block. Again, all the tests were single filter tests. Sorry for the confusion, Nico
Congratulations for the excellent video as always. I'm shooting from polluted skies (bortle 7) with very close LED street lighting. I understand that if I use an optolong l-enhance will help a lot but I will exclude most of the colors of reflection nebulae and galaxies, if instead I still want to photograph these objects what can I use having the nearby LEDs and shooting with a not-modified reflex? Could Idas lps d3 work? Thank you
Nico, follow-up question: In many cities, yellowish sodium streetlights are being replaced by DEL energy efficient white lights. When you did this review, how would you characterize the type of city streetlights in your community and in Boston? Where I live, Bortle 8/9 around Montreal, most have been upgraded to the DEL lights and I think the light pollution spectral profile has changed. It would be interesting to have a systematic review like you did in that context. I think we can't call all light pollution the same any more.
Hi Marc, Yes, I should have noted that when I took these tests, all streetlights in Somerville/Cambridge and many in Boston had already been converted to white LED lamps with the much broader spectrum than a high pressure sodium or mercury vapor. So these results are with that in mind. LP filters would be even more effective if one lived in a town/city that still used the older style streetlights or 'warm' 3200K LEDs. I've seen some people online write that the move to LEDs makes LP filters 'obsolete.' I don't agree with that, they will still improve contrast by blocking much of the green/yellow spectrum, but they won't be as effective since the new streetlights pollute the blue spectrum. In the same way, an OIII narrowband filter is not as effective as it once was. ~Nico
Hello friend, very good review, a query, is there a filter that is of good performance against LED streetlights? In the city they are changing all public lighting to LED and it has killed the attempt to perform astrophotography, if you know of a good filter that effectively fights LED light, I would really appreciate it, could you also perform a Svbony UHC Filter Review? Thank you.
Hi Mauricio, there are, but they are expensive unfortunately. The best filters for modern LP with broad spectrum LEDs are narrowband and multi-bandpass filters. Narrowband filters are best used with mono cameras, and multi-bandpass filters (Optolong L-eNhance for example) are designed to be used with color cameras. All these filters are designed with emission nebulae in mind. They don't do well with broadband targets or accurate star colors.
Personally, I thought there was a subtle improvement under Bortle 4 skies using the Lpro (best) and the Neodymium. Contrast was improved a little, but the stars were definitely tightened up and I didn't really notice any loss of star colour. The CLS filters were horrible. Really in the Bortle 9 you would be better with something like the L extreme. Anyway, good video, always good to see real life comparisons without hours of post processing.
Sounds like this might have been a challenging video to put together, but it turned out fantastic! Excellent comparison! Everything I would want to make the best decision.
the baader Neodymium moon and sky glow works well on jupiter and mars as well for detail and the GRS.. its a good all rounder but i own a dedicated astro cam .. cheap-ish as well .... good unbiased review cheers james D
This is an amazing and informative review! I’m a high school student just getting into astrophotography, and am just wondering what are some adequate exposure times for, say, the North America Nebula under Bortle 6 skies with a stock DSLR and no light-pollution filter? I’ve tried something like 80x20s at 70mm, f/2.8 and ISO 800 but I'm, barely able to see the outline of my subject? Thanks Nico, and I love your videos!
More total exposure time is always better! NA Nebula is a tough object with a stock DSLR due to it being a dim, diffuse object that mostly shines in Ha (656nm) where many stock DSLRs are not particularly sensitive. To know if 20s, f/2.8, ISO800 is the right sub-exposure time, use the 1/4 histogram rule: take a test exposure, go to playback and hit the INFO button until you see a histogram, the peak of that histogram should be hitting about 1/4 over from the left. Adjust ISO or shutter speed until it is.
This explained a lot from my photo perspective. As just starting out, it helped me prioritize where to focus. (Ha!) Glass, location, filters, mounts, etc.
Nice. Would've been nice to see what can be done to each file in post. It's cool that the filters work well for straight out of cam pictures, but who does astro SOOC? Looking into what the raw files can be edited into is more interesting imho
Almost 4 years later, the work you did still has tremendous value, keep it up Nico!
Thanks!
This is how all reviews should be like. Amazing job Nico!
Great Non-Biased Technical analysis of 4 popular filters, best i've seen so far on youtube. Thanks for putting in the work Nico.
Glad it was helpful!
This is probably the best filter review I have ever seen on TH-cam. Really clear and helpful. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful! Clear skies, Nico
The results are not what I wanted to hear, but they prevented me from buying useless filters. Thanks for the review.
Glad it was helpful Alex. Clear skies, Nico
So they don't work? Thanks for saving me 20 minutes! 🍻
Idk about useless, I'm in bortle 6 and the SVBONY (cheapest one) has literally been the difference between nebulosity being there and not, as in completely invisible to visible, seems pretty significant to me.
@@coleisman - That depends what camera you use. I am at Bortle 5-6 and I get nebulosity without any filters with osc cmos camera Except my stars are bloated due to the filter I got has no UV/IR cut capability.
@@Cuntymccuntface123 There are so many variables and, despite Nico has made such amazing job, his excelent work didn't cover all of them. For example: differente ISOs, total exposure time vs apparent magnitude, telescope aperture and so on. You should test the limits of your gear bf buying a filter and this video can give you some directions.
How I am only now watching this?? This was a titanic effort Nico, thank you so much for doing all of this! Absolutely amazing!
Nico, perfect presentation for my current state and growth in astro-photograpy. Nice to see the various comparison.
The quality of your videos is off the charts! Thanks for putting in all this hard work!
TY for the In Depth review. I purchased the Baader because I mainly shoot at 360mm in my backyard and our hospital use Na-Lamp ...
Answers almost all the questions one can have.....with detailed scientific and objective explanations! Thank you!
Complimenti, fai dei video esaustivi e completi con molti esempi pratici.
Most underrated YT channel. you should get more subscribers
Thanks for your great review! It helped me a lot making my decision for an Astronomik CLS filter on my stock Nikon Z6II.
I really appreciate the diligence and methodical approach for a proper review. Thanks a lot!
Awesome thank you! I just purchased a used Astro modified DSLR and have a three filter set of the SVBony filters. I'm in bortle 5.
Thanks for the excellent information.
Given the price of the Svbony filter I'm just going to buy one and see how it works for me.
OMG i am so excited to see this. You mentioned you were going to make it a while back and I have been eagerly waiting for it to drop. Thank you for all you do to bring us the best information we can use to become better at our craft.
Thanks Miguel! Hope it helps 👍Clear skies, Nico
Thank you for the thorough review and great information!
This is by far the most informative and direct review. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this, and really look forward to checking out your website.
Thank you
As usual a great and useful video Nico!
Thanks Nico! Makes me feel good I went for the SVBONY CLS filter instead of splurging a bit more and getting the Astronomik filter
I have the svbony cls filter, one thing ive noticed is it seems to reduce star size a bit, which is always a good thing in astrophotography. but I would only suggest these in heavy light pollution as It seems I've been picking up less faint detail with it in comparison to shooting without it, and I'm in a bortle 4/5.
Yep, we are on the same page there! Clear skies, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Great in depth video btw. I just started this hobby in may of this year, and your videos have been a big help. thanks for your contribution to astrophotography. Clear skies from here in eastern long island.
Excellent video nico. Just what i was looking for.
Excellent presentation, the best I have seen on this topic. Having just watched this for the second time, I absorbed a little more information. Greetings from Tasmania Australia 🇦🇺🦘👍
I'm only 30 seconds in, and Nico said "exhaustive." I thought, "Oh dear," it being Nico. But hey - its just 20 minutes. I don't need to set aside a whole evening. (Not a complaint!! Nico's stuff is worth spending the evenings.)
1.5x :-)
This is a great, well researched review. I live near Seattle, under a bortle 7 sky. Just bought the Svbony CLS as it's the cheapest I could find and I'm still figuring out if this is a hobby I can get into. The filter arrived 5 days after I ordered it and right on the night I got it it started raining. We've had 2 semi clear nights in the month that I've had it and I don't think it'll get better soon. I guess I will have to wait till spring given that traveling is still not such a good idea. Bummer!
www.seattleastro.org/activities/2
Ask around about dark sites at the Seattle Astronomical Society Astrophotography Special Interest Group. As long as we all stay 6 ft apart and mask up, I don't see why we can't do astrophotography safely as it is all outside which is a lot safer than inside. The rain/cloud problem I can't help with. I know Seattle is particularly bad for that aspect. Best of luck!!
Top shelf review - thanks
Awesome review. I got the SVBony CLS clip-in for my unmodified Canon T2i + 70-200mm lens to shoot under my bortle 8-9 skies (with my Skyguider Pro) and it seems to do a very nice job.
I also have the 2" version of the Optolong L-eNhance, but I can't really use it with a camera lens, so I'll wait with it until I upgrade to a small refractor.
This is the best comparison video I've seen of these filters, and one I wish existed a few months ago before I made my LP filter purchase! I love the extensive knowledge and information that your videos provide. Thank you, Nico!
Fantastic job Nico! Thank you for going above and beyond. This combined with your new website will prove to be extremely valuable for the community. I hope you have opportunities to continue adding to the list in the future. I'm sure people would love to see what you could do with the L-Extreme!
As I'm getting back into the hobby after many years absence, and shopping for filters, this is EXACTLY what I needed to see. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
The Svbony CLS is only $35 and my sky is bright at night from the city and money is important so I use that. The others are beyond my budget. So great reviews
Great video, just I needed. I was not sure if I go for LP or baader. But they are very close
Thank you so much for this video. A lot of useful information. I can´t see how to attach to 5D Mk III the baader filter, unles you have a 48 mm lens...because, there is not clip version, or I´m grong? Anyway. Thank you so much.
Great job. In bortel 9 or 4 on a Astro camera, what would you recommend galaxies?
That was an awesome review. In depth with spectrographs and pictures. Please do a review of narrowband filters too!!!
Thanks, Glad you liked it! Narrowband filters reviews will come eventually
@@NebulaPhotos waiting anxiously for that one! Please include single band as well as dual-narrowband ones like L-eNhance and L-eXtreme as well. That would rock!!! :-)
Excellent job as usual. I'm a neighbor from Rhode Island.
Thank you for this review. I have Optolong L-pro and Bortle 9 skies, so I do not think I did a bad purchase given you analysis. Thank you again.
Yes, with a dedicated astro camera (or modded dslr) the L-Pro was good in all conditions
For the Boston area where you did the test for Bortle 9, would you say the predominant kind of streetlight is old fashioned sodium (yellow) or have they moved mainly to LED?
Mainly moved to white LED
@@NebulaPhotos Arrrgghh, I have just found out that altho my city (Victoria, BC, Canada) has now moved to LED streetlights, they are largely of the warmer 3000K temperature. They use the cooler, 4000K for street crossings and roadways. I live in a residential area, so it would seem that my main influence would be the warmer LED's. In that case, using an UN-modified DSLR (Canon 5D4), would the regular CLS (Astronomik or Svbony) be best?
@@neild108 Any of these ones would work well with a stock Canon 5D4, but I believe that particular camera model doesn't work with clip-in filters. Do you use a telescope? If so, you might have a place to mount a 2" filter which makes it easier. In that case, I'd probably just go for the cheapest one (the Svbony CLS) since it performed very well for the price.
@@neild108 Unfortunately, no. Straight from the Astronomik website: "Please note that the XL-Clip filters will not work with the Canon 5DS, 5DSR, and the 5D Mk IV" www.astronomik.com/en/clip-filter/clip-filter-fur-canon-vollformat.html With just lenses and the 5D Mk IV, I think you will be limited to filters you can put on the front of the lenses, none of which I really recommend unfortunately. So I'd just do many short exposures. Light pollution can also be overcome with just more total time on target. See my recent imaging battle with Cuiv where he got an amazing shot of the Pleiades from Tokyo!
@@NebulaPhotos Hey, thanks for the head's up on the Astronomik XL for 5D4. And for the great tips about total time on target and doing more short exposures. Will try that.
I appreciate the work you put in. I know that must have been exhausting. I got the l-pro but have not had a chance to play with it. My camera just got modified and I’m waiting to get it back. I’m under bortle 6-7 so I’m eagerly waiting clear skies. Thanks for your efforts.
The L-Pro is great for a modified camera. Clear skies! Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Is it better to custom white balance the camera before or after placing a LP filter?
@@GrowingAnswers After
Just found your channel in the last couple of weeks since I bought a star tracker and have been experimenting with it and deep sky objects. I actually tried shooting the North American nebula last night from my balcony in Somerville as well, and was quite disappointed to see the lack of color and details. I may have to look into a filter, though I frequently go to the white Mountains in New Hampshire and dark skies are quite good up there! I've learned a lot already from your videos, I'd say the biggest thing I have to improve my knowledge on at this point is image stretching and editing! Thanks for your great work!
Nico, thanks. The spectrograph presentation was OUTSTANDING!!! A Master class, really.
Your comparison helped me decide on getting a light pollution filter. As you know, these can be quite costly, and I don't have to get the very best, but I do buy so that I do not have to replace later on, if that makes any sense?
I opted for the Svbony CLS, 2". I live in a city. And I do shoot both astrocameras, and unmodified DSLRs, so at less than $50.00 I can justify the cost for the DSLR use ....
Again, nice job. And thank you!
Thanks Nico, that was very helpful. Keep up the good work, you've won a new subscriber :-)
Great review! I have a couple of technical comments for you to consider. Since these are all thin film interference filters (thin film stacks of high and low index), their design is probably established with normal incident light. It was unclear if the stand you developed included a collimated light source. If not, you could have a large portion of the light at substantially non-normal angles. In that case, the optical thickness of each layer will be different and each filter design will behave differently (less transmission and wavelength isolation shifted). This could be a key contributor to your "as measured" results varying from the manufacturer's specification. You might want to attempt to collimate the light a bit (could even emulate the focal length of the lens you intend to use) and then see how the filters perform on your spectrometer.
Yes, that is what added substantially to the cost of building the device. I bought my collimated tungsten lamp from Thor Labs. I could try to emulate my focal length by adding more lenses, but I don't think that should be necessary. From what I understand talking to others is that it's pretty normal for these filters to be not completely 'in spec'. The transmission charts they send are not that particular filter measured, but rather an ideal filter. Most filter manufacturers don't state how much variance is acceptable. All that said, I didn't see really anything out of the ordinary in the real world imaging tests which is what really matters more to me.
@@NebulaPhotos If you could draw a "idealized" filter spectrum showing transmission by wavelength, what would it look like? Which specific wavelengths would you want to block? There are a few companies out there making more advanced optical thin film products for fluorescence microscopy, telecom applications, etc. Like the filters you reviewed, these can be bandpass, multi band pass in nature or even designed for specific slope shapes over the entire visible spectrum. They typically have ion beam or magnetron sputtering systems with advanced optical endpoint control to deliver higher transmission >95% and very steep and deep optical isolation OD5 or even OD6 performance. It would be an interesting design challenge to see if a manufacturable design solution could be created for your "ideal" spectral response.
Awesome and reassuring that the filter that I have already ordered (optolong cls) and is hopefully somewhere in the mail was the right choice (bortle 8 in Reykjavík)
Hey Nico great job on this comparison - I missed it when it first came out. I own the Astronimik CLS and the Baader Neodynium and found very similar results to you in my bortle 5 region in Monroe, CT. I purchased the CLS first but was unhappy with the colors and more apparent noise that I got with it so I went with the Baader. I really don't use either much since I do most imaging with a monochrome camera, however, I now have an ASI 294MC Pro to be used with a new setup (once it arrives) so I will be using the Baader a lot more. I also purchased the IDAS NBZ for Ha and OIII imaging as well. - Cheers Kurt
Thanks Kurt. Yeah the Baader gives nice colors, and is very similar to the Optolong L-Pro. If I was doing much OSC work with moderate light pollution that is what I'd use too.
I’m just about to send my DSLR out to be for spectrum modified. From what I’m gathering, the benefit of doing this is to get the IR light that is normally cut out on a stock camera.
Wouldn’t a filter like the L2 also do the same as the built-in DSLR IR filter and block out the IR? I thought IR passing through was what I want for nebula.
Thanks and great video!
Hi Christopher,
Stock DSLRs often have a very aggressive IR-Cut filter that actually cuts well in to "the visible spectrum" making red nebulae less bright (e.g. pass the Ha line at 35% transmission). Now what is a bit confusing is what we normally call "the visible spectrum" is 400-700nm, but humans can't really see much past 650nm. Ha is at 656nm and SII is at 672nm. These are the main spectral emission lines we want for nebulae, especially the Ha. They are both deep red. We are typically not interested in picking up the infrared (IR) in amateur astrophotography, and due to the way optics work passing the infrared will actually result in star bloat typically because most lenses can't focus on the infrared and the visible light spectrum at the same time. So the reason to use an "Astronomik L2" or other UV/IR cut filter with a full spectrum camera is to block the IR, but it still passes the Ha and SII (nebula emission lines). If you do go "full spectrum" with your mod, you will want to use a UV/IR cut filter too. Really the only reason to go "full spectrum" over an "ha mod" is if you want to shoot IR photography with an IR pass filter either during the day or for planets with a telescope. More on these topics in my intro to filters video: th-cam.com/video/ys-28z4qTYw/w-d-xo.html
Clear skies, Nico
Fantastic explanation! Thank you for the information
Thx Nico! All very helpful info. And congrats on new site.
Great video! We need this investigation done with narrowband filters!
What a GREAT review. We love that it is to the point, and let's the photos speak, and love your opinions at the end.....please do more of these....IDAS 1 is what i have , and pleased so far...would like to see how it stack up to your scrutiny.
Loved the spectrophotometry part. From my work to hobby, it continues 😊.
This was an excellent review and was very helpful. Thank you.
A really amazing video, keep it up man!.
Excellent review and thoroughly done. I look forward to seeing further tests of more extreme dual band filters in the class of the Optolong L-Enhance, Astronomik UHC or Radian filters which OPT should be able to supply you, if they haven’t already.
And keep in mind that it isn’t necessary to shoot only through a filter. Under darker skies shooting unfiltered and filtered images and blending them later gives you the best of both worlds: the natural star colours and more subtle tones of some nebulas along with the richest and greatest extent of faint red nebulosity. It isn’t either/or. Unless you are shooting under light polluted skies, then a filter and modified camera is essential. And in that case an even more extreme filter than what you tested here would likely be better. Clear skies!
I'm pretty much in agreement. Confirmation Bias aside, I had both a full-spectrum T3i and a 294MC-Pro as well as UV/IR, Astronomik, Baader Neo and a few no-name CLS filters. The Baader definitely seemed to produce the best results on both when I was closer to light pollution. Especially with color. I ended up having to part with half of my gear but kept the Baader and UV/IR for use with the 294 because they were my favorites. I'm happy I did. Now if the sky would clear up, that'd be great.
Around 13:17, if you compare Baader Neodymium and Astronomik CLS, the stars from Astronomik CLS is larger. I think it may be due to thin cloud which can also cause lower contrast in the image.
Amazing Nico. Happy New Year to you.
Looking forward to this year's content. 👍
Amazing job! Thank you for this very in-depth review!
GREAT Review! I appreciate the non-bias comparison and then your thoughts at the end with your personal selections. Hope to see more in the future - especially liked your LAB setup to compare the published specs. I would like to see what this comparison looks like with LED light pollution, Incandescent, Low-pressure sodium, and high-pressure sodium to round out the comparison because my Bortel 8 may not be the same as someone else's Bortel 8.
Great review! I intend to get the SVBONY for a modified canon 1200D (full spectrum) for bortle 8-9 conditions.
Amazing job Nico! thank you for the great review
Thanks Nico, excellent review, filters are a bit of a minefield with variations in quality even in the same model.
Man this is a great review. Really breaks it down in detail. Personally I thought the Optolong L-Pro was the best optically. And the SVBONY was close enough to the others that it’s price makes it the best if you’re on a budget.
Really impressive method and delivery, Nico! Recently found your channel by referral from a photography friend and I've been so refreshed by your atypical, scientific approach to photography. Also Boston-based, so it's nice to know there's hope for me to get some good shots one day. Cheers!
Hello Nico! It was great to meet you at NEAF this year. I was going back through your videos as I am filter hunting for the new ZWO Duo. In this video, you briefly discuss your spectrometer setup. I would be curious to see an in-depth video on this as I might be interested in building one of my own.
WOW Nico!!!! What a GREAT review...But please next time start to measure the filters glass thickness, why? Because depending on what the filter thickness is that effects back focus, so let's say a 2mm think filter changes your back focus about 30% + or -, and what's very important is if all of your filters are all the same thickness like 1.85mm thick then they should be parfocal, that is the focus is about the same, so once you set your focus it may not need to be changed unless the temps change. 1 reason to purchase the same brand of filter is when you change a filter like LRGB your focus is very much are the same. What you did here is the best I have ever seen and I hope you will continue to do this kind of testing / reviews? I would get the Optolong L-eXtreme & the Optolong L-eNhance 2 of the best filters for the money.
Thanks Christopher! I did plan to measure filter thickness, but I couldn't figure out how to get the mounting off the Baader or Astronomik. Now that I'm thinking more clearly, I can use a measured shim and still use my digital calipers without removing the filter mount. I will do that soon, and add filter thickness to the website. I do plan to continue reviewing astrophotography products including many more filters. The L-eXtreme and L-eNhance are on my list. I won't give any estimate of when such reviews will be done, but I tend to be slow. This review took six months from concept to completion. Clear skies, Nico
Excellent review Nico! It works out great for me I only bought the Astronomik cls for my Canon 80D. Going to look into the IR cut filter now. Thanks for the review!
I'm a beginner at Astrophotography and only use my telelense to shoot and a non-modified camera. I'm usually under a bortle 5-6 sky, and getting nebula to show was pretty tough. I purchased a Hutech LPS-D1-N5 clip-in filter and it helped a lot to get the red nebula to show. The downside: for my Nikon D5300 there was almost no other option to use (most seem to be produced for Canon users), the price tag of 200€ seems like a lot, and what I wasn't aware of (but it's kinda obvious NOW) is how much these filters multiply the "bad effects" of lenses like vignetting & aberrations. Taking wide angle (11-16mm) milky way shots of 3 minutes or so with the filter, usually means I will have to crop quite a bit to get rid of the nasty deformed stars. Summary: I'm not disappointed by my filter, but there are definitely issues I encountered when using it and if the sky is clear enough, I often opt for no filter.
Yes, deformed stars and vignetting are a big issue when using filters with wide angle lenses. Unfortunately, this isn't talked about much, but I did mention it a bit in my previous filters video, and the solution Astronomik has come out with their "XT" line. th-cam.com/video/ys-28z4qTYw/w-d-xo.html
Unfortunately only Canon APS-C :( To keep it simpler for this video I only used a small telescope, which takes out a lot of these variables and made it easier for me to compare filters.
3-5min exp is good with non mod camera. Wide lenses is not good with filters, than u need to use the samyang/rokinon 100-135mm, than it will work better. My fav. is the 135mm f2, it is like Gold to me :) 4min exp on that lens. holy crap man, it is amazing!
Thanks for a great video, as always!
Thank you so much for the quality demo.
Great job Nico. Clear and objective; more so than most other comparisons I've viewed. I'm using Orion SkyGlow filter but still doesn't darken sufficiently my Bortle 5 skies outside Pittsburgh. Need a more effective CLS filter! Thanks much.
Super-useful info! THANKS!
Good video, Nico👍🏼
great review.
do you think the Optolong L-Pro and the Skytech L-Pro Max are very similar ?
someone said that the Optolong L-Pro produces a litte bit more starhalos.
Hi Nils, I haven't tested the Altair Skytech L Pro so I can't say for sure, but my guess is they are literally identical and Optolong is the supplier for Altair, as they are for ZWO. Cheers, Nico
this was incredibly helpful. almost made me wonder if i ordered the wrong filters haha i have the asi294mc pro coming and i have the l-enhance and l-pro filters. but watching this, there are clearly better filtering options to use. i live in an area with bortle 5 skies, that being said there are areas close by which i have not gone to that are bortle 3. you gave me something to think about for future purchases
Nothing wrong with the L-eNhance and L-Pro. I will be covering multi-bandpass filters like the L-eNhance in my next filter shootout.
@@NebulaPhotos awesome 👌 I will be watching out for that
A great comprehensive review which was easy to understand. I hope you will be reviewing other types of filters, for modded dslr etc.
Thanks Nico.
Great review!! What about broadband imaging?
Wish I found this a bit sooner I just bought and tried a Astronomik CLS CCD filter that so far not super impressed by. Nice thorough review. Cheers
Great review, very nice! Keep it up!
A small feedback for your website: It would be awesome if you could add a slider to compare the before (without) and after (with) picture using the filter, because you already have all the data. Also at the first moment I found it a little bit confusing, that in the description of the pictures there is no note that a filter is used. Especially because in the Video you compared the picture taken with a filter to the picture without.
Thanks for the feedback. I don't know how to do the slider thing, but I can look in to it. I did make this page for directly comparing the filters in the review against no filter: www.astrofilters.com/2020/10/15/light-pollution-filter-shootout/
Great review buddy, Thank you so much :)
I would have liked to see some galaxy comparisons. Thanks for the reviews.....I know it wasn't cheap.
LAB REVIEW! :-) THANK YOU!
Fantastic review! Thank you!
Great review! I shoot under bortle 8 skies with an unmodified Canon 80D, I use the Astronomik CLS. Really like that filter, so it was nice to see your results with it and all the other. Keep up the good work and clear skies.
Thanks for that exactly what I was looking for. I'm Bortle 6 using a ASI183MC, so look torn between the Neodymium and the L-Pro... but this has helped a lot. Probably start with the Neo at nearly half the price of the other!
So far I have learned from Nico:
- My CLS filter does not block the light here (LED lights on streets)
- Also doesn't block IR
What does it do?
- Lengthens my exposure time for no benefit
-Making my stars bloat
-Block useful light information
Solution:
Cheap option:
I'm at Bortle 5 I'm shooting dedicated osc astro camera , so just get a quality (!) UV/IR block filter and adjust my exposure time to my sky brightness.
Expensive option
-Get a mono astro-camera + narrowband filters along with the LRGB filters.
How do you determine the exposure in terms of sky brightness? Im in the same boat, using an OSC and an UV/IR filter
Great video! Really useful! What type of adapter do you use to attach a 2” filter to a dslr? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again… great content :).
This is a great review. I am looking for a filter for EAA so live stacking with typically sub 10s exposures in Bortle 6 using a ZWO camera. I want something to knock down some of of the pollution without losing too much of the object.
I think for an all round choice for galaxies and clusters as well as nebulae I will go for the Neodynium. It seems to produce a more natural image although be less effective as a CLS filter. If I was in Bortle 8/9 I would go for the CLS filters.
I tried the Svbony UHC and it introduces a fairly aggressive purple cast like even on Arcturus. Their CLS filter actually looks a good budget pick though..
Thanks for carrying out such a thorough series of tests and image captures! One major issue I have with your results however is that you actually combined two filters in some of the tests. I would have preferred you not to have confused the results with the pairings with the Astronomik L-2 in each case. The headline 'Light Pollution Filter SHOOTOUT' should be just that or else modified to include 'in combination sometimes with an Astronomik L-2'! And what about combinations with the Astronomik L-1 or L-3?
Hi Ed, There seems to be a misunderstanding here. To be clear: I didn't double up filters in any of these image captures.
In the QHY tests, I only used the L-2 as the control filter for comparison to the other filters. I used an L-2 rather than a bare sensor because in real-life shooting I would never suggest someone shoots deep sky with the QHY168C without some kind of IR-block. Again, all the tests were single filter tests. Sorry for the confusion, Nico
Thanks for the clarification - I’ll watch again with that better understanding!
Good review and helpful!
Congratulations for the excellent video as always.
I'm shooting from polluted skies (bortle 7) with very close LED street lighting.
I understand that if I use an optolong l-enhance will help a lot but I will exclude most of the colors of reflection nebulae and galaxies, if instead I still want to photograph these objects what can I use having the nearby LEDs and shooting with a not-modified reflex? Could Idas lps d3 work?
Thank you
Nico, follow-up question: In many cities, yellowish sodium streetlights are being replaced by DEL energy efficient white lights. When you did this review, how would you characterize the type of city streetlights in your community and in Boston? Where I live, Bortle 8/9 around Montreal, most have been upgraded to the DEL lights and I think the light pollution spectral profile has changed. It would be interesting to have a systematic review like you did in that context. I think we can't call all light pollution the same any more.
Hi Marc, Yes, I should have noted that when I took these tests, all streetlights in Somerville/Cambridge and many in Boston had already been converted to white LED lamps with the much broader spectrum than a high pressure sodium or mercury vapor. So these results are with that in mind. LP filters would be even more effective if one lived in a town/city that still used the older style streetlights or 'warm' 3200K LEDs. I've seen some people online write that the move to LEDs makes LP filters 'obsolete.' I don't agree with that, they will still improve contrast by blocking much of the green/yellow spectrum, but they won't be as effective since the new streetlights pollute the blue spectrum. In the same way, an OIII narrowband filter is not as effective as it once was. ~Nico
Hello friend, very good review, a query, is there a filter that is of good performance against LED streetlights? In the city they are changing all public lighting to LED and it has killed the attempt to perform astrophotography, if you know of a good filter that effectively fights LED light, I would really appreciate it, could you also perform a Svbony UHC Filter Review? Thank you.
Hi Mauricio, there are, but they are expensive unfortunately. The best filters for modern LP with broad spectrum LEDs are narrowband and multi-bandpass filters. Narrowband filters are best used with mono cameras, and multi-bandpass filters (Optolong L-eNhance for example) are designed to be used with color cameras. All these filters are designed with emission nebulae in mind. They don't do well with broadband targets or accurate star colors.
An Excellent presentation and review Thank you
Personally, I thought there was a subtle improvement under Bortle 4 skies using the Lpro (best) and the Neodymium. Contrast was improved a little, but the stars were definitely tightened up and I didn't really notice any loss of star colour. The CLS filters were horrible. Really in the Bortle 9 you would be better with something like the L extreme. Anyway, good video, always good to see real life comparisons without hours of post processing.
Sounds like this might have been a challenging video to put together, but it turned out fantastic! Excellent comparison! Everything I would want to make the best decision.
the baader Neodymium moon and sky glow works well on jupiter and mars as well for detail and the GRS.. its a good all rounder but i own a dedicated astro cam .. cheap-ish as well .... good unbiased review
cheers
james D
This is an amazing and informative review! I’m a high school student just getting into astrophotography, and am just wondering what are some adequate exposure times for, say, the North America Nebula under Bortle 6 skies with a stock DSLR and no light-pollution filter? I’ve tried something like 80x20s at 70mm, f/2.8 and ISO 800 but I'm, barely able to see the outline of my subject? Thanks Nico, and I love your videos!
More total exposure time is always better! NA Nebula is a tough object with a stock DSLR due to it being a dim, diffuse object that mostly shines in Ha (656nm) where many stock DSLRs are not particularly sensitive. To know if 20s, f/2.8, ISO800 is the right sub-exposure time, use the 1/4 histogram rule: take a test exposure, go to playback and hit the INFO button until you see a histogram, the peak of that histogram should be hitting about 1/4 over from the left. Adjust ISO or shutter speed until it is.
@@NebulaPhotos thank you so much! I’ll be sure to keep that in mind the next time we have a clear night!
This explained a lot from my photo perspective. As just starting out, it helped me prioritize where to focus. (Ha!) Glass, location, filters, mounts, etc.
Nice. Would've been nice to see what can be done to each file in post. It's cool that the filters work well for straight out of cam pictures, but who does astro SOOC? Looking into what the raw files can be edited into is more interesting imho