Why are many OSC users getting the Optolong UV-IR cut? [Deep Sky] Acquisition techniques · Oscar · ... · 19 · 1275 · 0

messierman3000 7.22
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I ordered a ZWO one, so I'm just a little nervous my ZWO one is not gonna be good.

I see people mostly getting the Astronomiks, the Baader, and the Optolong, and the ZWO one just seems unpopular.

Isn't the ZWO one similar to the Astronomik L2?

I wanted to use it to get rid of the annoying overpowering purple and tan colors in my reflector images to reveal only the RGB spectrum; the way it is right now is stressful and the data is not even worth processing; I might even delete my data.
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messierman3000 7.22
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and to get rid of this annoying 3x3 artifact thing around Betelgeuse that I'm associating with ultraviolet and or infrared transmission https://www.astrobin.com/ljeaxs/?nc=collection&nce=32422

Both the star and artifact were purple, but I desaturated purple to make the image look better.
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OklahomAstro 5.08
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Thats infrared microrefraction from the camera's CFA. Unavoidable w/o a UV/IR cut.
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messierman3000 7.22
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Thats infrared microrefraction from the camera's CFA. Unavoidable w/o a UV/IR cut.

Thanks for the info! How would you rate the ZWO UV-IR cut?
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OklahomAstro 5.08
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Thats infrared microrefraction from the camera's CFA. Unavoidable w/o a UV/IR cut.

Thanks for the info! How would you rate the ZWO UV-IR cut?

It's good, just not the best. A lot of people go to the Optolong due to it's superior coatings and glass performance. The price difference is quite visible in the images too.
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AstroLux 11.43
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Thats infrared microrefraction from the camera's CFA. Unavoidable w/o a UV/IR cut.

Thanks for the info! How would you rate the ZWO UV-IR cut?

It's good, just not the best. A lot of people go to the Optolong due to it's superior coatings and glass performance. The price difference is quite visible in the images too.

 I would not say optolong is superior in any shape or form. Its still considered as an upper low range in terms of quality/price. It all depends also on the quality control you can always get a great zwo copy and a bad one, same with optolong which is mostly visible in their L-Extreme duonarrowband filter.
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RFL 0.00
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I've used both the ZWO and the Optolong UV/IR. My ZWO created halos aplenty. So much so that assumed I had a bad copy. IMO ZWO keeps costs down by having poor QA on their filters, some are good, some bad, luck of the draw. But they are cheap and when starting out, it makes sense to buy cheap filters to lower entry barrier. Can always sell filters on CN and recoup a material portion of the original cost.

I have an Optolong on my Ha-modded DSLR I use for travel and it only generates halos on a few bright stars, like Alnitak. If you're "splurging" for Optolong over ZWO, I would spend a little more to get a Baader or Astronomiks.
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AndreaMinoia 0.00
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I have one, not great, not great not terrible. SInce I use a doublet (evoguide 50ED, I found the astronomik L3 to help taming the blue/magenta halo I get with some bright stars.
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jean1 1.20
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Hello.

I had several  pictures taken with Optolong Uv-ir Cut , and now I changed with Baader UV/IR-Cut / L-Filter – CMOS-optimized, and I dont see too many diference, both were used with Zwo 294MC.
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claytonostler 3.34
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Andrea Minoia:
I have one, not great, not great not terrible. SInce I use a doublet (evoguide 50ED, I found the astronomik L3 to help taming the blue/magenta halo I get with some bright stars.

Andrea, 
I was just about to purchase a 1.25 UV/IR cut for the evoguide for imaging, Do you still suggest the l3 are the best option?
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Gondola 8.11
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I use the ZWO filter without any issues, it works as advertised. Some people want to believe that more expensive is better, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Even if it is on paper, can you actually see the difference in your images? Sometimes you can, sometimes it's just marketing. If you are on a budget, try the ZWO filter, if it works for you then you are all set, if not, return it.
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claytonostler 3.34
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Good to know, I happen to have one of those laying around so I will try that first
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AndreaMinoia 0.00
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Clayton Ostler:
Andrea Minoia:
I have one, not great, not great not terrible. SInce I use a doublet (evoguide 50ED, I found the astronomik L3 to help taming the blue/magenta halo I get with some bright stars.

Andrea, 
I was just about to purchase a 1.25 UV/IR cut for the evoguide for imaging, Do you still suggest the l3 are the best option?

Hi, I would say the L3 is still superior, as it helps taming residual CA with doublets like the evoguide
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gilghana 5.72
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Tony Gondola:
I use the ZWO filter without any issues, it works as advertised. Some people want to believe that more expensive is better, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Even if it is on paper, can you actually see the difference in your images? Sometimes you can, sometimes it's just marketing. If you are on a budget, try the ZWO filter, if it works for you then you are all set, if not, return it.

 I totally agree - IF you can return it.  I have a ZWO IR/UV and never had an issue with it.  Then when I received my FF65 scope I used the filter for first light on the Sadr area. The halos were awful.  Having never had an issue previously with the filter I was assuming the scope was at fault and was a bit devastated bearing in mind how long I had waited for it to get to Zambia...  Then I tried my Astronomik L3 filter and no halos.  I was very relieved.
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TareqPhoto 2.94
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I bought my first color[OSC] cooled camera like 2 or 3 years ago, i knew that i will need a UV/IR cut filters, i looked around and yes, i saw Optolong UV/IR cut filter as popular used one, so i bought 2" over ZWO or even SVBony one, but later i added SVBony to be used for solar imaging, only last year i felt like i need to add more because i bought another OSC cooled camera, and that time i went with Player One Anti-Halo UV/IR cut filter, now if i want to buy more so then either buying again this Player One filter or Astronomic L3, not for color only, but also if i want to capture Lum signal with mono, while for my color planetary cameras i think anything can be used, not a big deal for planetary.
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TareqPhoto 2.94
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I do have ZWO IR cut filter i bought in 1.25" to be used with my ZWO color planetary camera, i might buy more because i have several color planetary cameras so i prefer to have them all with UV/IR cut filter than using one and swapping between them all, it could be from ZWO or Optolong or SVBony, i prefer to buy a coated one as much i can just in case, and for solar i really don't know if coating is really important or not to be used as ERF filter.
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claytonostler 3.34
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I am returning with some results from some testing. 

I tried a ZWO IR/Cut an SVBony IR/Cut and Astronomkiks L-3 IR/Cut on 3 scopes 2 triplets and an APO Doublet. 

1. If a use a well corrected triplet refractor with high quality glass, it doesnt seem to matter which IR/cut filter I use. I am able to get create images.  One could argue that a less restrictive ir/cut would benefit by letting more light through but I have not proven that yet. 

but 

2. If I am using a lower end scope, or doublet, I highly suggest a strong IR/Cut. I just tried an astronoiks l-3 that is not mine, and it made a huge different in color and CA

3. I have also noticed that faster optics seem to increase color/ca, in my case adding a focal reducer/flattener added some CA and Color to even my best scope,  the l-3 easily solved this, but with a less restrictive ir/cut I still get hints of color/ca 

This same symptom seemed to be consistent across all 3 refractors I checked, in… Adding a reducer seems to introduce a little CA/Color even on higher end optics and with higher end reducers. 

If I was trying to buy once, Id get an l-3, if I was trying to squeeze as much quality light out of a high end scope with a reducer, I would roll the dice and buy the zwo IR/Cut first and see what i get, if its clear and clean fabulous, if not (you are only out 20$) . 

All just my opinion.
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gnnyman 6.04
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Here my two pennies worth….

I have ZWO, Optolong, Astronomik, Askar, Hutech….etc filters - in general, the better the planarity of the two glass surfaces, the better the parallelism of the two surfaces and the better the coatings, the better the results will be. 
For a cheap scope, I would not spend hundreds of any currency for a fancy filter, I would invest the money into a better scope and then go for better filter quality.

But that is just my personal opinion!

ZWO to cut it short, does its job, but there are plenty of better filters on the market, even up to super filters which are very very expensive!

CS
Georg
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claytonostler 3.34
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Georg N. Nyman:
Here my two pennies worth....

I have ZWO, Optolong, Astronomik, Askar, Hutech....etc filters - in general, the better the planarity of the two glass surfaces, the better the parallelism of the two surfaces and the better the coatings, the better the results will be. 
For a cheap scope, I would not spend hundreds of any currency for a fancy filter, I would invest the money into a better scope and then go for better filter quality.

But that is just my personal opinion!

ZWO to cut it short, does its job, but there are plenty of better filters on the market, even up to super filters which are very very expensive!

CS
Georg

George you will laugh, but I dont understand planairty or parallelism, however I think I agree with your assessment . 

My ZWO does not make my doublet usable, but the Astronomiks L-3 does, but honestly, I dont plan to use the doublet for imaging much. 

My triplet however seems to get same performance with the ZWO and the Astronomik, 

I am sure someone will get defensive, but the SVbony didnt seem to improve the doublet at all.
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Gondola 8.11
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Clayton Ostler:
Georg N. Nyman:
Here my two pennies worth....

I have ZWO, Optolong, Astronomik, Askar, Hutech....etc filters - in general, the better the planarity of the two glass surfaces, the better the parallelism of the two surfaces and the better the coatings, the better the results will be. 
For a cheap scope, I would not spend hundreds of any currency for a fancy filter, I would invest the money into a better scope and then go for better filter quality.

But that is just my personal opinion!

ZWO to cut it short, does its job, but there are plenty of better filters on the market, even up to super filters which are very very expensive!

CS
Georg

George you will laugh, but I dont understand planairty or parallelism, however I think I agree with your assessment . 

My ZWO does not make my doublet usable, but the Astronomiks L-3 does, but honestly, I dont plan to use the doublet for imaging much. 

My triplet however seems to get same performance with the ZWO and the Astronomik, 

I am sure someone will get defensive, but the SVbony didnt seem to improve the doublet at all.

If you look at the bandpass graphs, the SVBony filter starts to pass again again at around 1200nm. I don't know how much after that because the data doesn't go any further but I suspect that's where the real difference is. A simple doublet would be very much effected by that excess near IR
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