Get ready for the ECLIPSES! With a Calcium K Solar Filter :) Let's test it out!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Get the Antlia Wedge from All Star Telescope: tinyurl.com/bdzd4ztu Get the QHY5III715: tinyurl.com/46twkrmh Get the Founder Optics 106 telescope: tinyurl.com/mv3235px Support me on Patreon!: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek

[@davidaucoin4990]

I always look forward to Cuiv on KZbin! He is such a funny guy, speaks English very well, as, I suppose French fluently and speaks Japanese very well too! I like his informative way of explaining how the product works and has me convinced to buy this ASAP! His insights on the equipment is awesome and I am very thankful for the advice he gives! 10 Stars!!!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Woohoo, thanks so much David! Merci beaucoup !

[@TheJerryRN]

Cuiv… this is one of my favorite videos you have done…they are all great but sometimes you also have an extra level of exuberance that is extremely infectious my friend! Makes me want to run out, buy the Antlia wedge and get some Solar Astro done! Again…fantastic and thank you for your passion my friend. Jerry ( stuck in the cornfields of Ohio )

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

really enjoyed that post Cuiv. I'm no expert at solar imaging but I do enjoy it. Your images look somewhat more detailed than the white light images I captured last week using my Altair Astro wedge with my GT81 scope and EOS600D DSLR (my GPCAM290M was connected to my LS50 Ha scope) I have also experienced the same focusing issues as yourself. Using the wavelet filter in Registax usually improves things a bit, as dose the clarity filter in Affinity Photo. One thing I love about solar imaging - No light polution issues!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Light pollution doesn't matter is awesome! :)

[@bofblog]

Mainly a Solar imager here ..nice filter the Antilla Ca/K just needs more gain and slower exposure and frame rate...good sky conditions help too

[@deep_space_dave]

This is pretty cool Cuiv! It's interesting how modular APOs can be now with the addition of this Herschel wedge, now the scope can be a solar scope! I am also impressed that you don't need th solar film over the front of the scope! Nice intro of the QHY5III715C 🙂Thanks for the video and Clear Skies!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks Dave! Yep, and now I want to buy a Quark Chromosphere again haha

[@nikivan]

Love the glasses. Interesting product. Great video.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks Nick!

[@bazpearce9993]

For best results on Solar, grab 1,000 frames and stack the best 500. I've been doing white light since 2010. Obviously the higher up you can catch the Sun the better. I stack with Astro Surface nowadays, although i did many years with Registax5.1. I'm on over 1,100 images. That Calcium wedge looks cool, maybe a bit expensive but still affordable. Worth adding to a Solar range of kit. That QHY camera looks interesting too. I'm using an ASI224MC at the moment with a 5" Maksutov. We've had some nice weather in England for the last few weeks and i've been cranking out images almost daily.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the tips!! And I didn't know about Astro Surface!

[@bazpearce9993]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Astro Surface is great for solar and lunar. It's fast and quite simple to use. Free as well which we astronomers like :). I watched a short 15 to 20 minute demo on "The Digital Astronomer" channel, and off i went. Can't wait to try it out on some Jupiter (my favourite) this year.

[@Astro_Oogo]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek AstroSurface is amazing!

[@heliczer]

I love Solar imaging... In London in the Summer, it never gets fully dark so deep sky imaging is not so rewarding - but Solar Astronomy - doing astrophotography while having a BBQ, beer, in shorts in the warmth of a summer's day is much more sociable and comfortable! :) I use a Lunt80 and a Quark for double stacking, one needs a completely different set of skills to deep sky when capturing and processing, but I now have a decent work-flow and produce good results. It is great fun, it is a challenge but you can get spectacular images especially as we are now approaching solar maximum. I'll probably get this Herschel Wedge at some point :) Cheers Cuiv!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That's such a cool combination of equipment!

[@mikeisss79]

Well this is certainly intriguing. I'm not an expert on Solar imaging, but I do own the Lunt 50mm single stack. One method that I use for focus, is to enable Gamma and adjust the slider to Max setting, then use either the edge of the disk, or sunspots to focus on, then turn off gamma once you've achieved focus. Also I would recommend fashioning some sort of light shroud for your PC. I put my laptop in a big plastic tub covered with blankets and old towels.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That sounds like a great technique, thanks for the tips!

[@RobertKarlBerta]

I do the same thing for focusing....works great.

[@Megavoltamper]

A friend of mine has an 1.25" 1nm (10Å) Ha filter from Beloptik and when the transparency is good, he can capture excellent prominences and okay Ha surface details with a Herschel wedge. For a fraction of a price of even a beginner dedicated Ha-scope.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I had no idea such filters existed! Sounds super cool!

[@RobertKarlBerta]

Excellent coverage of both products...camera and the K wedge. THANK you very much for reminding people that you should never visually look through a K filter from any company....they are very dangerous. BAADER says that they are amazed that some companies sell K scopes and say they can be used for visual. I am a very long time solar imager and always make a point of telling my audience of viewers the dangers and how to do it safely. I would feel bad if someone thought they could put the wrong filter on their scope or worse look through a scope or binocular at the sun without any filter and go blind. As far as using a laptop out in the sun.....there are a couple of solutions so you can avoid a washed out image. Some use a crate or cardboard box on its side with the laptop inside. There are collapsible "tents" designed for laptops that work great. There are a few on Amazon but the best one is a design that has reflective material on the outside and black on the inside. It has a spring structure that holds it open and with a bit of a twist collapses into a disk that is easily stored. I have two Ha telescopes....a Coronado and a Lunt. I also have a Day Star Chromosphere. For photography of smaller areas and high resolution the Day Star is excellent and once setup is probably superior to the other two.... but is a PITA and frankly not that great for visual use compared to the other two.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I've always regretted selling my old Quark Chromosphere... Maybe now's the time to buy a new one!

[@tom886]

Antlia offers the CaK filter also standalone, but the price is unreal. I have a Hershel Wedge from Austria with a ND3 and an IR-Block ND3-Polarfilter up to 5000nm for it. Adding CaK filter would be a great addition.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Oh I see! That could be interesting as well!

[@astroshooter1960]

I have used that same Hershel wedge, a friend lent it to me when I went to Australia.... it was a great piece of kit...👍

[@didierpeyret9561]

Another interesting test, thank you Cuiv ! I would just be interested to see if there may be any effect of a wider diaphragm aperture.Both on image quality and on ease to sharp focusing. With a DSLR the best focusing is achieved with the diaphragm fully open (but not sure if it can be compared...). Also a very small diaphragm opening may cause diffraction that degrade image.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Good point Didier, I need to test that!

[@rawhead909]

I've been doing some solar imaging with Sol'Ex which is pretty cool, too. You can't at any time see what you're imaging in real-time, which is a downside, but it's cheap, fun DIY, and you can get H-alpha, H-beta, and Calcium K with one instrument. Ciao from Tokyo!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That's awesome! How much effort was it to build? And what telescope are you using it with?

[@rawhead909]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek If you have a 3D printer that is dialed in, it's only several hours of assembly after the print. As it stands, I was using a new 3D printer setup so it took several iterations of printing, resulting in a few days of time. I'm using with an ESPRIT100ED stopped down to F7.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

@@rawhead909 thanks! What do you use as an ERF at the front?

[@rawhead909]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek 3D printed aperture (100mm -> 75m) + regular 5 stop ND filter for camera lenses :)

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

@@rawhead909 Good stuff, thanks!

[@Astro.Q]

I'm literally going out to do some solar in a sec... must watch this first

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope you enjoyed ;)

[@Astro.Q]

@Cuiv, The Lazy Geek yes nice video the wedge looks like a good bit of kit.

[@julienfernandez9133]

Thanks Cuiv for yet another great video, and introducing this new product. In my opinion it's a bit expensive for what it is: for a few more coins you can build yourself a Sol'ex, which allows you to check multiple wavelengths.. honestly I would love to watch you try it if you get the chance ! ;)

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

But you do need to buy an ND filter for the front of the scope, or buy a Herschel Wedge anyway if you want to use it with a large scope, right? :D honestly Sol'Ex is something I've been looking at but it just looks like too much work haha

[@mrrichard6689]

There’s some advantages and disadvantages with the Solex. Yes you can get all of the spectrum but there’s no lucky imaging with it, only stacking which helps, and I found it still does have that scanned look to it..

[@-VK2NP]

Had one of these for a while , similar results to a Herschel white light wedge and a green Baader continuum filter , best white light results still with my 6” Meade SCT and Baader film filter on front. 174mm or a QHY163m camera

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Interesting, and a bit disappointing!

[@siegfriednoet]

Nice video Quiv with an interesting result, it's more a white light filter effect than an Ha effect in my opinion. I use the Daystar Quark and been shooting with it for some while now I guess a bit longer than two years. About focusing, I use the focus assist in Sharpcap set for contrast detection, works great, select a nice solar spot and you will get a nice curve, but I don't know if that works in manual focus, I think it should work, just give it a try Quiv. Solar imaging is (for me) a nice way to use my smaller refractor for doing something else, but also astro related, and above all it's very nice shooting during the daylight 🙂

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the info and for the tips!

[@aradani3]

Ok, this is SUPER cool! Solar imaging for the people !!!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Exactly! Although apparently not that much better than a simple white light filter!

[@aradani3]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek I tried with a 6 inch F5 newtonian and simple white filter and this is much better.

[@KingLoopie1]

Judging from what I've seen and the last partial solar eclipse I was able to catch, this image has more detail than my white light, mylar filter with a yellow color filter in the eyepiece of a celestron c130. My sunspots are black though so this one looks like a negative image of the blue from Cak... I've since nabbed a Coronado PST and those views look more yellow - orange to red. Pretty cool and interesting image that you took though! 👍 Much nicer than what I see! I either need more money, or more credit at this point... 🙄

[@Orbit_3_astronomy]

Not sure if I'll have any solar equipment by the 2024 total eclipse, but I'm gonna try some widefeild of the eclipse during totality which I think will be cool. Great vid as always.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Enjoy! Last time I just enjoyed the eclipse without taking pictures!

[@ssrattus]

Thanks Cuiv!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Always my pleasure:-)

[@edwardgill1042]

Cuiv, try stopping down the refractor to f10 +/- (60 mm) aperture mask/lens cap. Focus will be easier. My Herschel wedge has been on order since March 😢.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks Edward, hope you receive that wedge soon!

[@rbrickproductions123]

Haha! I just tested out a white light filter from celestron today! What strange timing, everyone doing solar imaging today 🤣 This does seem like a pretty decent alternative for a quark, though still want to capture prominences! Decisions decisions 🤔 For processing i just did PIPP, AutoStakkert & RegiStax wavelets and got a pretty sharp & clean result. Happy with it for my first time though also want to try out the program you mentioned too

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yep, the Quark is likely a better choice :)

[@KhanGhilzai]

Sir, love your way of work..... 😍

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thank you so much 😀

[@mycarolinaskies]

I found about 1hr after sunrise to about 11AM best for solar imaging. The angle of the Sun hasn't heated up the atmosphere to maximum ambient so there should be more good frames. The CaK blocks out extraneous whitelight kind of like polarizing filter increasing certain contrast details at that narrow band alone. What we see in white light filters is essentially temperature gradient differences as its an ND99.999. CaK looks at the cooler magnetic active regions correlation to the sunspot activity. So more granularity becomes apparent as magnetic structures. Ha looks at the hotter higher altitudes... like outer layers of an onion vs an inner layer at CaK. You might experiment with altering that aperture you had stopped down to help with focusing too as it will act as an f-stop adjustment on a camera lens.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Interesting, thanks for all the tips!

[@fazergazer]

I’m going to be in Dallas for the April total eclipse BTW!🎉

[@JustJamie-h3l]

I like solar photography and was thinking of buying the antila wedge, so i was very interested to see your images, i use a white light filter that cost me $120 dollars Au, as i cant afford a lunt setup and honestly i dont think there is enough of a differance to warrant the extra money. i get pretty much the same results from the baader filter i already use. great video just saved me from wasting my hard earned cash. i have tried using my svbony cls filter along with the baader filter and it does give you a bit more contrast.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Glad to be of help!

[@leboch65]

Coronado 15 years ago did sell a cak personal solar telescope for usd499. It wasnt very popular compared to the halpha version called pst. The reasons have been that its an imaging only scope and it does not show a lot of active region like the chromosphere. Imho, the sun in cal k is more like at enhanced white light filter. Nothing more.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I actually looked through the cak version but yeah the bandpass made it imaging only really

[@jeffcohen5701]

I have just started using a Dwarf 2. While I have no success with astrophotography. The Moon and the Sun images have come out quite well. The Sun images shows some granularity on the surface and detail on the sunspots. While not as good as yours I was still impressed. I tried to compare the results with a Canon 5D DSLR/ Sigma 600mm mirror lens and a homemade mono filter made from Baader solar film. This was not as good as the Dwarf 2 since the sunspots appear out of focus and there is less granularity on the surface of the Sun. A better quality solar filter and lens would improve this. I used the Dwarf 2 in burst mode and the attempt at stacking made the images more fuzzy (used Syril).

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That's great for the Dwarf 2, although I wonder why you didn't have success with astrophoto...

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Hi Cuiv I love that CaK wedge I've be very interested in one myself sometime, I do have a Lunt solar wedge which I've imaged white light with & I have 2 Coronado PST's one an Ha double stack the other a discontinued CaK PST which I do image with from time to time using a quite old DMK41 camera, I'd love to find a camera with a faster frame rate that doesn't suffer with newtons rings as there's little room for a tilt adapter on the PST's, sadly I find CMOS sensors seems to suffer worse rather than the older CCD chip but even they aren't 100% either so guess I got lucky with mine.

[@perry3928]

Thanks Cuiv. No expert on solar, but if i can image during the day, what better use of equipment we've spent tons on to utilize it more frequently than just at night.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Absolutely!

[@zborkz]

While I am far from a expert but it is not a true Calcium K filter it is closer to a the older baader k-line filter (on the antila wedge). Another option that will gives surprising results a Baader solar film. Under excellent seeing Solar granules can even be observed and imaged on a 8 inch SCT. The antila wedge is works well, just don't expect true calcium filter type of image. The Baader and Lunt wedges are also eye safe for observations while the Anitla is not. A normal white light filter, with a green filter will give very similar results.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the tips Rich, now so much needs to be tested haha

[@CriticalThinker-42]

I'd just watched one of Ed Ting's videos... on the Daystar Quarks Active H-Alpha Chromosphere Filter (May 19, 2024) and he thinks the White Light Solar Filters basically wash out most of the surface details except the Sun Spots making them less interesting after 5-10 minutes, where the narrow band filters show more surface detail and keep his attention far longer (Day after Day for the review’d Ha unit). Geek On, Cuiv!

[@michaeloppenheimer2582]

it very cool, it gives us more options !!!

[@astroshooter1960]

I have had chance to use a wedge in the past...this thing looks interesting. However, anything to do with the Sun, with the exception of white light filters is expensive. I have a Isle of Man Solar Scope H/a filter set and it cost well over $5000 Canadian. 😳

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I want a 150mm Lunt but it's slightly out of my budget haha

[@astroshooter1960]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek mine too...😄 Solar Scope makes a 100mm, I had a chance to look through a double stacked 100mm a few years ago... amazing, but way beyond my budget 😅

[@Astronurd]

Just looks like the results I get with my wedge capturing white light (apart from the voilet colour)

[@bozhidarpetrov2939]

That is interesting but is far from the results from a quark solar filter. Still it’s a lot cheaper than a quark filter. Still, Cuiv, any ideas on a similar cheaper alternative to the Quark but with better resolution than the Wedge or basically closer in terms of end results? That would be awesome if such an option exist…

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Apparently Sol'Ex, but it's a build it yourself, and to use it on larger scopes you do need a large ND filter type thing!

[@bozhidarpetrov2939]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek thanks! This looks really interesting, but as you said it’s a lot of DIY involved. I don’t see myself going for it. Still while I was looking today for other options I spotted the Lunt Solar Systems Solar telescope ST 40/400 LS40T Ha. They look interesting at a reasonable price ot 1000-1400 USD. Have you had a chance to play with those? There are quite a few videos out there for them, but I’ll be really interested to see a more extensive video review from you on them. Just a suggestion…

[@harveyrichard2007]

Merci pour cette excellente vidéo, mais je n'entends jamais d'explication à savoir pourquoi diable les miroirs sont à procrire au profit des réfracteurs, concernant l'imagerie solaire ??

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Avec un miroir, soit un intercepte l'énergie solaire avant le miroir primaire (ce qui demande d'avoir un filtre ERF pour H-Alpha ou encore white light à l'ouverture, ce qui est cher) soit avant le miroir secondaire (qui autrement ne supporterait pas les rayons concentrés sur lui), ce qui n'est pas vraiment possible. Donc les réfracteurs sont plus à propos, pour les budgets "modestes"

[@harveyrichard2007]

Oui ok, donc c'est simplement plus... simple/moins de contrainte de design avec un réfracteur de monter une rig solaire de qualité sans faire faillite personnelle....Le design intrinsèque d'un Newton/SCT impose des contraintes pouvant s'avérer coûteuses pour l'adapter à l'imagerie solaire, alors que les réfracteurs s'adaptent plus naturellement. Merci Cuiv!

[@entropytango5348]

Time to pull the old wedge out of storage. The Sun is puuting on a great show right now

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Have fun!

[@Naztronomy]

Kudos to Antlia! Have you tried to use it for visual observations of the sun? I think Calcium K is really hard to see visually (gets worse the older you get) so I'm curious.

[@zborkz]

It is not an eye safe wedge as it's comes configured from factory.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

As Rich says, no - do NOT try it for visual!

[@RobertKarlBerta]

BAADER says to NEVER visually look through a K filter....very dangerous. And they say that they are amazed some companies do sell K filters advertised for visual use. I am a long time solar imager and use both Lunt and Coronado Ha scopes and a Day Star Quark Chromosphere. The Quark gives great images for photography but is a royal PITA for visual and frankly the Lunt and Coronado are my first recommendation for a scope to do both visual and photography. That being said the photographic images with the Quark AFTER a lot of tweaking can be spectacular. By the way for visual solar observing you also never want to use the BAADER BHHS diagonal. While it is far superior for night time observing, it gets that performance from increased pass through of bands that would be dangerous when doing Ha viewing. This is per BAADER.

[@marcusa3177]

And I guess we're now in the Cuiv the Sun-burned Geek era of this channel huh. Then again, the sun's up ~12hrs or more a day so why not right. Why the need for air-gapped optics? I'm guessing the lowly Svbony SV550 isn't compatible with this?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Lenses can be together, but apparently there are /were fracs with oil spaced optics. So it's not usable for those

[@PaulJohnson-ed4oc]

Noob question, why could you not use this with a Reflector telescope?

[@Poketronics]

the ceramic element in the wedge takes on and dissipates a large portion of the focused solar light from the front lenses, only passing on something like 4% to the filter and camera. So anything between the front lenses (or primary mirror) and wedge, like a flattener for a refractor or secondary mirror for a reflector will have focused solar light hit it and it will heat up and cause damage.

[@dysichi]

Solar eclipse that can be seen in Japan will not appear until 2030. We will have to wait 7 more years. Solar image is so cool, btw.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yep.... Thank you!

[@NMHC1978]

Can i use a achromat scope with the Antlia wedge ?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It should work, but I haven't tested

[@luboinchina3013]

I like it more in blue with the spots being black... It is not much different from what I get with my white light filter on my 8inch sct.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the feedback Lubo! So a bit disappointing vs a normal white light filter eh?

[@luboinchina3013]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek I would say, very slightly better than plain white. BTW, I would like to try my 8inch with white baader mask on top and Optolong L-Ultimate, but I am worry that it may damage something... Do you think it will be OK?

[@luboinchina3013]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek But can you get solar flares with this setup?

[@marcrubin337]

I live directly on the solar eclipse line in ohio for next april. come join us!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I will have to consider it :)

[@Njunx10minutesastro]

Have you ever captured the solar eclipse? Fyi in some eclipse totality you must chasing with seconds to release the solar filter, and if you use filter like that, you will lose the moment 😂

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Nope - I just enjoyed the total eclipse last time without taking pics :)

[@MisadventuresInAstro]

You tell me if the features are visible with just a white light filter. 😆kzbin.info3j6N1MS59yQ On a serious note, seems like similar detail levels but slightly different features so they may compliment each other well.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the precisions!!