I Compared A Hydrogen Filter Against A Dual Narrowband Filter

In this video I'm going to compare a ZWO 7nm Hydrogen Alpha filter against the 7nm Dual Narrowband Optolong L-eXtreme filter.
However in this video I'm going to just compare the Hydrogen-Alpha channels during a Full Moon. The reason why I chose Full Moon is because people often use Hydrogen-Alpha filters during Moon phases in order to cut through the Moon glow.
Bare in mind this is a dedicated Hydrogen-Alpha filter vs a Dual-narrowband filter and NOT a ZWO vs Optolong filter for example.
I'm going to be comparing the Moon glow resistance, contrast as well as signal-to-noise ratio. It's often cited to not use a Hydrogen-Alpha filter with a colour camera.
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[@KopLamp]

You mentioned the “Eye of the Pelican”. I think I see the Pelican different than you. Your “eye” I call the Deadpool nebula 😅

[@AstroFarsography]

Maybe, Martin. Some of these nebulae can be really funky to interpret haha. I see the Pelican as facing to the right, with the bright star being its eye, the dark nebula parts its wing, and the beak goes down from the eye in line with the neck aha.

[@hapestr]

Great posting once again, thanks! And Very useful - I never even thought of using a single Ha filter on OSCs. The result is actually quite impressive. Beside that, we need to get that Pelican name sorted. Obviously, it is a Pterodactylus.

[@sanderreizevoort4143]

God tier thumbnail! Excellent video as always

[@AstroFarsography]

Thanks Sander! That thumbnail seems to have been received a lot better than I anticipated 😂

[@Andy205ro]

I ordered an 2" H apha and received a dula band 7nm Ha and OIII

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Nice comparison between the 2 filters Ruz I thought the Ha would be better but the dual band didn't do a bad job.

[@peterbriggs3408]

Lovin that thumbnail!

[@AstroFarsography]

Thanks Peter! Glad you enjoyed it

[@siegfriednoet]

Interesting comparison Ruz

[@tempusfugit6820]

Can you give a distance in degrees from the moon the pelican was? That would be useful. You can measure precisely with Stellarium.

[@morrisminor-shantiesfolkso238]

Hi, thanks for this, very useful. I have a 533, not had much chance to use it yet, except for a bit of planetary. I am interested in why you used Bias frames? I was under the impression these were not needed with a dedicated astro camera. (in case you didn't guess I'm new to these, more used to DSLR).

[@TheFlyingScotsmanTV]

hi. glad to see u imaging again. if yer going to kelling heath hopefully meet u. not quite sure where u think pelican is ? your image has it on it's side, and where u are seeing an eye isn't an eye. can't post links, but google it for an outline. yer not alone - luke couldn't see it either. it's all about the beak! 🙂

[@AstroFarsography]

Thanks, it's nice to be imaging again also! I'll check the dates for Kelling and I'll see :D So in my image as shown in the video. I interpret the Pelican is facing right. The bright star on the right third is its eye and the beak faces downwards from there, in line with the neck. The bloc globules I point to I would regard as its wings.

[@TheFlyingScotsmanTV]

@@AstroFarsography with all these I reckon everyone sees what they see I suppose. but general view is in your photo pelican is rotated 90 clockwise. it's eye is the black hole - no star, and the beak is the big nebulosity blop going right to left. it's head is below the 2 stars around where u saw a head. turn it 90 degrees an imagine a massive big beaked pelican hunched up, sitting on a wire. to be honest you could call it the rabbit nebula in your orientation, or probably any number of other things! I shot the shark nebula a few weeks back and my mates said it looked more like a ferret!

[@Mel-127]

Like the comparison but struggled to see the pelican. Flyingscotsman explained in his comments why I couldn't see it. I would of taken the dog with me to chill in the car, because he's got a fur coat on permanent poor chap. 🤔😊😎 Thanks for sharing your findings.

[@AstroFarsography]

Thanks Mel! Yeah, I will check his comment a bit more. The way I see it in my image is the Pelican is facing to the right. Bright star is its eye, and the beak faces downwards. It's usually easier to see in the SHO pallets I think. Yeah Finn really did struggle a bit during the peak of the heatwave, poor boy :(

[@anthonyexmouth]

@@AstroFarsography you're missing the bigger image. The pelican is bigger than you think. In your image it needs rotating to the left 90 degrees and it's then facing left. Then you can see the big pelican beak head goes up to a point and then it's big curved back. What you call the eye isn't really part of it.

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Will you be doing any Siril tutorials? Some narrowband would be interesting. That software look good but is frustrating to me as I was never able to figure it out. And I spent many hours on it. As in over 30 hrs trying to master it. If you had a Mono version of the 533 the detail in the Ha dedicated filter would probably be 4x better as you have 4x as many pixels to work with. Mono camera uses ever pixel while a OSC would only use 1 in 4 pixels for Ha or Red.

[@AstroFarsography]

I will look into siril tutorials once I've become more familiar with the software myself. One great thing about creating a teaching video is the process of learning yourself! I do have the 533mm here currently also but unfortunately the weather isn't looking too good yet. Though I could still potentially shoot some Ha with the 533mc on a target I've already done with thr 533mm and compare that. The 533mm has to be returned before the end of September

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

@@AstroFarsography Yes I agree. Sometimes I even go back and rewatch my own software stuff so I can remember how I did things. That 533MM might be my next camera.

[@anata5127]

Are these filters produced by the same company? Is it 5 or 3 nm Ha?

[@phil6896]

nice comparison, I have a dedicated astro colour camera, and wondered if the results would likely be the same I shoot in bottle 6 skies and use a Triband filter by Altair, through a 61 williams optics. I am seriously considering the L extreme for when there is a full moon and also when shooting low on the horizon as that is where most of my light pollution is, which filter would you go for if you were in my situation?

[@bryandootson4011]

Thanks for posting this Ruz! I am not surprised with the outcome I’ve been imaging for about 15 years now and the advice to not use narrowband filters with a colour camera must be new thinking as we all used to use clip in narrowband filters in our modified dslr colour CMOS cameras before there were any dual, tripple or quad band filters available I’d like to see a similar test done with a mono camera, just out of curiosity? Thanks again for taking the time to create this content, it must be very time consuming! Kind Regards and Clear Skies Bryan

[@AstroFarsography]

Thanks Bryan. Yeah, I remember I began using a modified DSLR (Canon 450D) with a 7nm Baader Ha filter. That might've been a bit intense haha. But I'm firmly under the impression that something is better than nothing. I'd rather use a modded DSLR for Hydrogen Alpha, than using no Hydrogen-Alpha. These multi-bandpass filters are fancy though. But I feel if I wanted to capture Ha only, I'd stick with a dedicated filter. If I get the chance to repeat a test like this using the Mono vs the Colour 533 before I have to return the 533 then I'll be sure to make that video also! Yeah they do take some time to create. Aside from the obvious hold up of waiting for clear skies, it's then the editing can take a while. Especially balancing it between work and home-life! Clear skies mate

[@athanasiosvlahos9593]

Hi. My name is Sakis and I live in Greece. I am new to the hobby and I need someone to show me how to start and how to use my equipment. I will be in London between 29 of September till 7 of October. Because of my English are not excellent, is it possible to have a conversation with my son who live there and explain me your advices