Astrophotgraphy Filters for Imaging with a One Shot Color Camera (OSC) in Severe Light Pollution

That’s a really long title for a post, but the issue at hand is very specific, yet very common. Most of us don’t live in the mountains, or on a farm, or have the time to travel to a dark-site. We’re close to towns and cities spewing light into the sky. We have families and jobs and responsibilities.

In the worst cases of light pollution, narrowband imaging with a mono camera seems like your only option. That’s a heavy investment for a dad with a mortgage and three kids in dance. So a filtered One-Shot Color Camera is it for me…. but what filter? Check out the video below for the filters I use and the situations for them.

Read below after the jump for some more examples and a closer look at the transmission profile of the Optolong L-Pro and Hutech NB1 filters.

Optolong L-Pro – Galaxies and Star Clusters

Hutech IDAS NB1 – Nebulae

If you’re in a light polluted area and limited on time and funds, astrophotography is hard, but defintely not impossible! The below images were all taken with a ZWO ASI071 using either an L-Pro or NB1 filter in Bortle 8 skies. Two-inch versions of both filters are around $200 (US) and without them, imaging would be an exercise in futility.

I’ve included Optolong CLS and Hutech NB1 versions of the West Veil nebula. Both are approximately 3.5hrs of data. Also included is 2+hours of Ha data to compare with 90 minutes of Hutech NB1 data on the Elephants trunk.