Optolong L-eNhance Filter Review
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2020
- Today we're talking about the Optolong L-eNhance narrowband filter. This is a tri-band filter allowing Ha, Hb and OIII through, and blocking out all that nasty light pollution. This filter works wonders for emission nebulae and will really make your astrophotography pop!
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Checkout the full info on my website: astroexploring.com/f/optolong-l-enhance-narrowband-filter-review
Hi Nick, Thanks for taking the time to explain everything. It's not easy astro imaging but this has helped me a lot since I use DSLR / OSC cameras
Very well done Nick! Great information for all of us.
Thanks Andy!
Now I am searching examples for a STC clip filters, because I can use on my Olympus. Good video!
hey nick another fantastic video keep up the awesome work
Thanks Mike!
@@AstroExploring did u get my message on twitter bud
Looks a very interesting filter, I've currently only got the Atstronomik CLS CCD but this looks very interesting.
Once again, thank you sir for the great vid. Looking forward to using my 2 inch L Enhance that just arrived. Will you be publishing any processing tutorials in the future?
You’ll love it! I probably will in the future but AstroBackyard is the king at Photoshop 🙂
Thanks Nick, super helpful video, I’ve just got to choose between clip and 2”. What Bortle are you? I’m 4 ish and the council have just changed the streetlights to white LEDs.
I’m supposed to be a 4 but local floodlights make the SE part of my sky closer to a city centre
Hi Nick. Thanks for your helpfull videos. Keep on the good work. I have a Evostar 72ed and a modified DSLR. I have ordered my new Optolong eNhance filter. I wonder if I may have some platesolving issues because of fainter stars. Think you.
I successfully plate solve with the L-eNhance and L-eXtreme. I don’t think you’ll have any issues
@@AstroExploring Thanks Nick for your quick and clear answer. I’ll try that soon.
What was that wonderful music near the end?
I’m not entirely sure - I can’t remember! I use Epidemic Sound for my music in videos so I just use whatever sounds good at the time
Hi Nick. Very useful and enjoyable video to watch! Since I have same telescope as you and seeing how you getting these shots looking so much better you convinced me on this filter so next month I'm going to get it. I live in bortle six skies so will this filter be a huge difference to my astropic under bortle 6 skies? I've haven't modified my dslr yet but will do when I get the Canon 6D mark 11. I'm also going to photograph galaxies so any suggestions for filters on galaxies? I'm hoping December I get to places like out side fort william or out side Aviemore and under dark skies get to use setup as this virus is stopping me for now. I just bought the Zwo AS1 120MM mini usb 2.0 Mono camera for planetary imaging. Thanks so much for this video!
I’d recommend modifying your camera before getting the L-eNhance because a stock camera will filter out about 85% of red light. The Optolong L-Pro is a good filter for galaxies and will certainly make a difference under Bortle 6 skies 🙂
Hi just wondering does your canon dslr have to be astro modify first
Thanks a lot for your video and sharing your expierience. Which Bortle do you have on the place where you are photographing?
Br
Paul
Officially I’m in Bortle 4 but the difference in sky quality from my back garden to walking 10 minutes down the road is quite staggering. I have a lot of light surrounding my garden so I’d say it’s closer to a 5/6
Great video. Which telescope/ lens did you use for that last shot ?
Thanks! All taken with the Skywatcher 72ED and DSLR
Great video! I hust bought the l-enhance clip filter for my Canon 60d astromodified and it seems not to be locked very well, its that normal?
Yeah that’s normal, once you connect a lens or telescope it gets held in place
Hi Nick, really enjoying the videos, just starting out myself and slowly getting the kit together.
I do have a question, why did you choose to put the filter in your camera and not in the flattener.
Asking the question because the 2” screw in filter is cheaper and its the option I will choose unless
I am missing something.
cheers
Great question! I got it because with the flattener and adapter connected to the telescope, there’s nowhere for a 2 inch filter to fit. I believe if you have the OVL flattener this isn’t an issue but you would need to check that if that’s what you use. However with the one I use, the only way to have a 2 inch filter is to use the camera rotator (search on FLO for it). I have just ordered one but it has a 40-60 working day lead time and isn’t guaranteed to work for me as mine is an older model before Skywatcher updated the OTA. Hope that helps
Hi, thanks for the quick response, I have the OVL flattener.
Hi great content as ever. Quick question, I’m using live view on my DSLR to star align and focus my targets. Does the reduced light passing through this filter cause any issues / difficulties with this ? Thanks
The stars on the live view aren’t as bright as they would be without the filter but focusing is still very easy, especially with a Bahtinov mask
@@AstroExploring thanks much appreciated
Lol, I imaged last night with my clip in filter and was scared I did something wrong as the subs are so dark. I haven't had time to process any of them so I'm looking forward to it. Do you run bias/ flats in addition to your darks? Dither? Thanks for the reassurance!
Yes to bias and flats but I don’t take darks with my DSLR and just dither between frames
Great video Nick. Will this filter help me when it comes to star bloat and contrast? I use a modified Canon 600D at the moment but finding the images quite grainy when processing.
Thanks Richy. The filter has certainly helped me with star bloat and contrast. My images were quite grainy too but now that I’m isolating the right wavelengths I find that I don’t need to be so aggressive with the data in Photoshop, which really helps a lot
@@AstroExploring That's good to know thanks Nick. Your most recent heart nebula image is incredible and I'm struggling to get even close to that clean a image. I just end up over doing it in Photoshop and it just looks horrendous!
I had the same issues until I got this filter 🙂 worth checking out the L-eXtreme too, which looks even better!
I just imaged the heart nebula a few nights ago. Ha Modified canon 70d with a Altair 60ed and a optolong lpro. I took 200, 30sec subs at iso 1600. It was almost too much exposure with light pollution (no moon). Once it rose higher, the histogram was exactly 1/4 from the left. My question is...when only exposing for say 2 minutes as you do, how do you get to 6 hours on a target if stacking more than 40 or so images makes no real difference? Do you just take an already processed photo and blend it with a new stack in ps? Processing the heart nebula was a pain for me btw so I’m really looking into narrowband filters, but I want to stay away from guiding and keep it simple. Iso 1600-3200 on my camera is about the sweet spot for noise vs dynamic range. And I can do 2 min on my skyguider pro with my scope. Thanks.
You can stack images from multiple nights in DeepSkyStacker. I get 6 hours by imaging over 2 nights and then I put all those RAW images and calibration frames into DSS at once. You want as much integration time for your light frames as possible, but calibration frames only add so much value when you start taking 50 of them, so I usually take 30 flats and 50 bias frames. Hope that makes sense!
@@AstroExploring yes it makes sense. So basically you are stacking 180 lights frames to get 6 hours if you are taking 2 min sub?
@@GrowingAnswers yes that’s right
@@AstroExploring I guess the only thing I don’t quite understand is the problem of diminishing returns on stacking. I’ve stacked 90 and 190 subs in dss and didn’t see and difference. And other say that stacking more than 40-60 light subs doesn’t make any difference. Can you explain this or point me to a video about that?
Thanks for your video! Just a question do you think it’s worth getting a filter either the l enhance or L extreme? As im in a bortle zone 4
I live in Bortle 4 but in the middle of a housing estate so I do have local light pollution. Especially with the floodlights from the industrial estate down the road. If you haven’t yet bought either then the L-eXtreme is looking really good! I would say it’s worth seeing what the limits are for your subs in terms of exposure time before buying a filter. For me, I can’t go over 2 minutes without a filter but your experience may differ
AstroExploring yeah I’m sort of new to Astrophotography, however I’m planning to get a redcat 51 telescope. Thanks for your advice🙏🏼
Thanks for this review of the L-eNhance. Very informative and well explained. One question, in your experience, roughly how much extra exposure time is needed x2, x3 etc etc. I guess too much then tracking may be an issues without guiding.
Great question. If you’re not guiding then you’re limited. When shooting with my DSLR I regularly used 2-3 minute subs and always managed to get decent images
Which light pollution filters do you guys use?
Hey, is it also working with an unmod Dslr?
CyYrEx ツ it will partly work. Hb and OIII isn’t a problem but an unmodified camera will block out over 80% of red light so you won’t get an Ha boost because your camera is filtering out the wavelength
How difficult was it to frame up the nebula with the filter?
I find it easier to frame up because my test shots are better quality. If you’re using software like APT then applying a stretch to a test shot looks much better
Can you see stars and use a bahtinov mask in the live view or do you have to take test exposures?
Yea you can see stars, just not as brightly but it’s never been a problem for me
What about this filter with an unmodified DSLR?
It will work with an unmodified camera but you won’t get the real benefit because you’re isolating a wavelength that a stock camera will block, meaning you’ll lose the majority of hydrogen alpha data with or without the filter
@@AstroExploring thanks for the info