One - all purpose filter!

All purpose filter

I was thinking of getting one all-purpose filter for deep sky. I use a refractor and have heavy LP with mag 4.5 skies.

I was thinking of the Lumicon UHC to reduce LP, darken the sky and improve contrast to view planetary and emission nebula. I heard it also helps with mars and Jupiter contrast. I would also use it at my dark site too.

What about the Lumicon O-III instead???

Any thoughts or suggestions.

howard

The UHC will be the most useful overall. The O-III is a nice filter, but it will not give the most consistant views of nebula.
Floyd

Hi Howard,
I would go with the UHC, it outperforms the O-III on most objects. The O-III is too narrow IMO for most uses. 8)

Paul

The UHC helps on a somewhat larger number of objects than the OIII since the UHC passes light in both the OIII and H-beta bands. That said, objects with a very strong OIII response will show better with an OIII filter (e.g., the Helix). Objects with a strong H-beta line show better in the UHC.

All that said, I generally prefer the views with the OIII through my larger scopes and use an H beta filter for appropriate objects (Horsehead and California nebs.) and prefer the UHC with my 3" APO.

Still, if I could only have one neb filter, it would be a UHC.

Randy