Hi!
I just received today, the Baader 2 inch,
7nm H-alpha filter, and I will use, this filter
with my Ed80 telescope from Sky-Watcher, I
do want to test this filter tonight, on the
Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebula; now
let's take a look at the filter and I will
open the filter box ...
Ok.
Now, I will push like this, the box, and we
have here the filter...
So...Ok, so, we can see it here, it looks
good...So this is the way you will mount it.
So I will test this filter soon, once I will
have a clear sky, today was sunny and was
nice weather, hope tonight will not be fog
so I will be able to take my gear out and...if
the sky will be good, I will test this filter
tonight.
I took my mount out, The Eqm35-Pro GoTo from
Sky-Watcher, It was a beautiful day, It was
very, it was a lot of fog for a couple of
weeks and...
I do hope this night I will have a clear sky
so I will be able to test my H-alpha filter
from Baader.
Let's take a look also at the sky, at the
moment it looks clear...and if the sky it
will remain clear, I will be able to test
the 7nm H Alpha filter, I will show you, the
steps, how I will photograph the Horsehead
Nebula using this filter.
So I will prepare to test my new filter, my
H-alpha 7nm.
So I use my second dew heater band like this...
so it will protect the field flattener and
filters that I use, against dew and moisture.
Usually, it worked, so, I was happy with this.
So this is my astrophotography rig...Ed80
telescope from Skywatcher, Autoguider with
Zwo120 Monochrome camera, my Nikon D7200 and
Eqm-35-Pro GoTo Mount.
Ok and here I have also my power generator...I
have it plugged in... because of the weather,
is very cold, and normally I should also warm
it, but for now, for tonight I forgot.
Ok...You can see how cold it is...
- I think -5 degrees or -6.
Actually, this is very good, for astrophotography,
using a DSLR camera, because it will cool
down the camera sensor.
And I will be able to get images with less
noise.
Hi!
I am Ioan Nemes, and tonight I will photograph
the Horsehead Nebula, if the weather allows,
and I wil use the H-alpha filter from Baader
7nm, using a filter like this , has a lot
of advantages like being able to take very
long exposures without light pollution, and
also you will a have very good contrast.
So, I will test this filter, and I will show
you the steps how I will photograph the Horsehead
Nebula, with the H-alpha 7nm filter from Baader.
Ok, so I will move to the computer, and I
will show you, how I will start the plan.
I do need longer exposures to be able to see
the nebula better, I have tested with 30 sec.
iso 25600, seems I need around 60 sec. exposure
for a better test image.
We have now the nebula in center, I did rotate
the camera to get a good composition, and
I have the Horsehead around the middle, I
will go in PHD2, and I will connect.
Ok, so let's connect: ZWO camera, now we press
connect, and here, on camera, connected.
Ok close.
And now I will go guide, Advanced Settings,
and I will clear mount calibration.
Guide and clear-calibration.
Ok, now I will select Looping exposures, and
I will go back to APT, I will try iso 3200
and exposure 600 seconds.
I will go Tools, Auto select the star, and
I will wait for PHD2, to start guiding.
The guiding looks ok, decent, so I will try
my first exposure, I will go back in Astrophotography
Program Tool, and I will try 10 min, I will
disable this, so I leave the composition as
it is and I will start the first exposure,
10 minutes, Shoot!
Ok.
I will be back in 10 minutes...
It looks like I will need to focus again,
the stars, they do not look very good, let's
take a closer look and zoom in, I did refocused
and did some test shots, and I am testing
now 10 minutes exposure.
I did not move the target, so I did focus
on Alnitak, I did use the same method to focus,
as I usually do with my UHC-s filter, in live
view, it is harder to get focus with an H-alpha
filter, you have to select the brightest stars,
I had also problems with the weather, and
with the cables, seems time it was not on
my side, I will try 10 min, and if all goes
well, I will start the plan.
I will select for the exposure, 600 sec, Iso
3200.
I did refocus, now the stars, they look good,
maybe not 100 % perfect, it is also a 10 minutes
exposure, so I could have some small star
trails, let’s look on this stars, here in
this area they look ok and have a small round
shape,
So much more quality in 10 minutes exposure,
here on the Horsehead Nebula we can see much
more color and details.
On the Flame Nebula, I do like how it looks
here also, ok, and I will start.
Ok, so I am starting, let's check PHD2, looks
good, first time I am using an H-alpha filter,
I will leave the plan to work and I will see
you soon in the next part.
I have to stop the plan for the Horsehead
Nebula, because of the weather, I have a lot
of fog now, I cannot see the stars, so I was
able to take, I think 6 photos, of 10 minutes
each.
Now I will make the dark frames, and maybe
I will do also some flat frames.
I am ready now to take the flat frames.
I have here my Yongnuo YN 600L II led lamp,
and I will use it for the flat frames, I have
here also a softbox material.
What I will do now, I will take the lamp,
and I will mount it here on top of the telescope.
I am taking now the flat frames for my plan,
on the Horsehead Nebula, using my H-alpha
filter that I just received it today, and
I was testing it, but I could not do much
because of the weather, I think 5 or 6 photos
of 10 minutes each.
The weather is crazy, it's a lot of fog, you
can see now...so, I cannot continue the plan,
I had to stop and I will take now the flat
frames, I already took the bias frames and
next I will take dark frames.
Now let's go in Photoshop and see the results,
after using the H-alpha 7nm filter, on the
Horsehead Nebula.
Hi guys!
I am here with my Horsehead Nebula image,
that I took in H-alpha, I do have here one
hour of total integration time, this was my
first plan and I will do some final adjustments
especially to the stars, I will zoom in, and
I look on the colors.
You can see that stars look different, with
an H-alpha filter, they have an orange to
red color.
I do want to get more of the natural light
in the stars, so what I will do, I will make
a mask, and I will desaturate the stars, so
I will be able to bring back some of the green
and the blue color, that you can get normally
without an H-alpha filter.
So I will go fast here at Channels, If I remove
the red you'll see some light here, in green
and blue.
So I will zoom in.
So here in blue, and here in green.
Ok, I will go back.
Our main channel is the red channel, but you
will still have some blue in the image and
very little green, and also the blue channel
will be very low.
Ok, and let's see now...Before and After...
Before, After.
I did made some changes with the brush here,
on IC434, in this area, and the Horsehead
Nebula, and on the Flame Nebula, on the Flame
Nebula I reduced the saturation, just a bit,
here -10, +10 Whites and -5 Blacks, so I increased
also, practically I did increase the Blacks,
and here I did -20 Highlights so I can see
more detail in this area, and I went on the
Blacks slider -10, that actually increased
the contrast.
I will press ok.
You can see...what a big difference we have,
much more contrast, so I think I will leave
it like this, with the contrast increased
in this area and more details, and with the
changes that I made on the Flame Nebula and
on the color of the stars.
This were the final changes that I made to
this image, in which that I used 6 photos
of 10 minutes each and stack them in Deep
Sky Stacker.
Let's take a look at the same image as grayscale,
here, using the red channel, I used only the
red channel so I can save it like this also,
In this image, I can blend with other images
that I took with my UHC-s filter, as a luminance
layer, or I can use it as a red channel layer,
so you can do a lot of things, and... using
the images that you take with an H-alpha filter.
Overall, my first impressions on the H-alpha
filter are good, I did just received it recently,
but I do like the contrast a lot, I did not
use any flat frames in this, and I did not
have much problems with vignetting, and the
contrast was very good, the stars were small,
and the focusing was a little harder, but
you do have benefits, using an H-alpha filter,
because it will cut the light pollution and
you'll be able to have good quality images,
it will allow you also to take much longer
exposure times.
Check also My video with the second plan in
H-alpha, on the Horsehead Nebula, that I have
2 hours and 30 minutes exposure time.
You'll be able to see how I did photograph
it, and also the processing in Adobe Camera
Raw and Photoshop.
I really like the results, after my first
test using the H-alpha 7 nanometers filter
from Baader.
See you soon in more videos, and I wish you
all, clear skies!
