Which one is the best?

[njjmfm]

My birthday is coming up soon and my Dad asked what I wanted and since I need a OIII filter, I decided to get one. I don't know which one, so I hope that you guys can help me. I have a 130mm f/5 reflector. I've narrowed the choice to 3.
1) 1.25" Orion Oxygen-III Nebula Eyepiece Filter 1.25" Orion Oxygen-III Nebula Eyepiece Filter | Orion Telescopes
2)LP-3 Oxygen III Thousand Oaks Nebular Filters
3) Bandmate™ OIII Filter TeleVue Bandmate Nebular Filters

I'd like to make sure that it would be worthwhile to invest in one of these and it would enhance most or all the things that I look at; globs, OC, nebulae, etc.
Thanks

[hal2000]

I've never used any of those brands of filter, but they are well-established and reputable companies. Therefore, I think you could safely say that any one of those three would be a good investment.

[j.gardavsky]

Hello Joe,

the OIII filters enhance the contrast on the emission clouds and on the planetary nebulas, whenever there is enough ionized Oxygen. They don't help on other objects, like open clusters, globular clusters, and on the galaxies.

There is right now a therad on the subject,

O III Filters

Should you have any more questions, don't hesitate to drop a line,

JG

[njjmfm]

Hi JG,
What type of emission nebulae are you talking about? I know M42 is emission, but can you give me a few more examples of emission nebulae and clouds?
Thanks

[j.gardavsky]

Hello Joe,

just a coupleof examples of the nebulas for the OIII filters:

The Lagoon, the Swan/Omega, the challenging Crescent in Cygnus, the Veil Nebulas in Cygnus, the North America in Cygnus, the Pacman in Cassiopeia, the Little Dumbbell (planetary) Nebula in Perseus/Andromeda border, the Rossette Nebula, and the Great Orion Nebula. All these nebulas show through the OIII filters some details, which are often less or even hardly visible with other filters, or without the filters at all. In some cases, the OIII filters increase the visibility of different details, if compared with the H-Beta filters: the Rossette and the Great Orion Nebula are nice examples.

There are of course also other nebulas, which can be pulled out of the light polluted skies through the OIII filters. Moreover, the OIII filters help to fix lots of the otherwise faint star-like planetary nebulas by the method of blinking - observing the star field with and without the filter: inserting the filter, the stars will nearly disappear and the star-like planetary nebula pops up.

Hoping to have offered some illustrating examples,

JG

[njjmfm]

Thanks for the detailed list of nebula. So the question still stands, which filter is made by the better manufacturer? I know Televue is very good and thousand oaks is good as well, Orion is good but it is more expensive than the others.

[hal2000]

Joe

None of them are made by the better manufacturer, they are all good. I use a Baader O111 and a Limicon UHC and I'm delighted by both of them. If you had all these filters sitting beside you, and used them one after the other, you would not be able to tell the difference. I certainly couldn't.

[j.gardavsky]

Thanks for the detailed list of nebula. So the question still stands, which filter is made by the better manufacturer? I know Televue is very good and thousand oaks is good as well, Orion is good but it is more expensive than the others.

Hardly anybody has made a really deep comparison between the filters made by different manufacturers, but there are large fan 'clubs' swearing on Lumicon, Thousand Oaks, Astronomik, and Baader, as seen on Cloudy Nights and Astrotreff Forum (Germany).
As a rule of thumb, the CCD filters, or filters developed for the astrophotography, offer also a better visual quality and durability than the so called visual filters.

I would not dare to make any recommendation regarding the manufacturers, even if have discarded several of their products after the use.
But perheaps one exception, anyone with a 12" scope or larger, might try out the 5nm (or 3nm) CCD OIII Astrodon filter. Even if this filter costs a fortune, it performs exceptionally well not only for the astrophotography, but also for the visual observations. This filter (5nm) complements nicely my CCD OIII (8.5nm) Baader on some challenging nebulas even on my 6incher refractor, whenever the question under the light polluted skies is: to see or not to see. But the 6 inchers are too small to kick you off the observing chair when looking through the 5nm filter pass-band, of course.

Best

JG

[BABOafrica]

Hmmm... interesting discussion on the filters.

I'll eventually be in the market for one myself.

BTW, if I could add the obvious: see if anyone you know has a filter and try it in your scope at a star party.

Maybe that's not possible for you (as, indeed, it is impossible for me). But it certainly would be a good idea if you can do it.

Clears,
Joe

[Zeiss]

Ive used only lumicons and I have been impressed. But which one is best is would be hard to say.