Optolong Astro-Filters

Here is an example of applying Optolong astro-filters to help understanding.

(Light Pollution Map ~ check your sky locations.)

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Optolong Filters for Astronomy and Astrophotography

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L-Pro (Bortle 3-6)

L-Pro (Bortle 3-6)

  • The Optolong L-Pro filter is ideal for imaging broadband deep sky objects such as galaxies, reflection nebulae, and star clusters under light-polluted skies.
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  • It balances light pollution suppression with natural colour fidelity ~ designed for light-polluted skies like Milton Keynes (Bortle 6).
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  • Best-Suited Deep Sky Targets:-
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    Galaxies
    – Andromeda Galaxy (M31) ~ preserves natural starlight and dust lanes.
    – Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) ~ excellent contrast and colour balance.
    – Triangulum Galaxy (M33) ~ faint but benefits from reduced sky glow.
    Reflection Nebulae
    – Pleiades (M45) ~ retains the soft blue glow of starlight reflection.
    – Iris Nebula (NGC 7023) ~ subtle details enhanced without colour distortion.
    Star Clusters
    – Double Cluster (NGC 869 & 884) ~ sharp contrast against suppressed background.
    – Beehive Cluster (M44) ~ maintains natural star colours.
    Emission Nebulae (if bright)
    – Orion Nebula (M42) ~ strong enough to benefit from L-Pro’s balanced transmission.
    – Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) ~ vibrant in fast optics or long exposures.
    Dark Nebulae
    – Require minimal filtering to reveal subtle dust structures.
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  • Ideal for one-shot colour cameras and DSLRs.
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  • Works for both imaging and visual observation.

More read – L-Pro Spectrum and Characteristic

L-Quad Enhance Filter (L-QEF) (Bortle 3-7)

L-Quad Enhance Filter (L-QEF) (Bortle 3-7)

  • The Optolong L-QEF (L-Quad Enhance Filter) is suitable for imaging a wide variety of deep sky objects including galaxies, star clusters, reflection nebulae, and bright emission nebulae ~ especially from light-polluted skies.
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  • L-QEF is a quad bandpass light pollution suppression filter for colour cameras, which cuts out light pollution from mercury and sodium lamps and produces a nice broadband image with minimal colour cast.
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  • Designed for one shot colour cameras ~ compatible with DSLRs, mirrorless, and dedicated astronomy cameras.
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More read – L-QEF Spectrum and Characteristic

L-eNhance (Bortle 4-7)

L-eNhance (Bortle 4-7)

  • Excellent for imaging from light-polluted areas, making it a favorite for city-based astrophotographers.
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  • Optolong L-eNhance is a dual-band pass filter which has been designed for DSLR (digital SLR), colour CMOS and monochrome CCD cameras or CDD One-Shot-Colour camera.
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  • The convenience and cost effectiveness of this filter allows amateurs to image a rich selection of astronomical images, even in bright, heavily light-polluted areas.
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  • It effectively isolates the H-Alpha, H-Beta, and Oxygen III nebula emission lines and achieves a maximum transmission of up to 90%.
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  • The performance of this filter delivers images that superbly control.
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  • Especially suitable for imaging emission nebulae, including popular targets like the Orion Nebula (M42), North America Nebula (NGC7000), and the Heart (IC1805) and Soul Nebula (IC 1848), Rosette Nebula (NGC2237), Lagoon Nebula (M8), Omega or Swan Nebula (M17), Helix Nebula (NGC7239).
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  • Excellent for imaging from light-polluted areas, making it a favorite for city-based astrophotographers.

More read – L-eNhance Spectrum and Characteristic

L-eXtreme (Bortle 5-8/9)

L-eXtreme (Bortle 5-8/9)

  • For people who is living in very light polluted areas, or when the moon is out, the L-eXtreme will be a good filter.
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  • The Optolong L-eXtreme filter is best suited for imaging emission nebulae and supernova remnants, especially under heavy light pollution.
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  • Unlike the Optolong L-eNhance filter which is a tri-band (transmits H-Beta, H-Alpha, and OIII), the L-eXtreme filter is dual band that passes Ha and OIII emission lines.
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  • Suitable for deep space objects in the Milky Way, nebulae and other galaxies.
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  • Compatible with colour and mono cameras: Designed for one-shot colour (OSC) cameras, DSLRs, and monochrome CCDs

More read – L-eXtreme Spectrum and Characteristic

L-Ultimate (Bortle 6-8/9)

L-Ultimate (Bortle 6-8/9)

  • Tested successfully under Bortle 9 skies with full Moon.
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  • Reflection Nebulae ~ these rely on broadband light and are not enhanced by narrowband filters.
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  • Galaxies & Star Clusters ~ emit across a broad spectrum and may appear dim or colour-shifted.
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  • L-Ultimate is about a 3nm dual band designed to drastically reduce the effect of light pollution, the 3nm isolates the nebulae’s emissions into H-Alpha (red) and OIII (green-blue).
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  • It blocks light pollution, maximizes the signal from nebulae, and darkens the sky background. It also blocks artificial light from mercury vapor lamps, high and low pressure sodium vapor lights, and unwanted natural light caused by the emission of neutral oxygen in our atmosphere.
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  • Used with DSLR, colour or monochrome CMOs and CDD – this filter is not suitable for fast ratio systems.
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  • Ideal for colour sensors like ZWO ASI2600MC, QHY equivalents and modified DSLRs.

More read – L-Ultimate Spectrum and Characteristic

CLS (Bortle 4-6)

CLS (Bortle 4-6)

  • The CLS (City Light Suppression) broadband filter is designed to improve the visibility of various deep sky objects.
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  • Suitable for a wide range of deep sky objects, especially bright emission nebulae, galaxies, and open star clusters when imaging from light-polluted areas.
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  • This broadband filter is designed to block common artificial light sources like mercury and sodium vapor lamps, making it an easy choice for urban astrophotography.
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More read – CLS Spectrum and Characteristic

UHC (Bortle 5-7)

UHC (Bortle 5-7)

  • Optolong UHC (Ultra High Contrast) filters are best suited for observing and imaging bright emission nebulae, planetary nebulae, and supernova remnants, especially under urban or suburban light pollution with narrower passband provides higher contrast.
  • Boost the contrast between nebula and night sky, help bringing more details.
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  • Therefore it is more suitable for urban environment where you suffer from severe light pollution.
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  • Suitable for colour CCD cameras and unmodified DSLRs.

More read – UHC Spectrum and Characteristic

CLS-CDD (Bortle 5-7)

CLS-CDD (Bortle 5-7)

  • The Optolong CLS-CCD filter is suitable for imaging a wide range of deep sky objects, especially bright emission nebulae, galaxies, and open star clusters from light-polluted areas.
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  • It’s optimised for CCD and modified DSLR cameras, offering improved contrast and colour fidelity.

More read – CLS-CDD Spectrum and Characteristic

LRGB (Bortle 4-7)

LRGB (Bortle 4-7)

  • Create images in their true original colours showing a wealth of natural detail.
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  • Four filters for a colour image – the LRGB filter set is used to photograph the sky in colour using a monochrome chip camera. Monochrome CCD cameras used for astrophotography provide a bright image of deep sky objects at very high resolution as all the pixels on the chip work together to produce the image.
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  • However, the resolution is minimized with cameras using colour CCD chips, as about ⅓ of the pixels have colour filters – only an LRGB filter set with a monochrome camera makes use of the entire chip and can hence generate a high-resolution colour image.

More read – LRGB Spectrum and Characteristic

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