Astromania1.25" UHC (Ultra High Contrast) Filter - Superb Views of The Orion, Lagoon, Swan and Other Extended Nebulae

Nice addition to my telescope accessories

Unlike a moon and sky filter this combines some more realistic filtering of non-nebular light while passing a good deal of light. I clearly noticed improvement in nebula contrast with very little, but some, loss of galaxy brilliance as you would expect. It's decent filter with net benefits at even 80-90mm aperature.

Viewing through a 6' dob, live in a Bortle10 area, and waited for the moon to "set" at 3:30am. Viewing in Sagittarius,viewing due South, 10 miles North of Charlotte. Went straight to Lagoon Nebula. Ive tried a general LPC (light pollution filter) in the past which helps. However with the LPC, I was only able to make out half of it. With the UHC, I was able to see both halves, and the dark lane through the middle. Had a similar experience with the Swan/Omega nebula. In the past could only make out the "body" of the Swan. Last night I was able to view the "head" as well as wisps of clouds, off the tail. I have never been able to make out the Trifid or Eagle Nebula until last night. Both were very faint and could make out very little detail. I have no comparison to other UHC filters. However if you are on a budget like myself and cant spend $100 on a filter, I feel like you will enjoy this filter. Very pleased with the purchase and details I was able to see.

I am using this on a Step Down ring to take pictures of Milky Way and nebula with a DSLR. The UHC filter introduces about 3 stops, though that will vary depending on the target. It definitely darkens the sky and removes ambient light. The filter seems to be well made with uniform coatings. I have no way of evaluating it in a more qualitative manner but it seems a good value and I'm happy with the purchase.As an aside, I do get a bit of vignetting at 12mm on a 12mm-50mm f/3.5-6.3 kit zoom, filter diameter 52mm, but that goes away at 15mm and isn't really a problem as it only darkens the corners a bit. If it were a faster lens, I'd need to go with "full size" filters but this suits my current setup just fine.

So I will admit up front I do not have scientific equipment to measure light frequency pass-thru and fall-off. What I do have is a repeated set of deep sky images that are true to color without some of the annoying man made light pollution. What's interesting is I have a Canon camera insert version of this that seems to make the images more pink and purple, as if it is blocking more of the green.I also have a CLS filter, but I prefer the UCH as it seems to do a better job for me.

I only used this filter to photograph the Veil Nebula, which is very difficult even to find in the sky. With this filter, is much easier, as the photo of a single exposure can show.However it completely kills the color! It casts a very green color which is fine to correct on any photo software after stacking. But the color will be gone forever.-------Edit 2022-02-06: As some had already said, this is filter that only passes Hb and Oiii. Still useful for some targets, but is far from a broadband filter.

I guess I expected more from this filter, all it did for me was turn the stars blue, I couldn’t see more stars and didn’t see any better, just bluer.

Keep your expectations realistic for visual astronomy. I have an 8" Dobsonian and live in a moderately light-polluted area (Bortle 4/5), so I can already resolve rather faint details without any filtration. When looking at M42 (the Orion Nebula) there is significantly better contrast and definition on dust lanes, and when using averted vision there is a moderate increase in the amount of nebulosity visible. Keep in mind that any filter will decrease the overall brightness of your target, so allow your eyes to adjust before making any judgments.