OSC Hubble Palette: PixInsight Tutorial for Dual Narrowband Filters (L-Synergy & L-Extreme)
Step by step process of creating a true Hubble Palette (SHO) image using a one-shot color camera together with the Optolong L-Extreme and the new Optolong L-Synergy filters. !!UPDA...
I like the golden blue look a little better but both look awesome. I bought the Synergy filter and barely know how to stretch an image in Siril yet. 😂 Realizing now that I should have bought the Extreme first as it will be used more easily and often. Hopefully, I’ll learn SHO with all the new equipment that is coming! It looks like I may have to try/buy Pixinsight as well. This processing looks a bit too complex for me at the moment. 😢
well yes the L-Synergy is best used in conjunction with another filter. If you're planning to get a HaO filter from Optolong, I highly suggest you go for the L-Ultimate over the L-Extreme!
@the_space_koalaThanks! Do you think it would be better paired with the Synergy? Optolong pushes the Extreme because I guess they are matched. In my inexperienced mind, I bought the Synergy with intention to use with the S30 Pro and its narrowband filter. That was the plan before I ended up dropping $4K on equipment the other night. 😂 I’ll have to check out the Ultimate! PS- I am now leaning towards AM5N over the AM3N. I think it’s better to sacrifice a tiny bit of mobility for a mount I can really grow with when the much bigger apertures start landing.
if your budget allows, the AM5 is definitely a better / longer-term option than the AM3! As for the Ultimate, it's narrower (so better) and has superior halo performance than the Extreme!
@the_space_koala I will do that! I’m curious why Optolong wouldn’t recommend either filter for use with Synergy for SHO? Probably just less confusion and easier to market with 7nm Extreme. I realized that I will use the narrow band by itself far more than I will with Synergy. At least until I get good at processing them anyway. The AM3N would be perfect for my 71F and having to travel to dark site all the time but I know I will want bigger, heavier, and better glass. I’m still learning but I also keep reading and watching about how awesome the AM5N’s tracking is. Plus, I bought the Apertura Heavy Duty Carbon tripod and pier extension. I think it will be a great base for the AM5N. 🤘
they recommend the Extreme because they're the same bandwidth. but no reason one of them shouldn't be narrower
@the_space_koalaThat’s kind of what I figured. I’ll get the Ultimate for my narrowband stuff. What do you think is the best general light pollution filter that I should get? For city glow and moonlight. The L Enhance? Basically, what do you recommend for all useful filters? I have the Synergy for SHO, will get the Ultimate, and maybe the Enhance or? PS- I just ordered the AM5N!!! Thanks for all your help!
Unpopular opinion: light pollution filters make little sense in 2026. 95% of lighting out there is LED lights which you can’t filter out. With those filters all you do is remove part of your signal and mess up the color balance. The same goes for the Moon - it’s white light! For emission targets the narrower the filter the better, for everything else I use no filter (or IR-cut if your camera doesn’t have one built in)
@the_space_koalaAwessome…. thanks!! I believe the 2600MC Air has a UV cut screen on it.💪
@the_space_koala Do you think the 2600MC Air would have difficulty guiding with the 3nm Ultimate since it’s sitting in front of sensors? Hopefully I would be able to just crank up the gain on the guide sensor.
@t@the_space_koalaGot the AM5N and it’s a beast. Combined with the Apertura Heavy Duty Carbon tripod…. it makes for an awesome base!! I also just ordered the Ultimate to pair with the Synergy. $728 for two damn filters!! 😮
This tutorial is fantastic and will follow this for sure now I have just bought the Synergy and Extreme. Thank you!
Thanks again Space Koala for an excellent video. I’ve been struggling with my osc images with narrowband normalization so I will for sure be following this video when I get a chance to do some post processing. Glad to see another Mac user! Yes please, more Pixinsight tutorials but only when you don’t have a chance to image. Best wishes from Cat Astro 🐱
Will L-Synergy and Ultimate produce a similar result?
I perfer the gold and blue.
Really useful - thank you
Thanks!
Beautiful! I love ur channel
thank you so much for your excellent videos! PLease can I ask 1 question: why did you combine the 4 Oiii images by saving and performing image integration, rather than by simple image addition within PI using pixelmath? I know that there will be good reasons but just can't work out what it is 🙂 Thanks!
It’s because I cannot know the signal to ratio of each image. The image integration process takes care of that, while averaging in pixel math would take them all as equal so the result would be less ideal
@the_space_koala thank you!
excellent thank you!
I learn something new every time I watch your videos. Thanks for this great video and a thorough step-by-step explanation of this process.
Absolutely wonderful tutorial! I just got the L-synergy filter and now I get the most use out of it! Thank you!
This is so good. Thanks!!!
Thank you so so much for putting in the effort to do a thorough walkthrough!! As a newbie, this is invaluable.
Great tutorial! It would be interesting to see how integrating the 4 images to produce the O file compares to using the the PI script DBXtract for this step. The script takes into account the quantum efficiency of different sensors and the approximate transmission of each emission line in the RGB channels. Whether or not it produces a better O channel or even a noticeable difference would be interesting to see. Keep up the great work!!
I’m afraid I’m too old school for these specific scripts 😅 I should give it a go
@the_space_koalaHaha...yeah I hear you. Way simpler process though...
Great video, having watched a few of your videos now i'd like to say that you really know your stuff. I've picked up so much. Thanks
Thanks! You covered some things I hadn’t seen anywhere else; can’t wait to try out your techniques.
I'm back and re-trying. I wonder if you know why I get the error message "Incompatible image geometry" when I do the ImageIntegration process? Thanks.
you must have registered the 2 sets of images separately and/or cropped them differently afterwards. You can use imageregistration to align the 2 masters to each other
Hello! Do you not have to deal with gradients where you are? I noticed your to Masters were very clean and even edge to edge. No doubt I'll have to use a gradient correction in my Bortle 4 sky.
I only use gradient correction when I have a clearly visible gradient on the image (which will happen mostly when the Moon is up) because otherwise I feel like I just add noise for no reason. My location is a B4 as well. I'm surprised you have gradients during the new moon in a true B4 location if the images are calibrated correctly
Great tutorial! Would you consider to do the same in Siril, please?