Customer
Comments
Here’s what a few DGM OpticsÔ Filters customers
have to say:
Tonight I was at a
fairly light polluted site. It was hard to tell just how polluted with the Moon
just short of full. Orion's belt was visible, to the naked eye, the sword was
not. I was out because the weather was unseasonably warm and I wanted to align
my new Telrad finder.
On a lark, I told
my GOTO mount to find M42. Of course the Telrad showed nothing but the gray
glow of the moon light. My
conventional finder showed little more. The main scope, an 8 inch Meade SCT
showed a few stars. I put your NPD (what does that stand for ?) Nebula filter
on a 32mm Celestron Plössl eyepiece and told the scope to execute a spiral
search.
There it was! NGC
1973! I've never seen a nebula before and here under the worst conditions
imaginable with a modest telescope I'm looking at one.
I took a look
without the filter and I could imagine that I saw something, sort of. But the
DGM filter really made a difference.
I thank you.
Tom R
“Tried out your
NPB filter last night. Quite nice. It definitely has an edge over my Lumicon
UHC. For instance, it allowed me to see edge detail in M42 beyond the UHC. I also felt that I could see the
Theta-1A -- -1D a bit more cleanly than with the UHC. After a few more nights
with it, I'll have a better feel
for whether or not I'll be using it exclusively.”
DN
Mt.Baldy, CA
“Hi Dan
Just a line or two
to says thanks for the delivery of the NPB filter which arrived safely (some time
back). I did not have a chance to try it out until last night and I had to
email and say - WOW!
I have seen the
Veil nebula in Cygnus before, but last night I had a chance to use the filter
for the first time and was blown away! I was using a Meade 25mm eyepiece and
without the filter it appeared as a very
faint streak. With the filter it was an arc right across the eyepiece
with detail and shape - all this with a half moon setting in the West and a
hazy sky!
Your NPB filter is all the Mag said it was Dan - many thanks to you and your company for a great optical aid -- can't wait to see M42!
All the best and kindest regards”
A Jones
UK
I
was recently lent 2 nebula filters made by DGM Optical. They are the VHT, Very
High Throughput, and the NPB, Narrow Pass Band filters. Dan McShane, who also
makes those great off-axis Newtonians, designed the filters. I believe that
these filters to be the very best of their kind.
Both
filters offer exceptional performance and there is enough of a difference between
the 2 to appreciate the accentuation of different details in different objects
in various deep sky objects.
IMO,
they both beat Lumicon and Thousand Oaks UHC types. Not just in contrast, but
also in optical transparency. They can take the high magnifications of the kind
that I prefer planetary nebulae.
That
was unanimous amongst 4 experienced of my observing friends as well. We used a
TOA 130, my 6" refractor with Chromacor, my 9.75" Dob and an 18"
Dob.
I
had no trouble adjusting to the transmission differences and others did not
mention it having to do so either. The main feature about the filters was that
depth and varied gradations were maintained especially in favorite objects like
the Lagoon, Trifid, Swan, Cat's Eye, M27 and Veil with the NPB. The comments
were that the views of the Veil Nebula were the best ever seen in the various
aperture scopes.
For
me, the VHT on the Cat's Eye at 318x in my 10" Dob was a revelation. It
not only showed its central star and football shaped perimeter, but also that
dim "wiggly" feature that crossed its shorter longitude. I've never
seen that in any of my scopes.
Old
standbys like M27 had more undulations with the VHT, but much more extension with
the NPB. This was true also in the larger scopes others had nearby in that many
gradations were visible with the VHT. My feeling is the NPB would be more
popular. With the VHT, my 9.75" Newtonian showed what I would subjectively
call refractor-like contrast.
These
filters have got to be amateur astronomy's best-kept secrets.
Great filters and many thanks to Dan.
Sol
Robbins
Date: 18 May 2005 07:16:14
From: shneor
Subject: Re: Filter question
Hi David,
One excellent filter you left out is
the DGM Optics NPB. It's like a UHC, with less starlight color distortion and a
significantly brighter image. I sold my (premium) UHC which I had owned for
several years when I purchased the DGM, as the results are noticeably better
than the UHC.
Another advantage of the DGM is it's low price - about $105 for a 2".
Clear skies,
Shneor
Dear Daniel,
I recently purchased your 2" NPB filter and must tell you it is simply incredible! I compared it to my much beloved Lumicon UHC (purchased 11 years ago) and Orion Ultra-Block (purchased about one year ago) in my 12" SCT with a fairly wide range of 2" Nagler eyepieces. The Dumbbell Nebula was the chosen target for comparison. Do you know anybody that would like to purchase a Lumicon UHC and/or Orion Ultra-Block? ;^)
David A. Jessie
President, Astronomy Club of Akron www.acaoh.org
Hi Dan,
Yeah I have a 2 inch Lumicon filter selector. I live under very light polluted skies. I loaded my IDAS and the DGM filter into the selector, I compared views with no filter, then IDAS, then yours. The IDAS filter made the background sky a little darker than having no filter, and then I slid my NPB filter into place. Wow, the sky was pitch black, and I mean totally black. The Dumbbell was still as bright as it was without a filter. Yeah, the NPB was a good buy. I can't wait to image through it.
Regards
Ray
Used my new DGM Optics NPB (narrow pass band)filter on M16 (Star-Queen nebula) last night. Using my XT10 without the filter it looked like your average small cluster. However, with the filter in place, the nebulosity was striking. I also used it on the Lagoon,Trifid, and Swan nebs and it gave a more contrasty view. I'm sold!!
Don