Celestron 94124 2-Inch UHC/LPR Filter

This (and most other celestron band filters) are actually rebranded Baader Planetarium filters. You can compare pictures of these to ones from Baader's website and see that they're exactly the same, not to mention that the back of the plastic casing on these literally says "Baader Planetarium." As for how these work, they do a decent job of filtering out light pollution (I live in a horribly light polluted area outside a major city), but they can't work miracles and they add a blue tint to everything you're viewing. Also note that like it says in the description, these are best for viewing nebulae and unfortunately will dim out any galaxies you're viewing, but these weren't designed for galaxies. As far as I can tell these are flawless and don't appear to be factory rejects, seconds, or QC rejects from Baader, so I suspect it's simply a bulk distribution deal between Baader and Celestron. Overall these are a real bargain for the price and work well for those of us who live in cities and don't have the time to travel to beautiful dark skies.

I used this one morning before dawn to see planets. Actually with remote work, there’s less pollution of all types now - so I can see the atmosphere better! Glad I bought this though! Recommended for viewing aide for your telescope.

I will do a technical review, since most practical ones are already given. Regarding construction, I was surprised that the filter glass was loose inside the metal rim so one star less due to that. Attached is a picture of the open package. The filter blocks A LOT of light. Attached are two pictures of Altair without and with filter, you will see that filter cuts around 75% of the light, as I can see by exposure and gives a blue tint to the stars. I also measured the UV-Vis absorption spectrum in our laboratory spectrometer,you can see that only bands between 450-520 nm and 626-673 nm are allowed. This cut can be observed in the attenuation of light from a fluorescent lamp and white from my computer screen, which are also attached.

I use a 4" telescope in urban skies. There is nothing written about this filter other than adknowledge of it's existance by filter gurus in the amateur astronomy web comunity. Bottom line, it does a beautiful job. Otherwise invisible objects in urban skies become magically visible. Summer nebulae M8,M16,M17,and M20 get an amazing enhancement, a couple of them really amazing from nothing there to wow!. M27 and M57 are not "prettier" but i would say " more comfortable" to see. I own both a UHD and OIII lumicon filters but they are too harsh on small telescopes in urban skies. For that,I recommend this cheapo Celestron LPR. Do not be confused however!. Phil Harington lists this filter as a narrowband in his book. It is a broadband. And it works. Save your money, if you have a small telescope in poor skies this is the filter for you. Use low power. I used it from 16x to 40x to wonderful result. At 60x not so good. Happy viewing asn clear skies!

I only give this a 3 star because it didn't serve my needs specifically. I don't want anyone to think this is a bad filter but it just didn't work for my setup. I live in a pretty light polluted area and the best I can do is view in a yellow zone. I have a 6' Newtonian and thought this would help get me some longer exposures for astrophotography. The problem is the filter blocks too much light. At 5 minutes of exposure my histogram was just leaving the left. There was zero sky glow in my image but not enough data to work with. I'm sure if you had a larger aperture scope this would be a great item but not at 6'. Also if you don't know, which I didn't, if you're using this for visual there will be a green/cyan hue to everything. For astrophotography you will need to set a custom white balance with the filter on.Clear Skies!

This UHC filter does its job at making nebulae have more contrast and more shape. This filter works with emission and planetary nebulae. It makes nebulae have about 30% more contrast. It is especially effective on the orion nebula and even bette on the M27 Dumbell nebula. The below reviewers clearly do not know how lpr filters work. It will not eliminate light pollution, just lessen the effect of it. I use this on my Orion XT10i Dobsonian (10 inch aperture). The uhc filter is more well rounded than an OIII filter. It is actually $20 cheaper on Amazon than on Celestrons own website.

Good filter for intensified astronomy (Night Vision), while it doesn't block all skyglow, it reduces it significantly and allows all the important bands through, H-Alpha, Beta and I think O3 too so you can get a good glimpse and things like the helix nebula using night vision gear. A friend has it and doesn't like it for astrophotography due to "color shift" not sure if this is true but I figured it was worth mentioning.

Helps contrast between nebula and light pollution so dim objects pop. Some minor improvement for galaxies in light polluted skies.I like this better than OIII filters as OIII filters too much and make things way too dim unless you use a 16" plus telescope.

Arrived quickly. Came well packaged in solid plastic case for keeping this filter clean and scratch free. A good basic filter add to any set-up. I normally only deal with a reputable 'local' telescope dealer/specialist for accessories but this was in stock - and a significantly better price point.

It works fantastic and if you read any reviews about it not it’s because they had too high expectations in the first place, no filter can make the image brighter that’s not possible unless you’re using a camera. It reveals a lot of hidden detail otherwise unseeable due to light pollution and improves contrast, just as an example there is a big bright street light right outside my house and with that filter and a few shield I could see the center of the Andromeda galaxy through my eyepiece so I can’t even imagine what it would look like outside a city in complete darkness.

did not notice a significant improvement in observation and felt not worth the money until one day I tried it on the dumbbell nebula and instantly noticed the difference, without it you would not even know it's there. I live in the greater Toronto area so the light pollution is quite high.. it might does better job with moderate to low LP

I'm on the fence on this product... if you live in a heavily light polluted area like I do, Toronto, this product will do little when looking through a telescope. It does not get rid of enough sky glow as you would hope. When it does work well is on long exposure pics on a DSLR camera. It darkens the sky so you see more starlight. You will have to process the pics on your computer to bring out the stars though... I haven't tested it in dark skies yet. Can't wait.

When using this filter for visual viewing does darken the background in light polluted skies making some nebulas easer to see. If using it with a DSLR it has blue color in the picture it take a lot of work to clean that up in post processing. I have found that if you process in black and white it works much better.