---
title: "Choosing filters (LRGB vs narrowband) for your camera and sky"
canonical: https://stackingstarlight.com/buy/filters
description: "Which filters to buy depends on two things you already know: whether your camera is **mono or one-shot-color**, and how **light-polluted** your sky is. Decide from those, not from a wishlist."
---

# Choosing filters (LRGB vs narrowband) for your camera and sky

> Which filters to buy depends on two things you already know: whether your camera is **mono or one-shot-color**, and how **light-polluted** your sky is. Decide from those, not from a wishlist.

## 1. Mono vs OSC changes everything

- **Mono camera:** you *need* filters to make color — **LRGB** for broadband targets, **narrowband**
  (Ha/OIII/SII) for emission nebulae. This is the main reason to go mono.
- **OSC camera:** color is built in. You don't need LRGB; you may add a **dual/multi-band narrowband**
  filter to cut light pollution and boost nebulae in one shot.

## 2. Match to your sky

- **Dark sky, broadband targets (galaxies):** LRGB (mono) or no filter (OSC).
- **Light-polluted sky, emission nebulae:** narrowband is transformative — it rejects most light
  pollution and isolates the gas. For OSC, a **dual-band** (Ha+OIII) filter is the high-impact buy.

## 3. Specs that matter

- **Bandwidth** (narrower rejects more light pollution/moon but passes less light, so it needs longer
  exposures — most punishing on a slow scope; this is separate from the f-ratio effect below).
- **Size/format** (mounted vs unmounted; fits your filter wheel/drawer and avoids vignetting).
- **f-ratio rating** — fast scopes can shift narrowband band centers; check the filter is rated for
  your f-ratio.

## 4. Sensible order to buy

1. OSC in light pollution → a **dual-band** filter first.
2. Mono → **Ha** first (huge impact, moon-tolerant), then OIII/SII, then LRGB.

Which set, and the trade-offs between them, is its own comparison — see
[broadband vs narrowband](/compare/equipment/filters.md) and
[narrowband filter sets](/compare/advanced/narrowband-filters.md).

## 5. Budget tiers (confirm current models)

- *Entry (OSC):* one dual-band filter.
- *Mid (mono):* Ha + OIII + SII set, or LRGB + Ha.

---

What filters do: [filters in astrophotography](/equipment/filters).

---

Source: [https://stackingstarlight.com/buy/filters](https://stackingstarlight.com/buy/filters) · Part of [Stacking Starlight](https://stackingstarlight.com) by Michael Kalika.

LLM resources: [LLM index (llms.txt)](https://stackingstarlight.com/llms.txt) · [Complete LLM text (llms-full.txt)](https://stackingstarlight.com/llms-full.txt) · [Markdown homepage (index.md)](https://stackingstarlight.com/index.md)