First light with h-alpha filter for 300d

Hi All,
I recently purchased a 58mm Kenko H-Alpha filter for my 300d. I attached it to my new 50mm 1.8 lens and tried some exposures last night. While my efforts weren't exactly spectacular, it at least shows potential with the filter and gets me thinking about what the images would be like if I removed the internal filter.
The image below is composed of three images of slightly different exposures. In the top image, the camera slipped ever ever so slightly causing the slight trailing. Exposures were between 12.5minutes and 14.25minutes, hence the diagonal line where the photos were blended & merged. ISO800 was used for these photos. I also tried ISO200 but it was very slow at picking up the detail. The unprocessed images at ISO800 were very noisy so ISO400 might be a resonable compromise.
In the image, you can clearly see M42 & M43, along with the brighter parts of Barnard's Loop, the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula.

Anyone have any tips for processing these type of images?

Thats very impressive Michael!!

Very nice image Michael. I've done quite a bit of reading on this, the internal stock filter absorbs most of the H-alpha wavelenghts in fact im amazed that you got such a good image at all. A credit to your ability!

If you remove that filter you'll blow that image out of the water, period!!

Thanks Martin.
I should have mentioned that the filter itself is very red in colour and the resulting images are also red. I processed them while still in colour and then turned them to greyscale at the end in order to get something reasonable looking.

Very nice image Michael. I've done quite a bit of reading on this, the internal stock filter absorbs most of the H-alpha wavelenghts in fact im amazed that you got such a good image at all. A credit to your ability!

If you remove that filter you'll blow that image out of the water, period!!

Dave,
I can tell you that it took a fair bit of experimenting on my part to ty and reduce the noise yet keep the detail of the nebulae. I suppose if I knew what I was doing, it would be alot easier!
As for the filter, I am giving this serious consideration now. I saw your recent shots and they are simply spectacular.
As a matter of curiosity, which did you find more difficult; modifying the webcam or the 300d? Does it take much electrical knowledge to do the 300d mod or it is just a case of follow the instructions & photos and take one's time?

Great image Michael, it really shows a huge amount of potential if you were to go ahead with the modification - imagine how much red glow and detail would actually come out in a photo like that after the mod! :shock:

Seanie.