Spectral imaging technology based on on-chip spectroscopy can find applications in areas including aerospace, industrial and consumer electronics, and so on. Since each application normally requires a different set and number of spectral bands, the development of customized spectroscopy solutions with more compact size and lower cost becomes quite important. In this paper, we demonstrate a compact, highly customizable imaging spectrometer scheme based on custom-made multi-strip filter arrays, which maintains an average high transmission of ∼85%, narrow bandwidth of ∼30 nm, and high optical density of ∼OD2 in the blocking regions across the visible to near-infrared waveband. Spectral imaging experiments are conducted, and the accurate reconstruction of sparse spectral image data is demonstrated as well to prove the validity of the proposed scheme. As a result, the work reported in this paper allows researchers to develop customized spectral imaging equipment in a relatively easy way and also has a great potential to be engineered further for scalable production with a quite low cost. © 2024 Optica Publishing Group © 2024 Optica Publishing Group (formerly OSA). All rights reserved.