Dedicated astro-camera suggestion

Equipment CMOS Buying Advice
5 replies•203 views
Michele Vonci avatar
Michele Vonci avatar
Hello,
I'm thinking to move from a dslr to a dedicated astrocamera. For a series of reasons - mainly budget  :-) - I'm thinking of a colour cooled camera rather than a monochrome. I've kind of settled  for the 294 sensor which fits well with my telescope ( an f/4 8" newtonian).  I know ZWO, Altair Astro, and QHY  all manufacture a TEC cooled camera with the Sony 294 sensor. Is there any difference between these three products? I've read around that the ZWO had some problems with uniform cooling . Any direct experience will be appreciated.
Thanks

Michele
xordi avatar
xordi avatar
I have an ASI version and it has only a minor cooling issue. If the cooler works near to 100% it can create some dump on the chip (or on the cover glass).
Sofar it occurred only on the very hot summer nights, when I wanted to reach -10, -15., otherwise it works quite ok, quick and stable. I think the reason could be the warming house.
An other annoying issue is the ampglow on the edge, however with a careful calibration it disappears.
Steve Milne avatar
Steve Milne avatar
Whilst the OSC will be cheaper initially, I wonder from reading between the lines of your post if you will soon end up hankering after the flexibility that mono plus filters can give you.  You may find it turns out more expensive in the long run trying to save some money now.   smile
Carastro avatar
Carastro avatar
I agree.

Carole
Michele Vonci avatar
Michele Vonci avatar
Hi Xordi,
thanks for the very useful information. That was ideed the type of  details I was looking for.

Cheers

Michele
Alessio Pariani avatar
Alessio Pariani avatar
Pay attention to sampling Michele. Little pixels and long focal lenght is a very hard to guide combination
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