EdgeHD 8 Camera Pair

Opinions will vary of course.  But if cost is not the limiting factor, then the 2600mc over the 294mc all day, any day.  I use my 2600mc on both my Edge 8 and Redcat 71.  If need be, you can always down sample the Edge 8 and drizzle the Redcat when needed.  Just make sure to always dither your runs.

You can't go wrong with a 2600, either mono or color. It blows away all smaller zwo cameras. And APS-C is the biggest camera that gets full coverage on the Edge 8.

I also use it on my WO Star71.

If you are doing color, get the Duo. It's basically a built in OAG, which greatly simplifies backfocus.

I was wondering about the Duo - so the guide camera gets inside the image circle OK on the EdgeHD8? I was concerned about the non-adjustability of it.

Opinions will vary of course.  But if cost is not the limiting factor, then the 2600mc over the 294mc all day, any day.  I use my 2600mc on both my Edge 8 and Redcat 71.  If need be, you can always down sample the Edge 8 and drizzle the Redcat when needed.  Just make sure to always dither your runs.

Your gallery is definitely convincing. Thanks for the reply! Definitely gonna consider.

I use the 2600MC with an EdgeHD 8 just like you are considering, and like that pairing a lot.  I do not have the duo, so I use an OAG, which works well both with and without the Celestron reducer.

I also use the 2600mc on my WO Z73.

I have been considering the 2600mm to get into true narrow band imaging, but haven't yet pulled that trigger.

Stephen Lutz:
I was also thinking about the Duo but this will probably not work with the Edge 8. The diameter might be too small for the guiding cam.

I know someone that has a pre-release Duo and has been using it on a C-6 (1500mm). The extra chip fits inside the 48mm threads. To use this you might need to hit up Agena Astro for some specific adapters. 

I should have specified that you must have a 2" visual back. The stock 1.25" one will not work. The threads on the Duo are m48, so as long as your image path is at least 48mm all the way through, you will be fine.

I have not actually tried this on my Edge8 with the focal reducer (1400mm), though. Also I shoot mono and have a filter wheel, so I didn't have a way to try this.

Andrew Rambaut:
This is quite a handy calculator which can tell you if a telescope/camera combination is going to under- or over- sample:https://www.bintel.com.au/tools/astronomy-calculator In this case the 2600MC will oversample x1.5 unless you include the 0.7 reducer in which case it is spot on. The 294MC is less over-sampling without the reducer. Another, even cheaper, option is the 533MC which has the same pixel size as the 2600 but only 14bit ADC (like the 294) compared to the 16bit on the 2600MC - but smaller sensor and square image is not to everyone's taste.

Awesome! This is perfect info thank you so much 🙏🏼

Hayden O'Brien:

Andrew Rambaut:
This is quite a handy calculator which can tell you if a telescope/camera combination is going to under- or over- sample:https://www.bintel.com.au/tools/astronomy-calculator In this case the 2600MC will oversample x1.5 unless you include the 0.7 reducer in which case it is spot on. The 294MC is less over-sampling without the reducer. Another, even cheaper, option is the 533MC which has the same pixel size as the 2600 but only 14bit ADC (like the 294) compared to the 16bit on the 2600MC - but smaller sensor and square image is not to everyone's taste.

Awesome! This is perfect info thank you so much 🙏🏼

Would add that I don’t mind over-sampling because there are no refraction spikes so BlurXterminator works wonders. Or, as another reply notes, bin 2x when not using the reducer. The 2600 is the best all round I think and worth the extra.

Mike Miller:

Mike Lethbridge:
I also wouldn't worry about amp glow either, your darks will take care of them.

My 2600mm doesn't have any amp glow at all. It really fixes all the struggles people had with the 1600 over the years.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant amp glow on the 294.

I can't comment on how well it pairs with a redcat, but I use the asi2600MC Duo on my 9.25 Edge HD with Hyperstar and it does very well. Without hyperstar or the .7 reducer, you might be oversampled according to the calculators. If you are still considering it, these cameras are on sale right now and you can save hundreds of dollars.

Notes
ASI2600mc General
1. There is zero amp glow, even on 10 minute exposures (haven't tested longer than that)
2. Much less noise that the 294 (my previous camera)
3. Only the slightest vignetting is experienced with this combination, but nothing is fully occluded, so taking good flats fixes that.
4. It has an adjustable tilt plate, so if your sensor is tilted (very common in these days), you can correct it without a cage. 
5. Make sure you have plenty of data space on your imaging computer as well as your processing pc. My subs are over 60MB each and when I drizzle, the Pixinsight WBPP stacked masters are often between 1-3GB

Duo Specific
1. Having built-in guiding in the Duo is a game changer for simplification. I don't have to worry about the flexture of a guidescope or factoring OAG into backfocus. And if you plan to add a Hyperstar to your EdgeHD (a Necessity for wide-feild) OAG creates additional obstruction from the camera. Having a DUO eliminates this.
2. On nights of average seeing, my guiding RMS error is usually between 0.3 and 0.7 on my EQ6R mount. My ARC seconds per pixel is 1.5, so thats more than adequate
3. The guiding basically works like OAG, so remember that if you rotate your camera during a session, you are also rotating the guide camera and will need to recalibrate in PHD2 (or whatever sw you use) or else its going to do very crazy things. And If you image in the native focal length It is likely that you will have to rotate the field sometimes to ensure good guide stars land on that part of the image circle.

Jason Fleming:
I can't comment on how well it pairs with a redcat, but I use the asi2600MC Duo on my 9.25 Edge HD with Hyperstar and it does very well. Without hyperstar or the .7 reducer, you might be oversampled according to the calculators. If you are still considering it, these cameras are on sale right now and you can save hundreds of dollars.

Notes
ASI2600mc General
1. There is zero amp glow, even on 10 minute exposures (haven't tested longer than that)
2. Much less noise that the 294 (my previous camera)
3. Only the slightest vignetting is experienced with this combination, but nothing is fully occluded, so taking good flats fixes that.
4. It has an adjustable tilt plate, so if your sensor is tilted (very common in these days), you can correct it without a cage. 
5. Make sure you have plenty of data space on your imaging computer as well as your processing pc. My subs are over 60MB each and when I drizzle, the Pixinsight WBPP stacked masters are often between 1-3GB

Duo Specific
1. Having built-in guiding in the Duo is a game changer for simplification. I don't have to worry about the flexture of a guidescope or factoring OAG into backfocus. And if you plan to add a Hyperstar to your EdgeHD (a Necessity for wide-feild) OAG creates additional obstruction from the camera. Having a DUO eliminates this.
2. On nights of average seeing, my guiding RMS error is usually between 0.3 and 0.7 on my EQ6R mount. My ARC seconds per pixel is 1.5, so thats more than adequate
3. The guiding basically works like OAG, so remember that if you rotate your camera during a session, you are also rotating the guide camera and will need to recalibrate in PHD2 (or whatever sw you use) or else its going to do very crazy things. And If you image in the native focal length It is likely that you will have to rotate the field sometimes to ensure good guide stars land on that part of the image circle.

Hi Jason,Looking at the drawings on the ZWO web site it looks like the 2600MC Duo requires an 44mm image circle to fully encompass the extra guide camera. This is basically a full-frame image circle I think. I guess you might be able to get away with a smaller image circle and get enough of the guide sensor in the image circle to see stars for guiding. But without knowing what the useable image circle needs to be I have been reticent getting this camera - none of my scopes are designed for full frame.   The Hyperstar 11 specs suggest it has 35 mm image circle so if the Duo is useable with that, then that is useful to know.