AstroBin is the home of astrophotography - Share full resolution images, preserve acquisition details, discover equipment, discuss techniques, and learn from the community.Discover AstroBin

Askar 71F with camera recommendations needed!

9 replies203 views
Iris avatar

Hiya! I just ordered a Askar 71F F/6.9 Flat-Field scope for ~$700. This is my first big purchase after getting my Seestar, so I’m looking for an upgrade! I’m thinking about getting an Orion Sirius EQ-G with it. I’ll probably get it before I go on a (soon) trip with friends to a very low-bortle sky’d area.

Are there any cameras in the $600 price range that you all would recommend for future purchasing, and anything else I should look out for? I’m very new to all this, so I’m just trying to get a good setup going for under $2000 USD. Thanks!

Well written Respectful Engaging
Tony Gondola avatar

I would consider a cooled color version of the 585 sensor. You would still be a tiny bit under-sampled but it’s close and in your price range. I think the best version out there is made by QHY.

Well written Concise
Interactive Sky avatar

Hi,

As Tony suggested, I think an IMX585-based cooled color camera is probably the sweet spot for the Askar 71F. With its 2.9 µm pixels and the telescope's 490 mm focal length, it provides an image scale of about 1.22 arcsec/pixel, which is an excellent match for typical seeing conditions.

A camera such as the ZWO ASI585MC Pro would be a great option in your budget range.

For ease of use, I would also recommend considering a ZWO ASIAIR. It can control your camera, mount, guiding, autofocus, and imaging sessions from a single interface, making the transition from a Seestar much easier.

Hope this helps. Clear Skies!

Well written Helpful Respectful Concise Engaging Supportive
Eric Gagné avatar

I have a 71F with a 585 sensor and I really like it. It’s a great combination.

Franco Grimoldi avatar

The 585MC Air might be the better choice as it includes the ASI Air functionality and also resolves guiding.

Iris avatar

Interactive Sky · Jun 9, 2026, 04:05 PM

Hi,

As Tony suggested, I think an IMX585-based cooled color camera is probably the sweet spot for the Askar 71F. With its 2.9 µm pixels and the telescope's 490 mm focal length, it provides an image scale of about 1.22 arcsec/pixel, which is an excellent match for typical seeing conditions.

A camera such as the ZWO ASI585MC Pro would be a great option in your budget range.

For ease of use, I would also recommend considering a ZWO ASIAIR. It can control your camera, mount, guiding, autofocus, and imaging sessions from a single interface, making the transition from a Seestar much easier.

Hope this helps. Clear Skies!

Thank you so much! I’ll give this a look. I’ll probably have to budget this all out later down the line, because for the time being I at least have a capable visual telescope, but I’ll make sure I follow this as a guide!

Clear skies <3

Well written Respectful
Tom Hosler avatar

I have the same scope and it pairs well with the ZWO Asi294MC. The only drawback is you definitely need to do darks, flats and dark flats. Also, it is great for nebula, but from what I’ve read it isn’t meant for planetary imaging.

Well written Helpful Respectful Concise Engaging Supportive
Tony Gondola avatar

Tom Hosler · Jun 28, 2026, 08:56 PM

I have the same scope and it pairs well with the ZWO Asi294MC. The only drawback is you definitely need to do darks, flats and dark flats. Also, it is great for nebula, but from what I’ve read it isn’t meant for planetary imaging.

I wouldn’t call it a drawback. You are going to have do proper calibration frames no matter what camera is selected.

Mike Bagley avatar

I have an Askar 71f, and I’ve been able to get results that I enjoy with the following setup (from the ground up):

Tripod: ZWO TC-40

This is both affordable and sturdy. There are cheaper carbon tripods of similar leg diameter, but this one includes a spreader that I think adds some nice stability, and includes a weight bag which is helpful to have on hand.

Mount: Juwei-17 (I’d recommend the SAL-33, though)

These mounts are very affordable and provides plenty of capacity for any setup with your telescope. You could even get away with the Juwei-14 version if you want to cheap out. However, it has almost no technical support or documentation- you have to figure it out yourself using the Onstep documentation. Will not work with an ASI Air computer… which leads me to…

Computer: I’d personally suggest going with a mini PC running NINA on windows 11 or a linux distro rather than an ASI Air. It’s a little more complicated to set up, but it allows you to use a mount that’s literally half as expensive as ZWO products with equivalent performance. This route also more or less requires you to have a laptop to run the system comfortably. There are some really great youtube tutorials to help you set this sort of thing up. I personally use a Quieter 4C. Unfortunately, they’ve been brutally savaged by the RAM/SSD price crunch (almost twice as expensive as they were six months ago). StellaVita is also an option if you want a product similar to the ASI Air that doesn’t lock you into the ZWO mount ecosystem.

Power Management: Svbony SV241 or SV241 Pro. These are affordable and extremely helpful as USB and DC power distribution hubs. The Pro version allows you to control the ports via software, and automatically power/manage dew heaters based on temp/humidity.

(I use a 3-d printed bracket to stack my computer and power hub together and attach them to one of the telescope’s finder brackets)

Primary Camera: ZWO, Player One, QHY, and several other manufacturers all make very similar products- they’re all based on Sony sensors of various specs. As others have noted, cameras based on the IMX585 will work great. i personally use a Player One Poseidon-C, based on the IMX571 sensor. Player One has great customer service and I think their products look nifty. I also use a filter drawer and an off-axis guider unless you prefer a guide scope. You can usually buy these as a package with your camera (they’ll all bolt together to form a unit that screws onto your telescope). Note that some cameras include a built-in UV/IR filter, and some don’t. There are obvious pros and cons to that. Different manufacturers include different ports on their cameras (the cheapest usually only have a USB input + power input, more upscale cameras include a passthrough port to pass data from your guide camera or whatever else).

Guide Camera: You’ll need a little camera for autoguiding. I use mine with an off-axis guider bolted to my primary camera, you could instead use a small guide scope attached to one of your finder brackets.

Software: NINA is an incredible tool. You can use it to manage all of the above equipment.

The stuff mentioned above works for me. I also recently added a Gemini flat panel that is nice for automating the capture of flat frames (and making sure the sun doesn’t fry my camera by accident if I leave my setup out until the sun comes up).

If you prefer a less flexible but much simpler setup, you’ll probably want to go with:
TC40 Tripod

ZWO ASI585MC-Air camera/computer/guider unit

ZWO AM3 mount

That setup will require that you use a ZWO mount, but as you can see it does really reduce the complexity. The camera unit includes an ASI Air and guide chip onboard, which should control the mount and manage guiding for you, all controlled from their phone/tablet app.

Well written Helpful Respectful Engaging