OSC camera selection - Forums

Topic starter

May 24, 2022

Hello,

I recently went through lot of research and found OSC and Mono cameras have their own field of expertise (usage) which can not be compared with one another directly.

I currently use ZWO 1600MM-Pro with LRGB and HA-OIII filters as primary setup.

But for getting dedicated OSC I thought of getting following options

1] Player-One-Uranus-C USB3.0 Color Camera (IMX585)

2] Player-One-Mars-C II USB3.0 Color Camera (IMX662)

3] ZWO 482MC

4] ZWO 294MC (non-cooled)

Getting one of the above OSC camera to go along with my current setup of 3 OTAs

GSO 6 inch RC (for galaxies)
Sky-watcher 130 PDS Newtonian (for normal field)
Sharpstar 60ED APO refractor (for wide field)
Any recommendations for above ?

Thanks

andrea tasselli

Frequent contributor

May 24, 2022

That depends on what you want to do with any of them and with what.

Pablo Gazmuri

May 24, 2022

For proper sampling, pixel (aka photosite) size matters, and it depends on focal length. Each of your scopes would have different ideal photosite sizes. I would recommend something with small enough pixels that you will have good sampling at shorter focal lengths, that you can 2x2 bin for decent sampling with your RC scope.

See more here, with a calculator: https://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability

I don't have direct experience with combining images of different resolutions, but I would imagine it's also helpful to have a similar resolution as your mono cam.

Helpful Concise

Jim Medley

May 24, 2022

Here is a different calculator that lets you put in your specific telescope/camera combination and see how it would look https://www.bintel.com.au/tools/astronomy-calculator/ I chose the ASI 2600 mm Pro because I was coming from a DSLR and was used to the APS-C sensor for framing. It also depends on your choice of targets, wide field might work better with a larger sensor.

Helpful

Ed Dixon

May 25, 2022

I have an older ASI224MC, a ASI294MC Pro, and a new ASI485MC. I got the 485 as a replacement for the older 224 but have not used it much yet. My focus there was for planetary. That season is in the fall this year. I have used the 294 many times and it works great! The cooling really helps for wide field shots where you need more exposure time for targets. I am also working with a ASI174MM and filter wheel, but that's still new to me.