First DSO Camera suggestion required - Forums

Topic starter

Sep 1, 2018

Hi,
I have Sky-watcher 130 PDS & 60 mm APO Refractor telescopes with iOptron ZEQ45 PRO Mount.
Have ZWO 290 MC camera which I use for Planetary & lunar surface imaging.
Want to move in dedicated DSO imaging.

I live in the red-zone light-polluted city. Have been searching for dedicated DSO camera for some months & researched a lot about CCD/CMOS differences, things like pixel size, Image scale etc.

Found 5 cameras that match together in different aspects.

1] ZWO 1600 MM-PRO (Most popular camera today)
2] QHY 163 Mono (Seen some amazing images taken from this but looks like this is no longer available in Market)
3] Atik 383L+ Mono (Lots of images captured by this camera & seems to be very popular CCD choice)
4] Atik Horizon Mono (Though having the same sensor as ZWO 1600 haven't seen much images or proper reviews about this camera)
5] QHY 10 OSC CCD (My choice if I had to go for an OSC option)

Can someone help me to choose the correct camera for my sky condition or telescopes?

Thanks!

Engaging

Morian

Sep 1, 2018

Abhijit Juvekar:
Hi,I have Sky-watcher 130 PDS & 60 mm APO Refractor telescopes with iOptron ZEQ45 PRO Mount.
Have ZWO 290 MC camera which I use for Planetary & lunar surface imaging.
Want to move in dedicated DSO imaging.

I live in the red-zone light-polluted city. Have been searching for dedicated DSO camera for some months & researched a lot about CCD/CMOS differences, things like pixel size, Image scale etc.

Found 5 cameras that match together in different aspects.

1] ZWO 1600 MM-PRO (Most popular camera today)
2] QHY 163 Mono (Seen some amazing images taken from this but looks like this is no longer available in Market)
3] Atik 383L+ Mono (Lots of images captured by this camera & seems to be very popular CCD choice)
4] Atik Horizon Mono (Though having the same sensor as ZWO 1600 haven't seen much images or proper reviews about this camera)
5] QHY 10 OSC CCD (My choice if I had to go for an OSC option)

Can someone help me to choose the correct camera for my sky condition or telescopes?

Thanks!

Tareq Abdulla

Sep 1, 2018

You didn't make it any easy at all, almost all of those are great cameras to be honest, and who said that QHY163M is no longer available in market? I bought this camera last year and still learning with it and it is still available, i bought it cheap from a vendor with free shipping, that is why i chose it over all other cameras, if you want i can give you that vendor link to the camera, and they will give you a free adapter to mount Canon or Nikon lenses, the sales person kindly also told me if i want to engrave my name on that adapter, i said yes.

Michael Timm

Sep 1, 2018

If you go for OSC i suggest the ASI294MC Pro. Works really great.

xordi

Sep 1, 2018

If you live in a lightpolluted area, buy only mono. Your choices are quite ok, I just would add the Atikone6, very friendly, easy to handle with the internal filterwheel.

Radek Kaczorek

Oct 12, 2018

If you live in a lightpolluted area, buy only mono. Your choices are quite ok, I just would add the Atikone6, very friendly, easy to handle with the internal filterwheel.

Fully agree. In light polluted area OSC is out of range and even doing LRGB with mono camera will be a real challenge. Go for mono and Ha-OIII-SII filters for SHO/HST astrophotography.

Concise

Ron Kramer

Oct 12, 2018

I have a 80mm and 152mm I've used the ASI071 (OSC - decent results) but problems with it frosting, so exchanged it for a 1600MM. Just sold the MMC and bought a MMpro (same but newer). I love this camera. But filters mean a lot of time processing. I'd like to do some quick n dirty shots. So I just ordered a ASI094MC. WORRIED about my light pollution here. Im' ORANGE zone. I can see the big dipper and brighter. Not much else. So I'm concerned putting 4K into a OSC (it might be for sale soon). = ) But I'm also trying it with a L-pro LP filter. And I did have decent results with the ASI071 (moonless nights). Else I use the 1600 and NB filters.