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Which camera is the best for imaging galaxies?

Canon EOS 6D ZWO ASI585MC Equipment Beginner Buying Advice
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Which camera?
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4% (1 vote)
88% (22 votes)
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Alien_Enthusiast avatar
Alien_Enthusiast avatar
Hi everyone! Im relatively new to astrophotography, however Im looking forward to galaxy imaging. 

I use a 70mm maksutov on a tracking mount. The only thing I need is a camera.

So my question is: 

Is it better to buy a classic DSLR camera, like Canon 6D, 

or

Buy a dedicated astrocamera like ZWO ASI585MC?

Thanks in advance for your replies!
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Jens Mascher avatar
Jens Mascher avatar
For best results, use a sensitive monochrome camera. The cost and effort is higher, but at small galaxies, you can achieve better signal, better resolution and better channel separation (for further development). If you don´t like to invest that money, the dedicated astro camera is the better choice.
Marc Monarcha avatar
Marc Monarcha avatar
I agree with Jens.

Here is how I would rank this:
1- Monochrome dedicated astro camera
2-OSC dedicated astro camera
3-DSLR
4-Iphone.

The leap from iphone to DSLR should be the biggest here. After that the incremental benefit is reduced.

I would say it depends on your budget but if you could go monochrome go for it. Mind you there will be good filters to buy with it.

If you want to figure out the potential of a camera, let’s say a canon dslr, you could filter your astrobin search and write “canon” under camera and sort by likes instead of relevance. That’s what I do to figure out what can be achieved with cameras or even telescopes/lenses.
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Jay Grevell avatar
Jay Grevell avatar
My advice would be to Join a local astronomy club and try to attend some events and get a feel for the equipment needed for imaging galaxies or anything else for that matter.
DanJunge avatar
DanJunge avatar
Hi Alien 

I would say it's a really good ranking that Marc have made. I have both DSLR, OSC and monochrome cameras. 

I would like to add why I have different cameras and what they can be used for, since it also depends on your own preferences. 

DSLR:
Really good for a mobile setup. If I travel I bring this. It have it's own battery, so with a tracker with internal power, this is ideal. If you bring a small powerbank for the dew-heaters you really don't need any other power supply.

OSC dedicated:
Better quality than the DSLR if it's cooled. Downside is that you need some sort of hardware to run it (laptop, ASIAIR or similar) and also it needs a power supply. If it's a setup used in your backyard this is the easiest solution with a really good result.

MONO:
The same issues as the OSC dedicated. You need some hardware to run it on and a power supply. On top of that you need a filter wheel (manually or automated) or a filter drawer. So basically a bit more work both when collecting data and when post processing. 

On top of this you also need to consider if you want to planetary or deepsky or both. For planetary you want a small censor with a high as possible framerate and for deepsky you want a large censor with a slow framerate. You can have a camera that do both fairly okay, but it can't do both perfectly. 

Finally if you choose deepsky and a OSC or MONO, you also want to take long exposures, which then again can highly benefit of a cooled camera. 

My own preferences:
As said I have ones of each 3 (4 counting cooled / not cooled), and the ones I use the most is Mono cooled for 95% of deep sky (5% is shared between OSC cooled (ASI071MC Pro) and DSLR (canon 60Da) In other words, if I can use a mono cooled camera (ASI1600MM Pro) I do. 
For planetary I always use a dedicated planetary mono camera (ASI174mm).  

Note: 
The planetary camera can also be used as a guide camera, so if you're planing ahead, this might be a consideration.  


CS. 
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DanJunge avatar
DanJunge avatar
And just a final warning, so you can't come complaining afterwards, that nobody warned you…..smile

When I bought my first scope I only planned to use it for visual. With the scope, since it was a used one, came the Canon 60 Da. I attached it one night just to see what the difference would be, and I was hooked from first light. 
I believe most members in here can vouch for the following statement. Once you attach a camera to your telescope, there is no going back. You might think you can do visual again, but it will only be for a period of time. There will be a constant flow of equipment towards you, and a constant flow of cash out of your bank account. Bigger is always better and better is essential for you to be able to breathe… smile

That said, there is a reason why we spend our hard earned money on new equipment… And sit out in the yard in the middle of the night instead of laying next to our better half in a warm bed. Either we're all crazy and have completely lost all sense of reality, which definitely is an option… Or this is the greatest hobby of all time. smilesmilesmile
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