PottyMonster

1 minute ago, ONIKKINEN said:

The UV/IR cut filter in the RisingCam advertises a cutoff of 650nm in the red end, so you would get absolutely no H-alpha in the image at all. That is a terrible thing for an astrocam, so you will need to get the AR filter version and then install an additional UV/IR cut filter somewhere in your imaging train.

Now whether you need one with a newtonian is not as obvious as with a refractor (because with refractors you would get extreme chromatic aberration from the infrared, whereas mirrors reflect everything equally), but its a good idea to get one anyway because you may get some reflection issues from the Infrared wavelengths leading to halos around stars, and you will definitely get an extra reddish-pinkish hue to everything and find it difficult to colourbalance things to a realcolour end result (because you imaged beyond normal colours).

In short, AR glass window and an extra UV/IR filter somewhere is the way to go.

Perfect explanation, thanks for the promt reply.

On 03/08/2022 at 07:37, Clarkey said:

Rising Cam IMX571. Pretty much the same camera but half the price. Slight gamble with warranty but much better value. There other manufacturers selling it under a different name at low prices too.

If I was to hypothetically get a Rising Cam IMX571 ...what would be the difference between the AR glass and IR Cut filter versions?  ... from what I understand if I didn't get the IR filter I'd need to add one anyway.... so I'm not sure what the benefit would be of not having it? Is the IR cutoff near the HA wavelength? .....and I assume there wouldn't be any problems using this camera with APT? 

17 hours ago, Clarkey said:

Rising Cam IMX571. Pretty much the same camera but half the price. Slight gamble with warranty but much better value. There other manufacturers selling it under a different name at low prices too.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

15 hours ago, Lee_P said:

I use an OSC camera from a Bortle 8 city centre (and have a whole website about it, with lots of example photos here, and you may find this article particularly useful) -- your Bortle 5 skies are much darker so it's possible for you too. FYI I use a ZWO ASI2600MC-PRO camera, plus Optolong L-eXtreme filter. I consider that filter, or one similar, as a must for narrowband targets (specifically hydrogen-rich nebulae). For broadband targets such as galaxies and star clusters, I don't use any filters. In general, when imaging from light-polluted skies, aim for long total integration times to get decent signal-to-noise ratio. 

Wow, Your website is really good!....extremly helpful and amazing pictures. Thanks for sharing, Hope you have a lot of success with it. I'll be checking back regularly!  How I wish I could afford a ASI2600MC-PRO!

Hi All, I'm over-analysing various astro camera options. I'm in a fairly light polluted bortle 5 (accoridng to lightpollutionmaps.info) area currently using a old un-modified Canon APSC camera, however I'd like to improve the quality of my images.... I'm not looking to challenge hubble, however I'd like my future investment not to be a total waste of money. My concern is getting a new OSC camera (such as a ZWO ASI294MC-Pro) won't actually produce results significantly better than what I already have, as in it'll be just as susseptable to light pollution; although granted the extra sensitivity of a dedicated astro camera will capture the images faster. While I could stretch the budget to a mono camera (e.g. ASI 294MM-PRO or ASI 1600MM-PRO) the cost of additional filters pushes this beyond my current budget at the moment. I could save up though so not ruling this out as an option if the advice I get is it's the only answer to resolving the light pollution limitation...other than moving!

As a side, I do already own a Optolong L-eXtreme dual band filter which I could use with a OSC and a Sky's the Limit Light pollution HT CLS 2.00.

My setup is a Skywatcher Explorer 200PDS on a HEQ5 mount fully guided and tacking well.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone, greatly appreciate all of the replies. Guiding it is!

29 minutes ago, Star101 said:

On a budget route. Although maybe someone can advise on how good they are... Search for Quadband DSLR filter. Maybe its a short term solution before you spend too much!! This should give good results in light polluted areas.

 

I don't mind spending some money on filters I'll get use out of later, I'd just like them to be compatible with a more sensitive astro camera at a later date. From what I can tell though 1.25" filters aren't great for a SLR.

Hi All, I'm fairly new to imaging and enjoying the journey, however I'm on a budget in a fairly light polluted area and have a dilema as to what upgrade path to persue.

Currently using a Skywatcher 250PDS on a HEQ5 mount with a (unmodified) Canon 650D SLR and would like to move to narrowband imaging, however I'm not sure if I should get autoguiding working by buying a tracking camera and some narrow band filters that I can use with my SLR, or if I should get a new imaging sensor and filters but have it unguided?

I'm fairly confident I've got polar alignment working well and can get exposures up to around 1m without star trails, however at that sort of exposure time I'm saturated with light pollution. Eventually I'll upgrade the entire system, I just don't have the budget to do it all at once. Would 1 min ungided with a more sensive astro camera and narrow band filters give ok results? I'm considering something like a ZWO ASI178 mono.

I do have a secondary question as to filter sizes. I know I'm lazy and eventually will want to get a filter wheel so any filters I get now I'd like to ensure I can get value out of later. From what I can tell 1.25" filters aren't a option for SLRs but are fine for astro cameras?....however 2" filters are expensive. Would 31 or 36mm filters be a good compromise to fit in a filter wheel?

Any advice greatly appreciated. I'm not aiming for Hubble quality photos, but trying to be forward looking and sensible.