Side by side comparison between 120MM & 120MC cams

[Kokatha man]

Hi again fellas - that driver mentioned above is the current one available but there is a new (experimental) driver out in 2 versions.....I think Sam probably likes to throw this stuff at a couple of people like me just to see if it is working ok before he puts it out there, which is understandable. (he only uses the colour camera btw)

I'll certainly let him know if he doesn't already that there's others who would like to be guinea pigs (he gets a bit of grief from me...so maybe bringing in a few other folks might make him feel a bit more appreciated at times..! )

But it will probably be released very soon anyway.....like maybe almost immediately...I have no doubt it will be beneficial but as I said to Sam last night, because Saturn is so dim I want some real testing (only indoors with artificial light so far) to determine if the added gain necessary for the faster framerates achievable are beneficial apropos the 50% increase in frames captured...or counter-productive in terms of the gain needed: it will certainly be of benefit for other Solar System bodies though for sure.

It's been touched upon by Bud and a couple of others also, but remember that with the huge range of scope apertures used by AA'ers there's not going to be a "one size fits all" re specific settings of gain, fps and even image scales attainable (which is connected to the others naturally)

.....I'm allways happy to give my specific info if anyone asks - but it would really only be of use to other C14 users imho...

[JamesF]

It's been touched upon by Bud and a couple of others also, but remember that with the huge range of scope apertures used by AA'ers there's not going to be a "one size fits all" re specific settings of gain, fps and even image scales attainable (which is connected to the others naturally)

Certainly so. I do think it's useful to see what other people are doing however because it prompts new ideas ("Why are they using that setting so low when I have it so high?" "I'll try something similar to that and see how it works for me" etc.). It all helps when you're trying to get your head around a new camera.

James

[StuW]

The MM testing driver initially had a few problems with image corruption at high frame rates with large resolutions so wasn't released on the website.

[BrockW]

I am considering getting a camera for astro stuff.  I have the Celestron 102mm Nexstar SLT goto scope and love it.  I would like to know how many seconds of exposure I would need with the asi120mm or mc camera to equal the image on an 8 inch scope or larger.  I don't want to spend a lot of money to get into something that won't do what I would like.  I understand there will be rotation past a certain number of seconds.  How many seconds?  I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and tried to get it to image a nebula last time out and it just wouldn't do it with about 1 minute of exposure.  Should I get an image using the asi120?  I've never done any astrophotography and would appreciate the advice.       Brock

[JamesF]

I am considering getting a camera for astro stuff.  I have the Celestron 102mm Nexstar SLT goto scope and love it.  I would like to know how many seconds of exposure I would need with the asi120mm or mc camera to equal the image on an 8 inch scope or larger.  I don't want to spend a lot of money to get into something that won't do what I would like.  I understand there will be rotation past a certain number of seconds.  How many seconds?  I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and tried to get it to image a nebula last time out and it just wouldn't do it with about 1 minute of exposure.  Should I get an image using the asi120?  I've never done any astrophotography and would appreciate the advice.       Brock

"For astro stuff" doesn't mean very much, though I don't believe your question is really answerable at all.  I'd suggest you take a step back and decide what you want to achieve and then work out what kit you need to achieve it.  Astro-imaging comes in many guises and most require different approaches.

Please excuse me if I don't email my answer.  If you ask a question here, politeness if nothing else would suggest that you should follow this thread for an answer.

James

[MarsG76]

Cool comparison... I think the left is a bit sharper in details but the RGB has less noise. Either way I think OSC CCDs are very close to RGB images when imaging in true color.

[Zakalwe]

The mono wins hands down here IMHO. The OSC version is a lot noisier and has really bad onion-ringing (possible as a result of being less sensitive?). The mono has way more detail in the darker polar regions- you can see a white spot that is completely missing from the OSC image.

Great comparison!

[ollypenrice]

The mono image is considerably better in my view as well. Less noise, more resolution. However, I prefer the colour balance of the OSC image. I just think the greens are too high in the mono, just by a whisper. Tweaked in a jiffy, in any case.

Olly