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Planetary camera for 150P-DS

abodee2

By abodee2
in Getting Started With Imaging

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abodee2

abodee2

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Hi there,

I've been looking at a few choices for planetary cameras, but there's a lot to pick from and I'm not just not sure. I understand that 750mm isn't the best for planetary work but I'd like to give it a shot as I'd love to get nice photos of the planets. I dont really want to spend too much ~£150 (student problems), so I would appreciate any advice on what would be a good choice of camera - also I'd probably prefer a colour over mono because I dont fancy using a filter wheel  :tongue:

Thanks,

Ali 

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Joseki

Joseki

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The qhy5l-ii colour is on sale at the moment, £135.

http://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/qhy-guide-cameras/qhy5l-ii-colour/

but you can use your DSLR to grab video (e.g. using backyard EOS software http://www.otelescope.com/index.php?/store/category/2-backyardeos/ )

so absolute cheapest would be to use that.

with regards your scope for planetary I'd also try  and budget for a decent  barlow lens.

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Joseki

Joseki

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At the moment the one that i'm most drawn to is the QHY5l-IIC, but I've not seen any images online with it

some examples here, though a big factor is the telescope used of course:

http://www.astrobin.com/search/?q=qhy5l-ii-c&search_type=0&solar_system_main_subject=&telescope_type=11&camera_type=5&camera_type=4&camera_type=3&camera_type=2&camera_type=1&camera_type=0&camera_type=any&aperture_min=114&aperture_max=189&pixel_size_min=&pixel_size_max=&start_date=&end_date=&integration_min=&integration_max=&moon_phase_min=&moon_phase_max=&license=0&license=1&license=2&license=3&license=4&license=5&license=6

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JamesF

JamesF

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A filter wheel and filters would probably blow the budget before you even got to a camera :)

If it's in good nick, this is probably an excellent choice: http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=102887

In the fullness of time you'd probably want to add a decent barlow and IR cut filter, but those would wait if necessary, especially if you already have a barlow of some description.

The QHY5L-II colour is sometimes available for around the same price, but I'd have the 120MC above out of preference.

If you want to go cheaper there's the ASI034MC, but it's not really suited to the focal ratio of your OTA.

I'd suggest that there's no real need to rush though.  Other than the outer planets there's not a load of opportunity for planetary imaging at the moment.  It wouldn't be a major loss to watch the second hand markets for a month or so to see what comes up.

James

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abodee2

abodee2

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A filter wheel and filters would probably blow the budget before you even got to a camera :)

If it's in good nick, this is probably an excellent choice: http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=102887

In the fullness of time you'd probably want to add a decent barlow and IR cut filter, but those would wait if necessary, especially if you already have a barlow of some description.

The QHY5L-II colour is sometimes available for around the same price, but I'd have the 120MC above out of preference.

If you want to go cheaper there's the ASI034MC, but it's not really suited to the focal ratio of your OTA.

I'd suggest that there's no real need to rush though.  Other than the outer planets there's not a load of opportunity for planetary imaging at the moment.  It wouldn't be a major loss to watch the second hand markets for a month or so to see what comes up.

James

Thanks James, I think you're right about just watching the second hand market for a while. I already have a good x2 Barlow and the 120MC does look good - what's the difference between that and the QHY5L-II though? 

Thanks! Yeah the telescope would be the biggest factor. I suppose my main goal is to capture saturn in enough detail to get the cassini divion but I'm not sure how doable that is with my scope. I've seen a few youtube videos with the 150PDS and DIY adapted webcams which made me think it would be possible to capture the planets with the detail I've got in mind.

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JamesF

JamesF

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Thanks James, I think you're right about just watching the second hand market for a while. I already have a good x2 Barlow and the 120MC does look good - what's the difference between that and the QHY5L-II though?

Other than the obvious physical differences, the QHY5L-IIc uses the Aptina MT9M034 sensor.  The 120MC uses the Aptina AR0130 sensor.  The latter is a little more sensitive than the former.  Perhaps somewhere around 10%.

Purely as a personal view I'd say the ASI drivers are perhaps a little more robust than the QHY ones too.

They're both perfectly acceptable cameras for what they are, but if you're able to buy them at pretty much the same price that's why the 120MC would be my preference.

James

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Twiggles

Twiggles

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Recently went through the same thing myself and someone reccomended the Altair GPCAM. Available in both mono and colour for £135 in the UK, the colur version also uses the Aptina AR0130 sensor, and has an ST4 port so cold be used for autoguiding in future.

As the planets aren't too favourable for viewing at the moment I haven't yet been able to get an image with it. Hoping to try some lunar this weekend if it clears though, and I have used it on some brither stars to get accustomed to the software. It does get noisy on long exposures (for DSO's) but thats not really what its designed for. I have to say that so far I am quite happy with it.

http://www.tringastro.co.uk/altair-gpcam-ar0130c-colour-general-purpose-astronomy-camera-with-auto-guiding-port-9614-p.asp

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JamesF

JamesF

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The Altair camera looks like it might have a lot going for it.  The only reason I hesitate to recommend it is that I know little about it.  Two or three people have posted that they have one and seem to be having some success with it, though I've seen no planetary imaging done with it yet.

James

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abodee2

abodee2

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you can get decent moon pics with a 750mm scope, a 2x barlow and a qhy5liic, which is what I used here:

15795501305_b32d09193e_c.jpg

to be honest though, I think the 750mm is too short for planets, I've pretty much given up on them.

That looks stunning! Yeah I figured it's a bit short but I'm not looking for big, very detailed photos - as long as I can get a nice image with some detail I'll be happy. My main focus is imaging DSO's

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Joseki

Joseki

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Maybe I got the wrong end of the stick but I thought as long as you can get your scope up to f25 ish its ok. I hope so anyway as I bought a 5x powermate (2nd hand) for my f5 200pds specifically for that reason (but its been too cloudy to test that properly though).

Ps I do like my asi120mm and picked it up for a sum within your budget through obsessive watching if the 2nd hand market.

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JB80

JB80

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At 150mm with and ASI120 I get my best planetary results with a x2 barlow, then again my scope is f/8 so that would put it at f/16.

I have not had as good results using a x3.

Plus I also think a 150mm scope struggles on the planets with higher mags as the brightness drops considerably so to get the right exposure you are stuck with much, much slower frame rates.

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