Atik 16/Titan vs ZWO SAI120m vs QHY minicam5

[Chris]

Hi,

After a couple of enjoyable observing sessions with my 6" f/5 Newt on my motor driven EQ3 (soon to be upgraded with a wooden Tal tripod), I'm getting a strong urge to stick a camera on it to grab some quick pics.

My initial thought was to look out for one of the old Atik 16 varients; I've owned one in the past and found them great for playing around with and getting up close to objects.  

However, since also recently finding that the NexImage solar system camera I bought is absolutely broken, I've now been looking what all in one cameras are out there?

I can't justify a big blow out on an expensive camera at the moment, but I've sold a few more bits and scrapped around £200 together. 

Not a big budget, but I've read good things about the latest CMOS sensors, and the ZWO ASI120M's looks great on paper for less than £150 pounds new.

Then theres the QHY Minicam5 which looks like the ASI120 with a two stage Peltier cooling system ( although I'd need save a bit more for this).

It seems to be able to do a bit of everything including short exposure DSO imaging if yo take matching darks for the noise. 

I know it's only a small chip, but other than that it seems too good to be true, I thought I'd get a reality check from SGLr's before hitting the buy button.

Should I go for an older small chipped Atik and pick up a cheap webcam for planets, or go for the ZWO ASI120m.

I'm thinking of Mono, and just imaging the planets in mono or maybe false colour? I have a bit of a preference for small DSO's like PN's and galaxies so think mono might be more sensible?

Any thoughts are very welcome on these cameras and possible others 

[ArmyAirForce]

I think mono gives more flexibility. I have two ASI120MM's. When imaging the Sun in white light, I use the Baader Solar Continuum filter, a small band in the green part of the spectrum. The mono is useful on my Ha solar scope too, where it is all red light. For the Moon, I add an Astronomik 742nm IR Pass filter, and get far more steady images than normal white light. I've also used the 742 in the middle of the afternoon on Mercury and Venus. Also sometimes as a luminance on Mars and Jupiter. 

The colour version of the ASI120 has an IR block filter built in, and so prevents the use of an IR Pass. For imaging the Sun, it only has two green pixels out of every four, so reducing the sensitivity of the best wavelength, and only one red pixel in for when used on a Ha solar scope. While colour can be very convenient, I think the mono has far more flexibility to get the best out of what ever target you are shooting.

I have used the ASI120MM for deep space targets too.

[ArmyAirForce]

Sun spot close up test with IR, Red, Green and Blue filters on the ASI120MM. The test was conducted in poor seeing. Experimentation showed the green filter gave the best detail in the Sun spots. A Solar Continuum Filter looks at a narrow band in the green part of the spectrum, futher enhancing the look. That was my next purchase after this test.

Southern Region of the Moon, Testing the Differences Between the IR Pass, Luminance and Red Filters. The camera used was the ASI120MM. 

Each AVI was 2000 frames, shot through cloud in less than ideal seeing conditions. 30% of each AVI was stacked in Autostakkert 2, with identical wavelets and histogram stretch in Registax v5.1.

The first image was with the Astronomik 742nm IR Pass filter. This gave the most sharp image.

The second was with the ZWO Luminance filter, and is the softest image.

The third picture was with the ZWO Red filter. This is more sharp than the Luminance image, but still softer than the IR Pass.
 

[Chris]

Really great shots, the green filter on the Sun particularly is pretty epic  It's true that if I bought a Mono ZWO it would work well with my Lunt 35.

I would be very interested in your thoughts on the camera for relatively short exposure DSO imaging?

Many thanks

[ArmyAirForce]

Eskimo Nebula. ASI120MM and I think it was about 100 x 6 second exposures. 

[ArmyAirForce]

M 27, 99 x 16 second un-guided exposures with the ASI120MM from Washington on 25-07-13
This was a first experiment at using the ASI120 for deep space imaging. 

[Chris]

Holy cow! I'm sold, I'm going to order the ASI120mm right now! 

Many thanks for that, I'm really impressed with the flexibilty of this camera! 

Planetary, Lunar, Solar, All sky cam with the 150 degree lens included, guiding, and looking at your pics and a couple of others on the net, it's very good for DSO's at short sub length!

Love that eskimo shot, and only 6 second subs!

[Chris]

Ordered! 

[Chris]

Did you use any IR or LP cut filter with the DSO shot's?

 I have a Skywatcher LP filter, so i'm just wondering if any other filter would be beneficial for DSO and planetary Luminance? (I've not used a mono camera in a couple of years so I'm a bit rusty)

[ArmyAirForce]

Both were shot just through the ZWO Luminance filter in the filter wheel. I have the IR Pass, RGB and Lum, and with Lum being the brightest, I used that. M27 was unguided, but I found my OAG fitted on the back of the filter wheel, so the Eskimo was guided, even though the exposures were so short. It was a bit breezy, so wanted to try and keep the scope as still as possible.

[ArmyAirForce]

Here's some more deep space inspiration for you from Emil Kraaikamp, creator of Autostakkert - http://www.astrokraai.nl/viewimages.php?t=y&category=7

[Chris]

18 minutes ago, ArmyAirForce said:

Here's some more deep space inspiration for you from Emil Kraaikamp, creator of Autostakkert - http://www.astrokraai.nl/viewimages.php?t=y&category=7

Absolutely amazing on a number of levels! I can't believe how short some of the subs were for the detail achieved! Yes there was a lot of subs but it means you might be able to get good images on a basic mount like mine.

I take it this is thanks to the very high 75% QE!

Those images are all fantastic, thanks for sharing