Which way to go.....

[SkyBound]

Hi all,

my head is hurting... 

I am very new to this hobby, and am wanting to get into imaging, I am going straight into either a CCD or one of the newer ASI CMOS 1600 cameras..

now my dilemma, I have been offere a secondhand Atik 383L+ mono for £900, in excellent condition, or should I get the new ASI1600mm cool, at around £1300, money is not the problem I can afford the extra £400, so money aside, what do I buy, as I am reading lots of good stuff about the new 1600 and also good stuff on the Atik..... ?

Dont know which way to go...please help.....

[sloz1664]

The camera is only the tip of the money mountain that is astro imaging. You have to consider a good mount, decent scope or scopes dependent on what you want to image, filters, filter wheel, software and that's before you consider guiding, unless you can afford a mount capable of precise tracking. I must admit the ZWO 1600 is appealing, but it's early days and I need convincing that 30s exposures can cut it with some of the fainter deep sky delights. I know the ZWO 1600 can expose up to 30 mins. But beyond 30s it's guiding I'm afraid. Unless you are rich

 

Steve

[SkyBound]

31 minutes ago, sloz1664 said:

The camera is only the tip of the money mountain that is astro imaging. You have to consider a good mount, decent scope or scopes dependent on what you want to image, filters, filter wheel, software and that's before you consider guiding, unless you can afford a mount capable of precise tracking. I must admit the ZWO 1600 is appealing, but it's early days and I need convincing that 30s exposures can cut it with some of the fainter deep sky delights. I know the ZWO 1600 can expose up to 30 mins. But beyond 30s it's guiding I'm afraid. Unless you are rich

 

Steve

So all else being equal, which camera ?, assuming a mount  capable of guiding for long exposures, I will be getting the NEQ6 pro, filter wheel with built in OAG, and full set of filters, and an ED80 scope, and I have a 50mm Finder guider with ASI120mm, just bought secondhand.

[Chris]

I would go for the ASI 1600 from what I've read, CMOS is really coming of age! Just ask for example @Gina what she thinks of hers compared to her little collection of Atik cameras and DLSR

[SilverAstro]

 

29 minutes ago, SkyBound said:

So all else being equal, which camera ?, assuming a mount  capable of guiding for long exposures, I will be getting the NEQ6 pro, filter wheel with built in OAG, and full set of filters, and an ED80 scope, and I have a 50mm Finder guider with ASI120mm, just bought secondhand.

Following on from Steve I was just about to ask what mount etc. you already had ! But you beat me to it I cant help on the camera ( someone may be along soon but maybe not many peeps have yet evaluated the colour model )

So anyway, to the point of this post : If it turns out that 30sec exposures are sufficient for your needs (and Gina seems to be doing OK with 30!) then a goto alt-az * mount may do for you, have a look at this No-EQ topic > https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/228101-the-no-eq-dso-challenge/ it is a big one, all 32 pages of it so maybe start at the end and brows backwards and they are (mostly I think) using DSLRs not these newfangled sensitive CMOS thingies.

*Briefly : a GoTo Alt-Az will track an object sufficiently well for short exposures of up to 30sec give/take depending on where in the sky the object is located - due east and west are good for longer than high up in the south, longer than this runs into frame rotation trailing.

Not everyone's cup of tea and it means your new guider kit is redundant

 

 

[Gina]

I am immensely impressed with the ASI1600MM-Cool I have to say   I can't really believe it but it seems more sensitive than my Atik 460EX mono CCD cameras and it has a much bigger image sensor with many more pixels to boot.  The 460EX is known to be lower noise than the 383 based cameras but these new ZWO cameras are very low noise too.  My vote would be for ZWO.

Another point - I'm not sure about the 383 based cameras - I would have to check but the ASI1600 will definitely work with 1.25" filters as long as the camera is mounted straight on the filter wheel - in my case the Atik EFW2.

[SkyBound]

1 hour ago, Gina said:

I am immensely impressed with the ASI1600MM-Cool I have to say   I can't really believe it but it seems more sensitive than my Atik 460EX mono CCD cameras and it has a much bigger image sensor with many more pixels to boot.  The 460EX is known to be lower noise than the 383 based cameras but these new ZWO cameras are very low noise too.  My vote would be for ZWO.

Another point - I'm not sure about the 383 based cameras - I would have to check but the ASI1600 will definitely work with 1.25" filters as long as the camera is mounted straight on the filter wheel - in my case the Atik EFW2.

Many thanks Gina, for your thoughts....

i have been told that it's the same for the 383 camera, the 1.25" filters need to mounted very close to the sensors as you say.

all I need now is for someone to comment on the OSC version..... , and then maybe I can finally make my mind up....