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Favourite eea camera?


Thalestris24

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Hello Louise

I have a zwo 178 uncooled.  I have the uncooled because it fits nicely on my C6 with hyperstar . The cooled cameras are too big and bulky for this relatively small scope and I virtually never do long exposures. The camera is not as sensitive as the 224,290 or 294 and needs a fast scope or long exposures (long for EAA that is)

Here are a couple of pics of ngc 253 on my C6 with hyperstar saved as viewed on sharpcap .The first is 15 x 5 secs on the alt/az mount. The second is 30 x 6 on the heq5 mount.  I dont go over 20 secs on the alt /az so the scope has to be very fast for the 178. The quality doesnt match Hildon's  but it should give you some info about the 178.

cheers

Paul

c6 178 15x5 sc.jpg

c6 253 30x6b.jpg

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I have a Atik Infinity 2/3 chip Sony icx825 sensor 6.45x6.45 pixel 16 bit, I use on a Alt/Az mount and get decent results, the Infinity Software copes exceptionally well with Field Rotation, I have not had the need to go above 40 sec subs , it stacks on the fly and is amazing for EAA instant results on the laptop screen.

I believe the software can now cope with 2 min subs quite well but have never had the need to myself.

Eric 

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4 hours ago, 2STAR said:

I have a Atik Infinity 2/3 chip Sony icx825 sensor 6.45x6.45 pixel 16 bit, I use on a Alt/Az mount and get decent results, the Infinity Software copes exceptionally well with Field Rotation, I have not had the need to go above 40 sec subs , it stacks on the fly and is amazing for EAA instant results on the laptop screen.

I believe the software can now cope with 2 min subs quite well but have never had the need to myself.

Eric 

Thanks, Eric

I've seen the infinity in action on youtube and showing quite good results. But it's very expensive for an uncooled camera. I suppose one is paying a lot for the software. I guess the 414ex is the cooled version (same sensor) but it's even more expensive. It's not clear what you can achieve with either Atik compared to, say, the 178mc-cool + Sharpcap Pro? Though I admit to having little experience of eaa. It's good to see what equipment others are using :). I shall be mulling over Christmas - and beyond, probably...

Louise

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Hi Louise,

I haven't tried eaa but have a look at these Altair Astro cams.

https://www.altairastro.com/GPCAM2-290C-Colour-Guide-Imaging-Camera.html

As an added bonus you get a free year of sharpcap pro included, or you can use the Altair capture software.

I use their fan cooled Hypercam 183m v2 for DSO, and it is a good camera. Their hypercam 183c would give you an even bigger chip and a better platform for DSO. The 183 v2 series or newer also has usb3, an added bonus.

 

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2 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Hi Louise,

I haven't tried eaa but have a look at these Altair Astro cams.

https://www.altairastro.com/GPCAM2-290C-Colour-Guide-Imaging-Camera.html

As an added bonus you get a free year of sharpcap pro included, or you can use the Altair capture software.

I use their fan cooled Hypercam 183m v2 for DSO, and it is a good camera. Their hypercam 183c would give you an even bigger chip and a better platform for DSO. The 183 v2 series or newer also has usb3, an added bonus.

 

Hi

Thanks for your post :) However, I don't think I'd bother with a non peltier-cooled cam - especially not one that produces ~40Mb subs! The gpcam2 probably isn't going to be hugely better than my gpcam1. I suppose I'm thinking in terms of something I can do eaa with and also some small dso. To be fair, I already have an Atik383l+ mono and a qhy8l osc, both for dso, but neither is sensitive enough for eaa. Of course, you can never have enough cameras to choose from - ha ha!

Louise

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1 minute ago, jjosefsen said:

I don't think peltier cooling is important for eaa, but hey it's your money. ?

Perhaps not normally, but as I say, I'd probably want to do longer exposure dso with it as well as eaa. I also do all my imaging from indoors so ambient temperatures tend to be a bit high - even with the heating off and window open!

Louise

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5 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Perhaps not normally, but as I say, I'd probably want to do longer exposure dso with it as well as eaa. I also do all my imaging from indoors so ambient temperatures tend to be a bit high - even with the heating off and window open!

Louise

Aah ok.. did not expect that. Yeah I suppose that would help quite a bit then.

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I have an Infinity and have loan it out to a friend. It is a good camera and software is easy to use but I prefer the CMOS cameras. It is more expensive than the ZWO 294 uncooled which is the best camera I have. The 294 is very sensitive ,but the sensor is too big for my C6 hyperstar.  I use the 294 on a  f/4  newtonian 

Paul

 

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4 hours ago, lollywater said:

I have an Infinity and have loan it out to a friend. It is a good camera and software is easy to use but I prefer the CMOS cameras. It is more expensive than the ZWO 294 uncooled which is the best camera I have. The 294 is very sensitive ,but the sensor is too big for my C6 hyperstar.  I use the 294 on a  f/4  newtonian 

Paul

 

Yeah, the 294 is a 4/3 sensor so only suitable for some setups. It's quite nice though - does it have roi? Do you get any eaa software with the294? Shame about the price for the pro version - too high for me! I'd like something I could use at 200-300mm but maybe the corresponding small aperture would be limiting. The 178mc-cool still seems to tick the boxes though I'm not sure how well it would perform with just a lens or short frac. Plus it's still quite pricey... I'll have to check my bank balance again at the end of next month!

Louise

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All ZWO cameras do not come with any software. There is ASICap from ZWO but it is not suited to EAA.  SharpCap is still the best option we have for EAA.

FYI Sam of ZWO is working to improve ASIAir to handle Polar Alignment and EAA requirements. I am not holding my breath waiting and will continue using SharpCap (at least if the clouds ever disappear for a bit!!).

At 200 - 300mm I would recommend a camera with much smaller pixel size. Check out the 183 Pro cameras- it should do much better with its smaller pixels!

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38 minutes ago, nicoscy said:

All ZWO cameras do not come with any software. There is ASICap from ZWO but it is not suited to EAA.  SharpCap is still the best option we have for EAA.

FYI Sam of ZWO is working to improve ASIAir to handle Polar Alignment and EAA requirements. I am not holding my breath waiting and will continue using SharpCap (at least if the clouds ever disappear for a bit!!).

At 200 - 300mm I would recommend a camera with much smaller pixel size. Check out the 183 Pro cameras- it should do much better with its smaller pixels!

Yeah, that's why I was looking at the 178 with Sharpcap Pro :)

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I managed to get some eaa time earlier before the clouds rolled in... Anyway, I bought SharpCap Pro today so had a play with it using my guide cam (gpcam v1 mono) on a SW Finder Guider. SharpCap Pro is quite easy to use (have had the non pro version for a while so used to the interface). The Pro version includes blind plate solving, mount control and live stacking with flats and darks - well worth the tenner. It's great having plate solving! I saved a couple of live stack fits files and will have a look at them later (tomorrow, probably). One stack included M1 which appeared as a misty smudge (in luminance only) but was just about recognisable. It's great to be able to bring up half decent images of objects in only a couple of minutes using just a 50mm finder guider! Of course, I'd seen things you people wouldn't believe (ha ha) before - in PHD2 using the gpcam just as a guider. But SharpCap is much more versatile for producing an actual image. I'll have to also try a qhy5l-II mono and a minicam5s mono. I have a qhy5l-ii on my Celestron Travel Scope 70 guide scope so could interchange that with the minicam5s. The scope has a focal length of 400mm. I'm wondering about maybe getting an Altair x0.5 reducer and putting it on the Travel Scope - that would give me less than F3! (But probably a distorted image....). Meanwhile, I'm dreaming about getting an asi183mc-pro.... It's so tempting!

Louise

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On 06/12/2018 at 16:58, jjosefsen said:

Aah ok.. did not expect that. Yeah I suppose that would help quite a bit then.

Knowing that feeling Louise, I'm in the same boat as you,,, up the Clyde without a paddle lol, I'm four flights up and to try and get comprehensive kit out , with the poor weather were having,, is soul destroying,, 

Cooling on any camera is beneficial,, I modded Samsung scb2000 camera's and done a lot of testing years back and the amount of dropped frames was astonishing on non cooled mode to nearly none on cooling mod,, and that was only keeping the camera at ambient temperature..

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1 minute ago, shirva said:

Knowing that feeling Louise, I'm in the same boat as you,,, up the Clyde without a paddle lol, I'm four flights up and to try and get comprehensive kit out , with the poor weather were having,, is soul destroying,, 

Cooling on any camera is beneficial,, I modded Samsung scb2000 camera's and done a lot of testing years back and the amount of dropped frames was astonishing on non cooled mode to nearly non on cooling mod,, and that was only keeping the camera at ambient temperature..

I have a minicam5s (cooled qhy5l-ii) and I think I'll set it up on 80mm f6 again. I'm going to get a reducer for it :)

Here's a couple of images I took with it at f6 back in August:

M3_dss_12x60s_pn.thumb.jpg.4173d7d3e14b72cde9d36145b22c7d9e.jpg

 

M13_dss_23x60s_16bitadj.thumb.jpg.244b12c28dfeb465104097868b69711a.jpg

 

M56_7x30s.thumb.jpg.5f5e0e612f46a3410d779d9642aa9e15.jpg

 

 

M92_cs2_9x60s85pc.jpg.83f893c767fda4636979e78ccb7c93bf.jpg

 

RingNeb_17x30s.thumb.jpg.73185c7efb97e84d0ff28602cfe6fa4e.jpg

 

Louise

 

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Louise,

Glad you are liking SharpCap Pro as it's the best option for EAA at the moment. I also note that if you start the evening with a fixed camera orientation and fixed exposure settings (Mine are 15s exposures / gain at 370 usually), once your camera achieves whatever temp you want, you can take darks and flats through SC and apply them. 

Some people say that it is not necessary and while I agree that it is not necessary for EAA, forgive me if I want to enjoy the best quality EAA by investing maybe 6-7 minutes to prepare a master dark and master flat at the beginning of the session!

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And just to - ahem - gently nudge you to the ASI294MC Pro, here's a few live stacks. These are screen captures, no post processing, with my 6" RC running with a reducer to about 1,000 FL and a UV/IR filter. 

Interesting to note how additional stacking brings out so much more detail in M31 and NGC 6888. Something very mesmerizing just looking at an image refreshing and more and more details popping out...

All taken on the 20th of July this year - my last decent EAA session...

M11 15x15G320.PNG

M31 23x15SG320.PNG

NGC6888 50x15SG320.PNG

NGC6888 20x15SG320.PNG

M31 32x15G320.PNG

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4 hours ago, nicoscy said:

Louise,

Glad you are liking SharpCap Pro as it's the best option for EAA at the moment. I also note that if you start the evening with a fixed camera orientation and fixed exposure settings (Mine are 15s exposures / gain at 370 usually), once your camera achieves whatever temp you want, you can take darks and flats through SC and apply them. 

Some people say that it is not necessary and while I agree that it is not necessary for EAA, forgive me if I want to enjoy the best quality EAA by investing maybe 6-7 minutes to prepare a master dark and master flat at the beginning of the session!

Yeah, I particularly like the blind platesolving - I couldn't manage without it using a small sensor. No chance of me getting an ASI294MC Pro - much too expensive! Yes, I'm using darks and flats - the above images (Tuesday 11/12/18) are from August and weren't taken with SharpCap and didn't use live stacking.

Louise 

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