General Advice and some Questions

[Some Dude With A Mak- Cass]

I'm trying to pick out a good camera for astrophotography. It needs to be cheap, which I know means reduced quality, but this camera is just so I can decide if I want to pursue astrophotography further. I want to be able to image both planetary and deep space with it, but most cameras are really one or the other, so if I can only have one I'll take planetary. Also, I'd love some basic tips and advice that will make this easier. I have a few questions, but the one I most want an answer to is about camera types. There are a bunch of different kinds, and I don't know what the difference is. I Googled it but Google only confused me more, which seems like a bad sign to me XD. Finally, I'm using a Celestron Skyprodigy 90 Mak- Cass. From what I've heard, Mak- Cass scopes aren't great for astrophotography, but I don't remember why. (It's been at least 5 months since I used my scope last, because of how cold and long winter is where I live.) Thanks for your help!

[vlaiv]

What sort of budget are we talking about?

In any case, you'll be limited to planetary AP with that scope. I think it can be used as deep sky imaging scope, but one needs some serious skill to do so, and results are not going to be great - mainly because of small FOV, and small imaging field.

If you restrict yourself to planetary imaging - via lucky imaging, then look up one of these:

ASI290 (there is mono and color type)

ASI224 (this is in color only)

If that is over your budget - look at something like ASI120 with USB3.0 connection. Also, you'll need a laptop to do imaging with such cameras.

One more thing - I listed ZWO offering because I'm familiar with types / sensors on those - there are other vendors that produce cameras based on same sensors, so you might check those out as well (like QHY, Altair Astro, etc ...) and see if those fit you better (price and quality wise). For planetary imaging you won't need cooled camera, so don't look at those - they are quite a bit more expensive.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Planetary and deep space have quite different requirements.  A Mak-Cass  has a focal ratio more suited for planetary photography, but a 90mm is really too small.

If you want to pursue both branches, first read the book 'Make Every Photon Count', then think in terms of a SCT and planetary video camera for the planetary imaging, and a small short focal length ED refractor, a DSLR and a large equatorial mount for the deep space imaging.  Plus a wad of money.

You can dabble with whatever you have to hand, but the results will suffer accordingly.

[MarsG76]

I'd recommend starting with a DSLR... you can get a good one quite cheaply and it'll allow you to dip your feet into AP.... the ones with video capability will allow you to stack planetary images also, so I say it's a good place to start.