Lodestar binning

[blinky]

I always bin2 my Lodestar as thats what the manual says, but on looking at it now, that means the pixels are effectively around 16um and my ASI1600 is 3.8um.  Im now thinking I should not Bin the Lodestar and keep the pixles as small as possible but im wondering why the manual says to Bin and is there a specific reason?  Or am I just over complicating things and due to PHD2's subpixel guiding its not an issue?

[Davey-T]

No idea mate, but never binned mine, never having read the manual 😂

Dave

[blinky]

Interesting, and obviously you have never had an issue.... Think I will give it a try then

[retret66]

I only use binning if I am on my F8 RC10 OAG, to get more star selection. It is best not to bin with ASI1600mm

[blinky]

28 minutes ago, retret66 said:

I only use binning if I am on my F8 RC10 OAG, to get more star selection. It is best not to bin with ASI1600mm

Do you mean it's best not to bin an ASI1600 or if using one and a lodestar it's best not to bin the Lodestar?

[retret66]

18 minutes ago, blinky said:

Do you mean it's best not to bin an ASI1600 or if using one and a lodestar it's best not to bin the Lodestar?

yes, you will get a much higher SNR and a pointy star profile.. I mean the lodestar guiding only not the main camera zwo 1600mm

Edited September 16, 2019 by retret66

[blinky]

Cheers, will give it a go

[michael8554]

You need to have a sensible ratio of guidecam image scale to imaging camera image scale in arcsecs per pixel. 

And binning the guidescope can help that ratio, particularly when OA Guiding a long focal length scope. 

The other use of binning is to improve sensitivity, which I understand is not usually a problem with the Lodestar in non-OAG use. 

What exactly does the manual say? 

Michael