Made a video on Astrophotography Cameras

[widotje]

Hi folks,

From time to time get asked what kind of astrophotography camera should I buy on the (social) media accounts where i upload my images.

There are many technical discussions (which is helpful of course) but in my opinion it often also depends on the interests of the person itself en his/her skill level...

For example, I wouldn't recommend a CCD mono camera >$3K to a person who is starting his/her hobby :-). 

Anyhow, I attempted to capture that in a video and put it on my personal YouTube channel, here's the link:

 

https://youtu.be/HhIAEnVMzHU

Feedback is highly appreciated, and I know I have a (Dutch) accent...being a non native speaker...

I'll keep at it and hopefully it will improve over time :-).

Clear skies, 

Wido.

[ollypenrice]

On 13/10/2019 at 13:34, widotje said:

 

For example, I wouldn't recommend a CCD mono camera >$3K to a person who is starting his/her hobby :-). 

 

I would.

Olly

[gorann]

I really like your effort into helping people get into this great hobby! Just two comments. A scientific one is that the need for red light sensitivity of our cameras has nothing to do with the red shift you show in your cartoon. Red shift is something affecting far far away galaxies but the reason we need cameras sensitive in red is that  our milky way nebulas often send out much of their light from glowing hydrogen atoms at the red H-alpha wavelength of 656 nm. Secondly, I think you may be slightly wrong in suggesting that CMOS is noisier than CCD, I thought it is often quite the opposite, but others may have more to say about that.

Edited October 14, 2019 by gorann

[widotje]

On 14/10/2019 at 22:59, gorann said:

I really like your effort into helping people get into this great hobby! Just two comments. A scientific one is that the need for red light sensitivity of our cameras has nothing to do with the red shift you show in your cartoon. Red shift is something affecting far far away galaxies but the reason we need cameras sensitive in red is that  our milky way nebulas often send out much of their light from glowing hydrogen atoms at the red H-alpha wavelength of 656 nm. Secondly, I think you may be slightly wrong in suggesting that CMOS is noisier than CCD, I thought it is often quite the opposite, but others may have more to say about that.

Thanks for the update Goran. You are definitely correct about the redshift. I was confused because I saw some info on the Hubble Space Telescope where they mentioned this. It only applies to early galaxies.

For CMOS, I always thought that those sensors were heavier on read noise, hence the dark frames needed to compensate for this. But if this is not accurate I'm all ears.

Thanks for watching the video!

[widotje]

On 14/10/2019 at 20:58, ollypenrice said:

I would.

Olly

Hehehe. Depends on his/her socio-economic status and if you like him/her....lol

Edited October 18, 2019 by widotje

[ollypenrice]

11 hours ago, widotje said:

Hehehe. Depends on his/her socio-economic status and if you like him/her....lol

 True! However, I run imaging courses and often work with beginners or relative beginners and I don't agree with the idea that you need to start with DSLR or OSC. I started with monochrome CCD on the advice of the very expert Ian King, now at FLO, and I think it was great advice. I pass it on. Also a fair number of our guests have told me that they think their time with DSLRs was time wasted. I know this is a minority opinion but I hold it none the less.

Olly

Edited October 19, 2019 by ollypenrice

[widotje]

12 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

 True! However, I run imaging courses and often work with beginners or relative beginners and I don't agree with the idea that you need to start with DSLR or OSC. I started with monochrome CCD on the advice of the very expert Ian King, now at FLO, and I think it was great advice. I pass it on. Also a fair number of our guests have told me that they think their time with DSLRs was time wasted. I know this is a minority opinion but I hold it none the less.

Olly

Aha, OK. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I assumed that most people like myself own a DSLR...and use that as a first step into astrophotography. But that might not always be the case...and it is true that my ZWO 1600 MM pro produces far higher quality images as compared to my DSLR..and a CCD is of course supernice in terms of quality. But I don't feel that time was wasted...I first had a lot to learn about polar aligning, guiding and capturing. But I can imagine that some have other experiences. Something to consider in my future videos. Cheers!

[Robny]

On 19/10/2019 at 08:38, ollypenrice said:

 True! However, I run imaging courses and often work with beginners or relative beginners and I don't agree with the idea that you need to start with DSLR or OSC. I started with monochrome CCD on the advice of the very expert Ian King, now at FLO, and I think it was great advice. I pass it on. Also a fair number of our guests have told me that they think their time with DSLRs was time wasted. I know this is a minority opinion but I hold it none the less.

Olly

Agreed...

 

I started (tried) with DSLR and just had a horrible frustrating time with it.  I decided just to go all in and got a cooled mono cmos camera, and never looked back.  Yes the learning curve is steep but the rewards make up for that when it comes together

[smr]

I don't mean to derail the thread but which Mono camera would you recommend circa £1k or thereabouts Olly, out of curiosity ?

[Andy R]

nice video, I look forward to ploughing my way through the rest of them on your channel.

[Hallingskies]

On 19/10/2019 at 08:38, ollypenrice said:

 True! However, I run imaging courses and often work with beginners or relative beginners and I don't agree with the idea that you need to start with DSLR or OSC. I started with monochrome CCD on the advice of the very expert Ian King, now at FLO, and I think it was great advice. I pass it on. Also a fair number of our guests have told me that they think their time with DSLRs was time wasted. I know this is a minority opinion but I hold it none the less.

Olly

Exactly the same for me - it was Ian King who pointed me at the venerable SXV-H9 when I first got into serious astroimaging over 15 years ago.  I got far better results with that straight out of box than I ever did with DSLRs.  For what my advice is worth (probably very little, but...) I would tell anyone getting into astroimaging to buy the biggest monochrome CCD camera they can afford - if they have any cash left after buying a decent 80-100mm refractor and a solid, guidable mount (HEQ5 or bigger) to bolt it on to!  Master monochrome on bright DSOs before you venture into the madness that is LRGB or narrowband...

[baggywrinkle]

I'll be watching a few more of your videos, clear and well produced.

[widotje]

@white dwarf @Nebula thanks for the positive feedback about my channel!

@Protostar If you don't mind buying a CMOS camera....(and compensate for darks, flats)...I have great experiences with my ZWO ASI 1600MM pro. 

 

And for those of you who jumped into CCD mono imaging. I fully agree that this would give you far better results as compared to a DSLR.  I still think the learning curve would be steep for those who start out without any knowledge. They would first have to learn how to setup, polar align, guide, stack, process and combine mono images etc. But it is of course doable.  And a second element would be the price range.  Are you willing and able to afford a high quality CCD camera. In that respect the CMOS cooled mono cameras have  been improving a lot over the past years, led by ZWO - and are more affordable in price as compared to CCDs. 

 Thanks for all the useful feedback!

Clear skies.

 

 

 

[Z3roCool]

When I first started out I had a DSLR and 400mm lens. Really wanted a Refractor and CMOS camera (1600 or 183 MM) but could not afford both and really did not know I would be able to master imaging or not.

Decided to go in stages and start with a good base (NEQ6) and use my 400mm Canon and 7D with a guide scope and small mono camera.

Pretty much sorted imaging with this and can see where my images are lacking. I know I want more so will soon, when I can afford, get a CMOS camera and then refractor.

Of course, if I was loaded the journey may have been very different! Would probably have dropped 5k straight away!  Actually, no probably about it!

 

Will watch your video tonight as at work now, always like seeing what other people do.