Guide camera

[Anthony1979]

Is this ideal for a guide camera 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Anthony1979

[Astrosharkey]

I use the mono version of this in my guide scope with no issues, was originally bought as a lunar / planetary camera and repurposed 

[wimvb]

Probably good as a guide cam, but because of the Bayer matrix, not ideal.

[Anthony1979]

What should i go for then

[vlaiv]

Don't worry about camera being color - I've been guiding with color cameras and never had any issues with them.

[bruno]

Try this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi290mm-usb-3-mono-camera.html same camera just mono when your not guiding get a filter holder  some RGB and have go doing colour images just a suggestion? 

[rickwayne]

Likewise re guiding with a color camera. I grabbed a 120MC because it was the cheapest thing I could find, and because I thought I might use it for comets or planets or something someday. The 120MM Mini is probably one of the most popular guide cameras; small, light, mono.

Edited May 26, 2020 by rickwayne

[Anthony1979]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Don't worry about camera being color - I've been guiding with color cameras and never had any issues with them.

It says something about the ir and that i will need a filter for it... What does this mean Due to the high IR sensitivity and the various ways that this camera can be used, IR cut-off fiter is not built in so we would also recommend to buy it separately as well 

[vlaiv]

1 hour ago, Anthony1979 said:

It says something about the ir and that i will need a filter for it... What does this mean Due to the high IR sensitivity and the various ways that this camera can be used, IR cut-off fiter is not built in so we would also recommend to buy it separately as well 

I guide without IR cut filter.

IR cut filter is important in few cases - but mostly when imaging. If you are imaging with refractor telescope that does not have good correction in IR (or UV) part of the spectrum - you'll need IR/UV cut filter to avoid star bloat / blur because of unfocused IR/UV light.

Reflectors don't have this issue - but you still want IR/UV cut filter when imaging with reflector if you care about proper color balance.

For guiding - you simply don't need IR/UV cut filter even if you use refractor guide scope (and most people do). In fact refractor guide scope is likely to be fast achromat that will bloat stars even in visible part of the spectrum (blue halo around bright stars and such) - however, that does not have significant if any impact on guiding. In fact - guiding sometimes benefits from slight de focus of guide star - less seeing impact and that way you avoid saturation on bright stars - you want to guide on bright stars because they provide better SNR - but you want to avoid stars clipping / saturation as it is not good for centroid calculations (exact star position).

For guiding - don't bother with IR/UV cut filter, but if you want to do EEVA or image planets with that camera as well - get 1.25" IR/UV cut filter to use for those purposes.

 

[fireballxl5]

ZWO ASI 290MM Mini - great guide cam

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi290mm-mini-usb-2-mono-camera.html#specifications

[Anthony1979]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

I guide without IR cut filter.

IR cut filter is important in few cases - but mostly when imaging. If you are imaging with refractor telescope that does not have good correction in IR (or UV) part of the spectrum - you'll need IR/UV cut filter to avoid star bloat / blur because of unfocused IR/UV light.

Reflectors don't have this issue - but you still want IR/UV cut filter when imaging with reflector if you care about proper color balance.

For guiding - you simply don't need IR/UV cut filter even if you use refractor guide scope (and most people do). In fact refractor guide scope is likely to be fast achromat that will bloat stars even in visible part of the spectrum (blue halo around bright stars and such) - however, that does not have significant if any impact on guiding. In fact - guiding sometimes benefits from slight de focus of guide star - less seeing impact and that way you avoid saturation on bright stars - you want to guide on bright stars because they provide better SNR - but you want to avoid stars clipping / saturation as it is not good for centroid calculations (exact star position).

For guiding - don't bother with IR/UV cut filter, but if you want to do EEVA or image planets with that camera as well - get 1.25" IR/UV cut filter to use for those purposes.

 

I will be using it with a skywatcher evoguide 50ed... So its worth buying it

[Anthony1979]

Something like this 

[vlaiv]

19 minutes ago, Anthony1979 said:

I will be using it with a skywatcher evoguide 50ed... So its worth buying it

For guiding only - I would not bother, even if using ED guide scope (in fact - it will give tighter stars than regular achromat).

[Anthony1979]

so should i just go for the 120 

[vlaiv]

1 minute ago, Anthony1979 said:

so should i just go for the 120 

Depends what you need it for?

If it is only for guiding - just go with cheapest model. I used QHY5LIIc for guiding (has same sensor as ASI120mc) and it worked fine. Now I guide with ASI185mc - but only because I did some planetary imaging with it and some regular imaging with it at the time (higher pixel count at 1920x1200). I would swap it for ASI385mc at some point - but for the time being it is not priority for me.

If you want to do something else with it - then pay attention to other specs that you might need (read noise, QE and frame rate for example).

[Anthony1979]

Main use was for guiding but was looking into imaging moon with it and try a bit of dso 

[gorann]

It will depend on what imaging scope you are guiding. You will be fine with that camera if you are using a guide scope and not an off-axis guider. Mono will be a bit more sensitive but I was using an ASI120MC on a finder-guider for 3 - 5" refractors and always found guide stars. Then for a bit better guiding I went for an QHY5LIIM (mono) using an ST80 as guide scope. It was only when I started with long focal length SCTs that really need off-axis guiding I found I had to have something more sensitive and more expesive to be sure to find guide stars (like a Lodestar X2). So in my experience, small CMOS cameras (like those from ASI and QHY) work well if you use guide scopes but maybe not for off-axis guiding.

[vlaiv]

28 minutes ago, gorann said:

It will depend on what imaging scope you are guiding. You will be fine with that camera if you are using a guide scope and not an off-axis guider. Mono will be a bit more sensitive but I was using an ASI120MC on a finder-guider for 3 - 5" refractors and always found guide stars. Then for a bit better guiding I went for an QHY5LIIM (mono) using an ST80 as guide scope. It was only when I started with long focal length SCTs that really need off-axis guiding I found I had to have something more sensitive and more expesive to be sure to find guide stars (like a Lodestar X2). So in my experience, small CMOS cameras (like those from ASI and QHY) work well if you use guide scopes but maybe not for off-axis guiding.

I use my ASI185 with OAG at 1600mm and have no issues finding guide stars.

2 hours ago, Anthony1979 said:

Main use was for guiding but was looking into imaging moon with it and try a bit of dso 

If you want to image other things then you probably want some other camera. 290 is good choice and so is 385. Maybe also look at 178. For planetary - I would go with color camera for simplicity. You don't want to mess with filters and filter wheels just to do a bit of planetary imaging. For DSO (like EEVA) and Lunar only, mono could be better choice.

[Anthony1979]

This one 

[vlaiv]

5 hours ago, Anthony1979 said:

This one 

That one is USB 2.0. That is fine for guiding and DSO imaging but will have somewhat smaller frame rate for planetary / lunar. This does not that results will be bad for planetary - it just means that USB 3.0 would have a bit more potential - again, if that is important to you.

[Anthony1979]

Thanks everyone