External Filter wheel choices

[billhinge]

Hi

I have now got most of the parts for my home robotic  telescope project, all I need is to determine which external filter wheel to get for my shopping list. (buying bits every few months) - equipment list in sig

Mount is EQ6-R with darkframe stellar hypertune, principal telescope is Altair 80mm APO but I have a C11 as well

I propose to purchase a KAF8300 CCD solution in the next week before they disappear so I'm looking for Narrowband plus LRGB. I previously purchased a 2" Quad narrowband filter which I thought may suffice as an alternative L filter. Sky is bortle 5-4, 20-21 SQM according to iphone app (they turn street lights off toward midnight and I live in a small Suffolk town by the sea - humidity can be high). In the event of there being no KAF8300 left then plan B was the QHY268C (OSC) but they are out of stock everywhere (which is one reason I bought the quad filter just in case - get it while I could)

My equipment would not be observatory housed for the immediate future 

I believe my best options would be 31mm to 2", guiding would be off axis, focuser is 3" with 2" x1 flattener, 55mm backfocus

In terms of budget, whatever it takes within reason, I'm spacing my purchases out over the months and paying them off. I'd rather skip the intermediate buy cheap and upgrade phase, I hope to retire in a couple of years and spend more time on hobbies etc 

Previously I have used DSLR's and readymade remote robotics with fancy scopes and cameras but they are obviously not practical at home (I was an early PI adopter so get free upgrades and have PS 2020)

I have a good range of text books eg Wodaski, Hubbel, Keller etc and have a degree in Astrophysics so I'm OK with technical stuff (and DIY)

Within external wheels are all fittings standard? Any gotchas to consider, build quality?

Any suggestions wrt to wheel make? eg Moravian, Atik

thanks

[MarkAR]

I have a Starlight Xpress, did a test the other day and it's light tight. You can get different carousels as well. Might be worth looking at FLO's bundle deals with camera and lodestar maybe.

[billhinge]

Is that the midi or mini, I presume the only difference would be number of filters. So for LRGB/narrowband the choice is 7 filter wheel or swap between two filter types - is that really a big deal. I mean that could be done during the day, is scratching/fingerprints a big deal?. I was also considering SXpress. I previously considered the loadstar but was of the opinion there would not be a huge difference from the GPCAM2 290C, is that so?

[MarkAR]

The filter wheel is the SXUFW-UM36T, has 7 pos 1.25" carousel for LRGBHOS. Perfect for most SX CCDs.

Don't know about the KAF you're interested in, if the sensor is large I think you may need 2" filters.

As for the Lodestar/GPCAM2 I think the Lodestar will be far better. Wouldn't mind one myself. Although the GPCAM can be used for imaging.

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by MarkAR

[Skipper Billy]

I have used the Atik EFW1 (no longer made) EFW2  and currently EFW3 with 7 x 2" filters - all of them have performed flawlessly.

[tooth_dr]

I have two KAF-8300 cameras and run them successfully with both 1.25” and 2” filters in Atik EFW2 and EFW3 respectively.

I have used 1.25” filters down to F4.7 with no issues correcting the vignetting. I currently use the 2” filters with an F2.8 scope.  The carousels can be changed easily in the Atik EFWs (and prob in other brands too).

The EFW2 comes with a 5x2” carousel so you can’t fit the full set of NB and LRGB filters in 2” but it does come as 9x1.25”.

I bought the EFW3 as it comes with a 7x2” carousel.

[billhinge]

Thank you to all that replied, it seems there several choices such as Starlight or Atik but no major issues or differentiators   between brands other than cost or capacity