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New ZWO mono camera on the way?


Spongey

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My old SX wheel is 7x1.25" so I would need a new plate. Plus mounting plates on camera and 'scope sides. i will wait for the camera to arrive before making any decisions. The saving over buying a dedicated QHY wheel might not be that great.

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For sure if I went for the QHY camera I would get the QHY wheel. And really these together same price almost as the ZWO camera alone.

In the same way if I get the ZWO I would eventually get the 36mm bolt on wheel they are supposed to be releasing soon, but hopefully I could get away with the SX until it does. Whether the extra weight of the camera will cause some issues not sure but should be okay.
But I would still get the bolt on wheel when it comes out just to get the sensor closer to the filters, I would just be happier that way.

So I guess unless the ZWO offers something over the QHY then the QHY would be the way to go. I then have the 1600, also a FW to use on my  WO73 which with the HEQ5 is a bit more portable for travelling.
I just have no experience with QHY and have not had any issues with ZWO cameras so tempted to still go with the ZWO (and then also have the USB2 hub still which is really helpful, otherwise need a seperate hub).

Like I said I am really bad at making decisions 🙂 

Steve

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The QHY is not only cheaper than the ZWO (Even more if you can jump on the Astrograph pre-order) but I suspect the build quality is higher and it offers 4 readout modes compared to one compromised mode on the ZWO. For me it's a no-brainer.

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1 minute ago, DaveS said:

The QHY is not only cheaper than the ZWO (Even more if you can jump on the Astrograph pre-order) but I suspect the build quality is higher and it offers 4 readout modes compared to one compromised mode on the ZWO. For me it's a no-brainer.

I must admit I like the QHY filter wheel as well. So is the ony downsides with the  QHY the extra weight and no USB hub compared to the ZWO ?

Steve

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1 minute ago, DaveS said:

If you really need a hub then I'd be inclined to get a Pegasus APB which will also give you 4 12V outlets and two auto dew heater outlets.

Just received one yesterday 🙂 
I am probably still one port short even with this if I loose the hub but its not a game changer,  I can add a small hub as well .

Steve

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Probably. Since the filter wheel plugs into the camera on the QHY that only leaves the guider to worry about, and the extra weight is probably down to the better build quality.

TBH guiding isn't something I've had to worry about since getting my first ASA mount.

 

Reply to the post two abouve this

Edited by DaveS
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1 minute ago, DaveS said:

Probably. Since the filter wheel plugs into the camera on the QHY that only leaves the guider to worry about, and the extra weight is probably down to the better build quality.

TBH guiding isn't something I've had to worry about since getting my first ASA mount.

Oh does the QHY FW plug directly into the camera ? If so then that fine I have enough ports

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6 minutes ago, DaveS said:

How many USB ports do you need? I can only think of Main Camera, Guide Camera, and Filter Wheel.

Camera, guidecam, FW, Focusser, USB stick to download images (could get rid of that and download to RPi), one for power to RPi, WiFi adapter, Polemaster (I could unplug this after PA and then stick the USB stick in). So I think I am ok for ports.

I haven;t checked but I assume the camera and FW will have INDI drivers for EKOS.

Edited by teoria_del_big_bang
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4 minutes ago, DaveS said:

How many USB ports do you need? I can only think of Main Camera, Guide Camera, and Filter Wheel.

I reckon you could get quite creative if you wanted something for all the kit on an OTA.  How about adding: focuser, rotator, flip flat or similar?

James

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A flip-flat is useful, but that still doesn't exhaust the Pegasus.

Filter wheel plugs into the camera which plugs into the APB, leaving three spare ports for focuser, flip-flat, and rotator, though the guide camera would be more important.

You could combine the focuser and rotator with one of These

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I always used ethernet over a 50M flat cable I kept rolling out but just added a USB wifi adapter which seems to work really well and so far works over 100M away or through an outside and one internal wall. But still dont want to risk sending images over it whilst on a session so for ease just save then to a stick and then download to NAS later, or could just do it over wifi but in day after the session.

But with RPi I have 4 ports

  1.  Used for internal SSD which is used instead of a micro SD
  2. The WiFi Adapter
  3. Imaging Camera.
  4. To connect to Pegasus PPA for 5V power.

Then the 4 on the PPA

  1. Focuser
  2. GuideCam
  3. Mount
  4. 5V for RPi - unless I use the variable 3 to 12V output.

Steve

 

Edited by teoria_del_big_bang
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Does anyone happen to know of a video which demonstrates all the steps involved in Mono Astrophotography? I've had a search on youtube but can't seem to find any sort of walkthrough or clear guide as to what is involved from start to finish.

I'd really appreciate a video like this!

Also with regard to the APS-C Mono Cameras, what size filters would you need ?

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18 minutes ago, smr said:

Does anyone happen to know of a video which demonstrates all the steps involved in Mono Astrophotography? I've had a search on youtube but can't seem to find any sort of walkthrough or clear guide as to what is involved from start to finish.
I'd really appreciate a video like this!

Are you wanting a video about the imaging side (i.e taking subs, darks, flats etc) or the processing side (alignment,stacking,stretching etc) ?
In my opinion whilst there is a lot of very good info on you tube and the like if you want an overall summary then I think you are better off with a book. If you don't have it get "Every Photon Counts", its a  must, as useful as the camera, scope and mount in my opinion. 
It may not go into every aspect in depth but really gives an overall view of what is needed both imaging and processing.

I am not sure exactly what you are after I know you are not totally new to astronomy so is it just the mono side of imaging (i.e. needing multiple filter subs) that you are unfamiliar with ?

33 minutes ago, smr said:

Also with regard to the APS-C Mono Cameras, what size filters would you need ?

Depends to an extent on your setup (which scope, camera and distance from camera to filters and this tool will tell you exactly.

CCD Filter Size Tool

But I looked at a few scenarios with scopes and cameras and generally seems that some MAY get away with 31mm bu generally 36 mm unmounted seem to be the safe minimum.

Steve

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45 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Are you wanting a video about the imaging side (i.e taking subs, darks, flats etc) or the processing side (alignment,stacking,stretching etc) ?
In my opinion whilst there is a lot of very good info on you tube and the like if you want an overall summary then I think you are better off with a book. If you don't have it get "Every Photon Counts", its a  must, as useful as the camera, scope and mount in my opinion. 
It may not go into every aspect in depth but really gives an overall view of what is needed both imaging and processing.

I am not sure exactly what you are after I know you are not totally new to astronomy so is it just the mono side of imaging (i.e. needing multiple filter subs) that you are unfamiliar with ?

Depends to an extent on your setup (which scope, camera and distance from camera to filters and this tool will tell you exactly.

CCD Filter Size Tool

But I looked at a few scenarios with scopes and cameras and generally seems that some MAY get away with 31mm bu generally 36 mm unmounted seem to be the safe minimum.

Steve

Thanks Steve, not the image processing side of mono for now but rather a guide on how it works with regard to image capture. Would be nice if there was an in the field walkthrough on youtube of someone doing this but I can't find anything similar to that at all, kind of surprising to me given the vast amount of astro videos on there. 

Maybe there isn't because I'm just overthinking things and imagining it's more complicated than it is.

It'd just be nice to see someone showing the process I guess, with an electronic filter wheel and the process of how it's all connected up, taking flats, imaging, how the filter wheel and imaging plan works between hardware and software etc.

Edited by smr
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There are youtube recordings of the SarGazine talks, this one is of SGP

Other capture software will have slightly (Or even very) different ways of setting up sequences. There is also one on N.I.N.A, but as I use ASA Sequence it wasn't of interest to me, though the SGP one was.

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7 minutes ago, smr said:

Maybe there isn't because I'm just overthinking things and imagining it's more complicated than it is.

It'd just be nice to see someone showing the process I guess, with an electronic filter wheel and the process of how it's all connected up, taking flats, imaging, how the filter wheel and imaging plan works between hardware and software etc.

Its all in the book "Every Photon Counts" , land I really think everybody should read this front to back before any imaging. It is pretty basic information but really does tie everything in that is required and how things work.

I think maybe you are thinking it to an extent. Generally both LRGB and NB imaging with a mono is pretty much same as OSC but you need to take more images using  different filters.
I found the actual putting all the images together, the processing, far more difficult and in fact whilst I can produce a reasonable image I think there is far more to pull out of some of my data and for sure I cannot do everything start to finish without looking at some reference video or book for some of the steps.

Probably because of that there are loads of tutorials and videos of different methods of processing and less on the actual imaging side although stuff is out there and on this forum.
This site has some really good and straightforward advice about setups and what to do.

AstroBackyard

What imaging or sequencing software are you intending to use ?
You will probably find better advice looking for tutorials on your particular software.

Or start a thread in the "Getting Started with Imaging" section asking what to do and stating your equipment and sequencing software and you will get some good advvice

Steve

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1 hour ago, Spongey said:

Some info on the 268M and its supplied adapters: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/753265-received-my-qhy268m/#entry10841589

Thanks - very good to know! The M48 adapter is what I need. It will turn the QHY268M it into an ASI2600MM👍. The post says something about a tilt plate but someone here said that there was no tilt plate in the QHY268M.

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