Raspberry Pi HQ Camera as Planetary Camera

[lw2689]

I am wondering if anyone has used the Raspberry Pi High Quality camera as a planetary camera through KStars on Astroberry for RPi and if it is any good/works? I had planned to get the ZWO224MC Colour or ZWO224MC Colour however they seem to be hard to get hold of so I’m exploring other options. I’ve looked on AstroBuySell but they just seem to be sold as soon as they are listed. Any experience with HQ or V2 camera is appreciated, especially through Astroberry/KStars. 

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-high-quality-camera/

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/camera-module-v2/

Current set up: C6 SCT XLT, Celestron AVX. RPi 4 with Astroberry (once I have set it up)

[Star101]

It would be very interesting  to see images taken with any PI camera. At £cheap they will definitely be onto a winner if they work well.

I do have the Pi Noir Camera. I may give it a try for fun in the next few nights 

 

[lw2689]

11 minutes ago, Star101 said:

It would be very interesting  to see images taken with any PI camera. At £cheap they will definitely be onto a winner if they work well. They

I do have the Pi Noir Camera. I may give it a try for fun in the next few nights 

 

 

They have the RPi V2 Camera option in the FOV calculator http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/  which is what inspired me a little, although getting hold of a HQ camera looks to be equally as hard! 

[Star101]

Found this on FLICKR. Looks great for the cost :)

[vlaiv]

Main issues with these cameras would be as follows:

1. Lack of RAW output

as far as I can tell, HQ camera does have RAW output, so that is ok. Cheaper cameras often only offer compressed formats and video compression has very negative impact on stacking and planetary detail

2. Pixel size

These cameras have very small pixel sizes. For example above HQ camera has 1.55um pixel size. In mono this camera is suited for F/6 systems and in color for F/12 systems (if pre processing is done correctly).

3. Read noise & QE

No technical info on read noise and QE for these cameras - something that needs to be measured. Planetary imaging is very sensitive to read noise - one wants as low read noise as possible. On the other hand we want as high QE as possible.

4. Speed

What sort of FPS can one expect if this camera is paired with Raspberry PI? Both capture speed and storage speed are important. Maybe network mounted storage could be solution for write speed? Not sure how fast can RPI read of such camera.

5. Cost

It may seem that it is cheap solution, but if you add all components together - it might prove to be the same cost or even more expensive than regular planetary camera.

Of course, there is always fun in trying things out, and if one has RPI and such camera for other projects or just wants to try something different - then of course, but do keep in mind above list.