real world advise on ASI6200MM please

[Horwig]

I've been reading such good things about this camera, it's got me twitching my wallet finger.

Trouble is, I've got two exceptional CCDs already, one a large target with big pixels, the other a small target with tiny pixels.

The way I see things is that this would give me both in one rig, and with higher QE to boot.

Question is would I see the difference in QE as less noise per hour of imaging (and that's important for imaging this far west, believe me)

Also, would buying a CMOS now be too soon, I hate being an early adopter, having done it before with equipment for work.

But, against that, if I sold my present cameras now, It would go quite a way towards funding this, If I leave it for a year or two, would CCDs be worth anything?

Also, what would be the differences between the ZWO and ATIK products, specs look virtually identical

 

Please, could anybody help me see reason here.

 

Huw

[vlaiv]

6 minutes ago, Horwig said:

Question is would I see the difference in QE as less noise per hour of imaging (and that's important for imaging this far west, believe me)

Yes you would.

Say you compare 60% and 85% QE sensor. That is 41% increase in quantum efficiency. That rates to 41% longer imaging time.

If you can see the difference between 4h and ~ 5:40h of total imaging time - you'll see difference between 85% QE and 60% QE.

(maybe not as much as you expect - but it would be there).

8 minutes ago, Horwig said:

Please, could anybody help me see reason here.

Most important thing about this sensor is it's size. If you can provide it with fully illuminated and corrected circle, then it will be faster than other sensors.

This is because you can pair it with bigger scope to get the same FOV as pairing smaller sensor with smaller scope. Larger scope of the same type will have larger aperture and will collect more light. Simple as that.

Don't get this sensor if you plan to use it on same small scope - like 80-100mm unless you really want to do wide fields.

[Horwig]

Thanks Vlav, I've got a pair of scopes to pair it with, both would cover it well, a 0.72 reduced FSQ106, and a 40cm  f3.6 Newtonian.

 

Huw

[MarsG76]

On 08/03/2021 at 09:30, Horwig said:

would buying a CMOS now be too soon, I hate being an early adopter

I don't think that you'd be a "early adopter" as CMOS technology has been around for ages in astro cams and even longer in DSLRs, and proved to be a very successful technology. 

I have been imaging using a 40D with a APS-C sized (OSC) CMOS sensor and love it... I'm very happy with the images it allows me to produce... and this is with a 13 or 14 year old camera tech/sensor.... and the 2600MM has a newer tech chip, is much more sensitive and mono, so it has to be an improvement.

Either way, I have one on the way, it'll be in my hands in 1-2 weeks and I'll do a full comparison and report between it and my full spectrum modded and active cooled DSLR, using the the same scopes imaging the same object, so this might help you in your decision.