Best camera for EEVA

[oldfruit]

Hi,

 

I am keen to set un an EEVA rig. Just wondered what camera to use for the best results? I will be starting with an NEQ6 and a 8 inch Newtonian F5 scope.

Also, how long a cable can I expect to run from obsy to house. Currently about 12m. Is this doable?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Martin Meredith]

Hi

I'm going to resist suggesting any sensors without knowing what kind of objects are you mainly going to be observing. If large nebulae, you'll need a larger sensor than if mainly galaxies, for instance, where a small sensor is going to be fine. If planetary then the answer will be different again. Whether you want to see things in colour will also influence your decision e.g. a main interest in galaxies typically would point towards mono. (I use mono + filters to produce colour when I need it). Check out some of the threads in the EEA observations section to see what is possible.

As a general consideration, for most EEVA objects you'll need a sensor with a high QE and either large pixels or the ability to bin smaller pixels to create large effective pixels.

I suggest you use the FOV and CCD suitability calculators at astronomy.tools to see which cameras produce a reasonable arcsec/pixel in the range 1-2 say for your scope with its 1000mm focal length. Bear in mind that the objects that are used in these tools to check field of view are typically quite large. My position is that you really don't need a huge sensor unless your main interest is in nebulae and open clusters. I personally use a 0.4M pixel guide camera on my 8" f/4 scope running in alt-az on an EQ6 class mount. There are other reasons why some prefer larger sensors, such as being able to find objects (not such a big issue these days with platesolving), or having enough stars in the field for alignment during live stacking, or indeed for platesolving itself. You should certainly avoid choosing a FOV that is too small. Mine covers 0.44 x 0.33 degrees which works fine for stacking/platesolving but I wouldn't go a whole lot smaller than this. 

I hope others will chime in too!

cheers

Martin

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Martin Meredith

[Mike JW]

I note you have two Dobs. If they are GOTO, then take a look at what I achieve with a 15" Dob and an Ultrastar guide camera.  Also take a look through the relevant EEVA threads - you will find your question is often asked and much advice given. 

Mike

Edited March 14, 2021 by Mike JW

[noah4x4]

On 12/03/2021 at 22:02, oldfruit said:

Hi,

 

I am keen to set un an EEVA rig. Just wondered what camera to use for the best results? I will be starting with an NEQ6 and a 8 inch Newtonian F5 scope.

Also, how long a cable can I expect to run from obsy to house. Currently about 12m. Is this doable?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Before you think about cameras, think holistically about what you want to do...

The specified optimum length of  standard USB3 cable is merely 3 metres.

The specified optimum length of standard USB2 cable is merely 5 metres.

You might succeed over 12 metres with 'Active' cables  if they have their own separate power supply.  However, be prepared for failure.  I wasted a tonne of money on cables that didn't work over a similar 12M distance.

Your best bet might be to put a mini-computer at the scope running all your software; which is then controlled by a laptop indoors using Windows Remote Desktop (or similar). You can then connect the computers by Cat6 cable or WiFi.  I use an Intel NUC at the scope and WiFi, but even that required MESH extenders.  There are no easy solutions unless you buy a proprietary WiFi solution like Atik  Air or ASI Air (ZWO), but they lock you into specific camera manufacturers.  Hence,  my comment about think holistically.

As regards, cameras,...

Budget priced ZWO cameras like ASI224mc are great for planets, but have a very narrow Field of View. That can make life difficult for beginners and the FOV is too narrow for many DSO's

More forgiving are larger sensor cameras like the ASI294mc and ASI533mc.  But the price is higher. These are good all-rounders.

Even better are the cooled versions of such cameras., but you are then upping budget again.

To answer your question, no single camera is ideal for all purposes. So to guide you we really need to know what you want to see and what is your budget.