Skymax 127 and imaging…

[ChrisHallett]

I have a Skymax 127 and was considering purchasing a ZWO ASI 224MC or the 385MC. I know the Skymax isn’t the ideal scope for imaging but are decent images possible with this setup?

[nfotis]

Very good for lunar and planetary imaging (the Skymax 180 is even better, if you can handle it).

For lunar/planetary imaging, you can add a 2x Barlow and an IMX462 camera.

You can also use an APS-C dSLR (via a 1.25" nosepiece) and shoot lunar/solar disks (the latter requires a suitable solar filter in front of the telescope)

N.F.

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by nfotis

[Avocette]

1 hour ago, ChrisHallett said:

I have a Skymax 127 and was considering purchasing a ZWO ASI 224MC or the 385MC. I know the Skymax isn’t the ideal scope for imaging but are decent images possible with this setup?

You need to check on YouTube. The author of the channel called Jenham’s Astro does a lot of imaging with Maksutovs including the SkyMax 127.

[Nik271]

If you mean planetary imaging then yes, the Skymax is very good for that. I did some planetary imaging with it two years ago and was very happy with the results. Recently I tend to use it more as a solar scope. For comparison here are two moon images from a night of good seeing with an attached  DSLR.  

 

I have used it to image some bright DSOs as well, the Orion nebula and M13. It's not ideal for DSO because of the slow focal ratio, but if you stick to shorter exposures can do some good work on the brighter  and smaller DSO, e.g. some planetary nebulae and globular clusters. Give it a try, it will not disappoint!

Edited June 20, 2021 by Nik271

[ChrisHallett]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

If you mean planetary imaging then yes, the Skymax is very good for that. I did some planetary imaging with it two years ago and was very happy with the results. Recently I tend to use it more as a solar scope. For comparison here are two moon images from a night of good seeing with an attached  DSLR.  

 

I have used it to image some bright DSOs as well, the Orion nebula and M13. It's not ideal for DSO because of the slow focal ratio, but if you stick to shorter exposures can do some good work on the brighter  and smaller DSO, e.g. some planetary nebulae and globular clusters. Give it a try, it will not disappoint!

Fantastic shot! Yes It’ll be for planetary and lunar photography. Do you have any experience with dedicated cmos cameras like the ZWO I mentioned, I have the budget but do you think they’ll be a good choice? 

[Nik271]

Thank you! I don't have experience with dedicated cameras because I already have a DSLR. The dedicated cameras should produce better results because they save the videos files with very little or no compression at all in AVI or SER format. My DSLR saves video with a very lossy mp4 compression. This will determine how much fine detail you can extract in the processing stage. For this reason alone I think a dedicated camera is the better choice but I just haven't found the cash to go that route yet.

[rob_r]

I have the same scope with a 224MC (and a Canon 600D). The 224MC gives very good images for lunar, I posted a few in the Lunar Imaging part of this forum. I've yet to use the 224MC for planetary but that will change once we are into late Summer. I did replace the USB cable on the ZWO camera for a USB-C connection as that is the only port available on my laptop as I found my USB2 to USB-C hub adaptor was losing connection. Really straightforward to start capturing video and images too. I don't think you'll be disappointed with either the 224 or 385 camera.

[galaxy-gazer]

On 20/06/2021 at 10:51, Nik271 said:

Thank you! I don't have experience with dedicated cameras because I already have a DSLR. The dedicated cameras should produce better results because they save the videos files with very little or no compression at all in AVI or SER format. My DSLR saves video with a very lossy mp4 compression. This will determine how much fine detail you can extract in the processing stage. For this reason alone I think a dedicated camera is the better choice but I just haven't found the cash to go that route yet.

Hello Nik,

just curious, what is the maximum magnification you can achieve on the 127 mak?

cheers

sam

[Nik271]

Hi Sam, in good conditions I can use a 6mm EP on the Moon and double stars, which gives nominally x250. This happens rarely, most of the time I use 9mm or 10mm for high powers because the seeing does not allow more.

Also the true magnification with the diagonal is higher than 1500/6=250 because I have measured that the Skymax has 1500mm focal distance at prime focus. When using the diagonal you should add a bit extra, perhaps another 120mm to the focal length.

 

Nik  

[ObscuredView]

On 19/06/2021 at 21:00, ChrisHallett said:

I have a Skymax 127 and was considering purchasing a ZWO ASI 224MC or the 385MC. I know the Skymax isn’t the ideal scope for imaging but are decent images possible with this setup?

So…..I have exactly the same question, what was the conclusion?

[happy-kat]

Hi

What were thinking of imaging the most as the two cameras are slightly different?

The field of view calculator under resources can show you the fov difference between the two cameras.

What mount do you have for your telescope?