DSLR or CCD on a budget?

[TerraC]

I'm using a Skywatcher ST102 on an AZ-GTI for a portable rig and a Skywatcher 200p Dob for home use. 

I have a Nikon D7100 at the moment.  It's a bit weighty at 765g to balance my AZ-GTI nicely so I was thinking of getting another lighter camera for use on both telescopes. (budget £150 at the moment).  

I was thinking of getting a second hand Canon 600d to hammer - and maybe astro mod at a later date.   I also notice the ASI 120MC and the SVbony SV305 is in my budget range, are they worth bothering with?

Which would you choose?  I have been toying as a beginner with some of the bigger DSO's earlier this year.  M101, M51 but I do also like to image the moon, & i'd like to try jupiter & saturn this year.  I note the ASI and SV are planetary cameras, really no good for any DSOs? 

One day if I get more seriously into it I will probably opt for a really decent CCD unit but for the moment until I find my feet this is my compromise.    

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by TerraC
typo

[Cosmic Geoff]

You should be aware that planetary imaging and deep sky imaging are very different and require totally different kit.  Then there is EVAA which again may require diferent kit.

For planetary imaging you require a large aperture, long focal length scope and a planetary camera, and a mount that tracks.

For deep sky imaging you require ideally a heavy duty equatorial GoTo mount and a small aperture widefield ED refractor (or maybe a small f5 Newtonian adapted for photo use) and a large sensor camera, either a DSLR or a dedicated astro camera. For longer and better quality exposures you would also need autoguiding. 

I happen to have a Startravel ST 102 and a ASI224MC planetary camera and have found that this combination works well as an EVAA outfit on either an alt-az GoTo mount or an equatorial GoTo mount.  The field is wide enough for small and medium sized targets and also wide enough to permit blind finding with the GoTo, and I have imaged a variety of objects with this, some of them invisible visually from this location.

I do have a Canon 300D camera but have found it much more difficult to use at night than a dedicated astro camera.

The essential guide for deep sky imaging is "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards, available form forum sponsor FLO.

[BCN_Sean]

I've got the SV305, and it's a nice little thing, it's a great guide camera though I've not tested it on anything deep sky yet though others have and got decent results (when the adapter I need gets here, then it will be, but that's more for testing a theory before a big spend).  It does have a few issues with the drivers/sdk especially on Indi as it's still quite young, but those are being ironed out; you might run into a few issues, you might not but as time has gone on those issues have lessened somewhat but sometimes an update will break something.

As for one of these or a 600D to replace a D7100 because of balance, now that's the bit that's niggling me as you're not going to be shaving off a lot of weight with a 600D, perhaps 150 grams not counting adapters or cables; the SV305 will save a bit more but I don't think that a slightly would solve your balancing issues, just offset them slightly.

[vlaiv]

You can image DSOs with planetary camera but it is a bit pain really as sensor is so small and you'll have to use mosaics to cover the target.

DSLR will be much better for that. On the other hand, if you want to do Jupiter and Saturn - you really need planetary camera and specific approach to imaging - so called Lucky planetary imaging. It can also be done with DSLR to some extent, but major issue with DSLR is that it won't do raw movies (maybe some models will but most models use some sort of lossy compression) and you want raw data for stacking.

Get both? You can always use planetary type camera for guiding as well.

 

[michael8554]

For Planetary you can do lossless video with many DSLRs in Crop Mode, or 5X LiveView mode:

https://www.astropix.com/html/equipment/canon_one_to_one_pixel_resolution.html

So until you get serious, you have the benefit of a large sensor for DSO's, and a small FOV for Planetary, all from one DSLR.

Michael

 

[TerraC]

Thank you to everyone for the input.   

I think I might stick with the original plan of a Canon DSLR to hack away at for the time being.  Will save some money aside and go with a decent CCD camera next year or so.   After reading michael's link it looks ideal for where I'm at right now.  I'll have a look at the list for suitability/balance/budget. 

BCN_Sean: My D7100 (760g) is a little bottom heavy on the AZ-GTI in EQ mode.  If I use my sons D3300 (460g) it's top heavy in the same position on the dovetail and perfect nudged back a few inches.  I could try get an even longer dovetail I guess but hey - excuse for a new camera   

Cosmic Geoff: I'll grab a copy of that book thanks.  The ASI224MC also looks an interesting prospect. 

 

[BCN_Sean]

6 hours ago, TerraC said:

excuse for a new camera

I know what your saying, I'm in that mind as well; my current machine is a Nikon D810, but on a short length astrograph it's the wrong camera for the job. If you do go have a look at the 305, be aware that there are two different colour versions (a USB2 and a USB3) and I think the USB3 version has different purchase options based on what fixed optical filter it has on it though I'm not sure if that applies to the USB2 version, and there's also a mono USB3 as well.