ASI290MM vs ASI178MM

[GalaticBoba]

Hello, I'm looking at these two cameras, for my planetary setup. 

I'm leaning towards the 178 as it will provide more flexibility, more pixels, smaller pixels, better FW, higher Bit rate. However at full resolution and bit rate, I'll only be getting 30 fps. So not sure if I'll even take advantage of the extra features, the  290 has 2.7x more fps at max settings although on comparable settings just 1.5x higher fps. In peoples experience will the additional FPS be more useful than the other mentioned stats for planetary, lunar and potentially solar?

Camera	ASI178MM	ASI290MM
Mega Pixels	6.4	2.1
Resoultion	3096x2080	1936x1096
Pixel Size (μm)	2.4	2.9
Read Noise	1.4 - 2.2e	1.0 - 3.2e
Quantum Efficiency	81%	80%
Full Well (e-)	15000	14600
ADC	14 bit	12 bit
FPS	30	82
FPS @ 10 Bit & 1280x960	130	194

 

I'm thinking my 8" SCT with a Powermate x4 for Jupiter/Saturn and my 4" refractor for Lunar, would need a reducer if using the 290 which I have. 

 

Any opinions? 178 for flexibility or 290 for fps and also is a powermate x4 a good option for Jupiter?

 

p.s. I'll be getting 2" mounted LRGB filters, so I have a full sensor filter setup for the future. Although I am probably leaning towards the ASI2600MM Pro for DSO at a later date.    

[lukebl]

I have the 290MM Mini, and it’s an excellent and very sensitive little cam.
I’m not sure that you’d gain anything with with the 178 as you’re really just getting a bigger sensor which isn’t really necessary as one tends to crop the image using ROI anyway.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I also have the 290mm (not mini though), and agree it's a great little camera for lunar and planetary imaging. 

I would say the most important factors for a planetary cam are high qe, low read noise and high fps. Other factors are of little or no relevance.

General advice is to aim for a focal ratio around 5 - 7x the pixel size of the camera, so with the 290mm, you'd be looking for somewhere between f15 and f20 (e.g. 1.5x or 2x barlow on your SCT).

To throw an additional option out there, the 462mc is often touted as one of the best planetary cameras available, due to it's very low read noise and high sensitivity in infrared (which is much less affected by poor seeing).

[GalaticBoba]

Thanks for the responses.

If I go for the 290MM, how will I take a lunar photo without getting a new telescope?

 

 

[Astro Noodles]

3 minutes ago, GalaticBoba said:

Thanks for the responses.

If I go for the 290MM, how will I take a lunar photo without getting a new telescope?

 

 

I think a DSLR with a crop sensor would be better for framing the moon through your telescope

[CraigT82]

58 minutes ago, GalaticBoba said:

Thanks for the responses.

If I go for the 290MM, how will I take a lunar photo without getting a new telescope?

 

 

It's quite simple to do a mosaic of 2 or more images.

In fact, the best lunar images are mosaics of smaller images stitched together to form one larger image. It is not possible to get as much fine detail in a single full disc image as you can get by shooting small sections of the moon at a time and then stitching them together in post processing.