Best starter camera

[MaJiC79]

As the subject says - what's the best starter camera for imaging? I've been playing with the raspberry pi high-quality camera, which is quite a small sensor, and results in over-magnification I've found. I'm looking for something around APS-C sized, but something with good bang-for-buck. What do you recommend? ZWO ASI 485MC?

[vlaiv]

Best bang-for-buck in APS-C size would be second hand DSLR body.

Even new - mirrorless type APS-C camera will be comparable in price with smaller sensor dedicated astronomy camera.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-M200-EF-M-15-45mm-3-5-6-3/dp/B07YBP7S77

That is £400 - which is cheaper than 1" ASI183mc

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi-183mc-usb-3-colour-camera.html

at £520

and in same range as say ASI485mc (but with x4 larger sensor)

[ONIKKINEN]

DSLRs are plug and play and easy to learn. Astrophotography has many hoops you need to jump through and many tricks to learn to get going so starting simple is probably wise.

DSLRs vary in price quite a lot but not in astronomy-significant specs so pretty much any Canon or Nikon would work.

APS-C sized dedicated astronomy cameras start at 1400€ and get rapidly more expensive  so not sure they fit your budget.

[woldsman]

First camera was a Canon DSLR. Picked one that was going 2nd hand. It was the EOS 100d. Pros: extremely light so great on a basic tracker. Cons: no flip screen and the optimum iso is a bit limiting. Had it modded (removal of IR filter). Total cost was £150 including the modding. Prime lens (Samyang 135) and the tracker mount (plus tripod) both cost double the camera. So total budget to get up and running was around £850 if you throw in an intervalometer, a red dot finder, an L-mount, and an AC adapter to run the DSLR off the mains. Assumes you have a laptop and use free software and also have a warm jacket! 

[MaJiC79]

I was looking at circa £400 but I can stretch it a bit. Not sure what you mean about dedicated cameras starting at over €1000? I don't mind tinkering, and removing an IR filter for example is not beyond me, but I want to plug this into a raspberry pi, so really I'm looking at something with USB interface so I can pile up my images on my NAS. This is what I've been doing with the pi camera, as I'm too lazy to faff with SD cards

[MaJiC79]

25 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

APS-C sized dedicated astronomy cameras start at 1400€ and get rapidly more expensive  so not sure they fit your budget.

Ah, ok - maybe I'm reaching too far with an APS-C size sensor then - I've just been using that to try and profile the field of view.  I'll adjust my expectations down a bit

[Elp]

I started with a compact camera that could save in RAW, then modded DSLR, astro cam etc... Once you get electronics involved the costs ramp up literally astronomically.

DSLR would be a good start as you need the "bulb" mode to be able to expose for longer than 30s which is usually the max default on many cameras which have a manual shutter mode, in this day and age though mirrorless may be the better future proof option though lenses may be more expensive. You might find with either option your lens(s) will add to the cost significantly. Buying quality used will help greatly.

You'll next want a star tracker...

[MaJiC79]

I've been looking at the bundles on FLO for the small 9x50 star tracker as well

[rickwayne]

It depends a lot on your targets, your optics, and your budget. There are calculators online for figuring out the image scale for various cameras with a given scope.  That's really the first determinant, along with field of view. See telescopius.com, among others, for previsualizing targets with various sensor sizes.

As Vlaiv says, it's hard to beat consumer cameras economically. They offer their own challenges, particularly ones whose sensors produce enough thermal noise to require dark frames for calibration; this is why many astro cameras offer thermoelectric sensor cooling to a setpoint.

[MaJiC79]

5 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Best bang-for-buck in APS-C size would be second hand DSLR body.

Even new - mirrorless type APS-C camera will be comparable in price with smaller sensor dedicated astronomy camera.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-M200-EF-M-15-45mm-3-5-6-3/dp/B07YBP7S77

That is £400 - which is cheaper than 1" ASI183mc

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi-183mc-usb-3-colour-camera.html

at £520

and in same range as say ASI485mc (but with x4 larger sensor)

I guess my only concern about consumer sensors is the IR filter - having an unfiltered sensor that I can put my own filters onto would be number one on my list - I'd like to image high hydrogen emission nebulae, and that Canon looks interesting, but can I remove the stock filter, protect the sensor somehow and still be able to put my own UV/IR filter in the optical path?

I should also say that this is more a question of where am I better off spending my money? I have a mount (it's a DIY job) and a selection of telescopes - mostly observing, but I've been playing with a small sensor (Sony IMX477R) which I've removed the stock filter on and put a more permissive IR filter - hacky, it works, but the field of view is far too small, and it's fairly noisy (I've been toying with a peltier cooler on it to see if that improves things, but I have seen dust on the sensor and I'm wary about cleaning it with anything more than a light puff of air)

I've just put some money into a Ritchey-Chretien (6" - I'm not made of money) with the intent of upgrading my imaging at the same time. If I have some success here, then I will look at a bigger purchase later. I think I might be able to use my current imaging solution as a guide camera as well - and if I can't, I've learnt another way not to do somethings, and expanded my experience along the way (that's what this is all about - the journey, but it's nice to collect some pretty memento's along the way)