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Astro Camera for SW 130PDS


yopero

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Hi everyone

A couple of months back I have  bought a SW 130PDS reflector and I have been using it with an old D3200 Nikon camera .

I have been trying to use the Kstars/Ekos/Indi combo  but unfortunately the Indi drivers for  the Nikon D3200 camera are really rough. I can only set exposures up to 30s and half of the time it does not work.

That's the reason why I am searching for a dedicated astro camera . I know the cooled cameras are the best but at this moment in time I do not have the budget for that type of cameras.

So I was wondering if I can recommendations for a not cooled astro-camera that is good value for money. My main goal for now is Galaxies and probably later nebulae.

Thanks

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Yeah- I'd heartily recommend a modified 2nd hand  Canon DSLR as a budget option, which is what I started with. The drivers are generally good (although I can't comment on Indi) and you get a good fov. 

As an alternative, I use a fan cooled Altair 183c on my portable rig, and it performs pretty well, although it has some nasty amp glow, meaning you have to get your calibration frames at pretty much the same time as you image. They have a similar camera with a larger sensor as well, as I recall.

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Thanks for the suggestion @Elp 

I do own and intervalometer. I started with it first butt then moved into a having a raspberry pi to have a semi-remote setup(it is cold out there :) ).

I have tried pairing the intervalometer with ekos but then I Iose all the nice things about ekos like managing targets, naming and timestamping the pictures taken.

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Never advanced with my raspberry pi enough to this but an asiair makes dslr connection and acquisition easy.

If I'm using just the dslr I leave the intervalometer plugged directly into the camera and set the exp length, delay length and number of photos to capture on the intervalometer and leave it to its own devices. No need to involve the rpi.

 

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You'll always pay a bit of a penalty in terms of noise ID you don't have active cooling- that's the big advantage that dedicated astro cameras can give, so the other alternative is to look at the second hand market. CCD is a bit out of fashion at the moment, so there can be some good bargains to be had. But the original suggestion of a second hand Canon is still very capable- the image below was taken with a £150 600d that then had to be modified on a 130pds. 

1285097247_M33_181111_v3(2).thumb.jpg.78171f38e844d2c8139c07226e528e92.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think non-cooled astro cams are only intended for planetary imaging. Cooled varieties for long exposures. Although you can try a technique called 'Lucky Imaging'.

A Canon 800D and an intervalometer worked great for me. Just set it up and let it do it's thing while you head back indoors to the cosy warmth. Head back out when the sequence is finished, end of.

Here is an example of M31 with mine.

2010555040_IMG_20211107_105042(1).jpg.33b1983c38c840bd9963cc16d14c7e1a.jpg

 

Edit: I'd like to introduce you to this thread too BTW, it's for 130P-DS owners. Plenty of info there to see what others are using.

Edited by Pitch Black Skies
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If you are considering a DSLR, Canon seems to be the popular brand for this sort of stuff. I’ve had good results with the 130PDS and an astro modified 600D and a standard 7D Mk2 in the past. I just remote controlled them from a laptop using APT.

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