Colour vs Mono

[Phedhad]

Colour or monochrome?

Two cameras with the same pixel size, at similar exposure times.

Asi183mm and Asi178mc have similar characteristics in noise and quantum efficiency.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Phedhad

[Mike JW]

Both have a place. Colour for PNs is a real winner for me, but most of the time I prefer mono. Your mono image above does it for me.

Mike

[RobertI]

I agree with Mike, for most of the faint stuff we like to capture, black and white gives brighter and more contrasty images with more detail. Some of the brighter colourful nebulae look great in colour though. 

[Martin Meredith]

I have to agree that most of the time galaxy fields look best and are as informative as they're going to be in monochrome. Quasars too!

In addition to bright and reflection nebulae (admittedly not my normal viewing), I'd argue that any fields involving stars (OCs, globs, multiple stars, carbon stars) also benefit from colour, not just aesthetically but in inspiring a closer look at the underlying astrophysics. Some months ago I came across a planetary nebula with an exceedingly blue central star that motivated me to see what was known about it (turned out to be extremely hot). 

Martin

[nicoscy]

There is significant difference in details in the two images, the mono pulling ahead. Let's not forget, that all cameras start as mono and then the Bayer matric is laid on top, which reduces sensitivity to each color since only a portion of the sensor captures each separate color. 

I am planning for a future obsy myself, and while my Tele Vue Genesis will be permanently paired with the ASI533MC Pro I have, for wider field and color detail, the C11 @ f6.3 I plan to use to chase faint fuzzies will be paired with the ASI294MM Pro as this will offer a genuine advantage over a color camera.

Ultimately, it comes down to preferences. Some like color, some mono, some both. Room for everyone in this hobby!

[nicoscy]

Phedhad,

I put the two side by side and rotated and changed the image scale of one a bit. I think this illustrates my point about detail (color is of course beautiful and offers different context).

[Xio1996]

Sorry, a bit late to this thread.

I have a CPC-800 with an Altair Astro 294c camera for EAA. I have really enjoyed using this to explore the night sky and have seen so much more then I did visually through the same scope.  I have only scratched the surface of what objects I can observe with this setup but this thread got me thinking about buying a mono camera. I can see that a mono camera would give me better detail from the amazing images in this thread. Would it also give more light gathering potential over the same exposure time, compared to a colour camera? My thought is to buy the mono version of the chip inside my 294c (ASI294MM ?). Would this allow me to see fainter objects for the same exposure times? 

I apologise if this all sounds very newbie.

 

[AKB]

17 hours ago, Xio1996 said:

My thought is to buy the mono version of the chip inside my 294c (ASI294MM ?)

I’m toying with the same thought.  I use the colour 294 MC for serious imaging (if I may call it that) and currently a mono Ultrastar for EEVA, with decent results, but wondering if the mono 294 would be better with lower noise and higher sensitivity (and slightly smaller pixels.). Judging from  the OP, testing this idea with the MC version, won’t help. 

[Adam J]

You EEVA chaps must be delighted with the announcement of the non-cooled ASI533mm camera?

[nicoscy]

The 533MM would complement the 533MC in terms of much better sensitivity and same great low noise characteristics....