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Canon 450d or Altair astro 183c


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Looking for some inspiration to change my modded 450d thinking of getting the 183c as it's reasonably priced but is it going to make a big difference or would I be better off getting a coma corrector and sticking with my current set up which is an eq5 pro with a 130pds and zwo guide camera. I'm also using a astronomic 12nm Ha filter with my modded 450d which I absolutely love. See my  blog for latest images. www.astrocasto.blogspot.com 

Main issues with the 450d is of course noise and wonky corner stars from not having a coma corrector have wanted a dedicated camera for astrophotography for ages but I need convincing/ reassuring that it's going to be worth it .

Yours doubtfully QM 🤔

 

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The 183C is a good camera but be aware they do suffer with starburst amp glow although calibration frames should get rid of those, if budget allows the 533C is a better bet but they have a square chip, I bought a 269C last year from Kelling heath & it's been a great camera & this year I upgraded it to a 26C all of which don't suffer with any amp glow.
Lion.thumb.jpg.b3d4f3baf25f83f9173334c1fa3e48d6.jpg

Helix.thumb.jpg.c8bd6715011794f6152cce7d9be9c35a.jpg

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All above were taken with the 269C from home, I'm especially happy to have captured the Helix nebula as that's been a target I've wanted to capture since starting this hobby & I were shooting through a lot of light pollution to get it. I don't know what filters you use if any but dual band filters really do help with emission nebulas to.

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Great images Titch  the Helix is one I went after many years ago now when I had a canon 350d which I modded myself. The  269c is out of my price range unfortunately and I'm trying to keep the cost down to 500.00 if possible as this is the first time I will be leaving my trusty modded canon cameras but certainly worth considering for later down the line looking at what you have produced with it. I use Astrophotography tool, Stellarium and Phd for my guiding framing and controlling my camera so I am assuming Astrophotography tool would be fine for the 183c. I just dont want to invest in it and then find its not much better then the modded Canon 450d because if that was the case I would be cursing my self and wishing I had just got a Coma corrector and stuck to my 450d. This is my last image taken  two days ago with my  Canon 450d and the Astronomic 12nm Ha filter combined with RGB data I'm wondering how much better the 183c would fair in comparison?

NGC6914

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Edited by Quatermass
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Cracking image that mate you always good at this, I use NINA & ASTAP for platesolving & image acquisition even polar alignment as there's a 3 point  polar alignment feature you can use, so it's great to use in the field & in the observatory to. Took me a bit of head scratching to set it up to begin with but now I've never looked back.

 

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Once I started back again in this hobby I got bored with using my 200p so went for the 130pds and the Ha filter it made such a difference and rekindled my interest  in all my old targets again. I want to get the Witches Head next month as its been on my astro bucket list for too long now. Recently had a crack at the California Nebula in two half's and came up with this image a bit tatty but its a start.

image.thumb.png.c06aac45d95474ae13bde283f63f867e.png

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Careful that you get the right camera for your needs as there are two types of Altair 183C, the Pro and the Pro TEC. 

The 183C Pro has a fan cooled sensor, this just a fan which blows air over the back of the sensor and gives some cooling. 

The 183C Pro Tec has TEC cooling which is 12v powered and allows you to set the temperature to which the sensor is cooled - Set Point Cooling.

Also make sure the smaller pixel size of the 183 is going to suit your scope and the smaller senor (compared to EOS 450D)  is going to give you the FOV you want from the 130DPS. ;) 

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Thank you Martin I take it that the 183C Pro Tec will be the better choice then as this will allow me to take the darks etc at the right temperature. Might need to save a few more pennies but no point getting something that wont do what I need.

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The Pro TEC would be the better option because of the set point cooling, when you're spending this much on a camera you need it to be the right one for you.

The more modern sensors give cleaner results with no Amp Glow, like the 533 & 2600, although these can be more expensive. In the Altair Astro range, the 533C Pro TEC, 294C Pro TEC & 269C are all just £100 dearer than the 183C Pro TEC. But also look at the second hand market, there are ZWO ASI533MC Pro's, second hand, going for around £650 and ASI183MC's for less.

Do check the FOV you want to achieve before deciding on which camera. I did a quick example using Astronomy Tools with your Explorer 130PDS and various sensors. As you'll see, there is quite a difference between your Canon and the 183C. ;)

Red is the Canon 450D, Blue is the ASI294MC, Yellow is the ASI183MC and Green is the ASI533MC.

astronomy_tools_fov.png.2f1004ff335273aa487eaa990792f14e.png

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That's great advice Martin especially the fov size didn't consider how much its going to reduce my field of view which  is quite a bit looking at those specs. I recently got the 130pds because I wanted to capture bigger targets and it was the ed80 or the 130pd. I have had an ed80 before and I have to say I prefer the 130pds it works really well on my eq5 mount.

Reducing the fov size with this camera kind of sucks really. Mmm I'm going to have to think this one through a lot more its quite a bit of money to be spending and I have got to make sure its what I need that's half of my fov gone which is not what I want at all oh poo sticks that was about the fov of the 200p which having used it for 13 years I'm not keen to go back to that fov size again sigh..

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Edited by Quatermass
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