IMX571 Mono & OSC dual rig

[tomato]

I’ve been fortunate to be able to image for sometime with an Esprit 150/IMX571 OSC dual rig with some success and I am enjoying processing the data, but in the quest for further improvement I’ve been considering replacing one of the cameras with a mono version. 
I’m trying to decide if  this would be a successful combination. I would get a ‘proper’ luminance channel which I think is important for my preferred galaxy targets, but would I suffer from an equivalent lack of quality RGB data, given that this would all be coming from the OSC camera?
Any thoughts before I commit to trying to sell some kit to help fund the camera purchase would be much appreciated.

[ONIKKINEN]

You could bin the mono camera x2 and do a bayer split for the OSC which reduces image size to half, so the same size as the mono at bin x2. This way all of your data is mono and compatible easily so no faff in the compositing phase.

Youve made great images with the setup as it is now so i dont see how it wouldnt get better with swapping one for mono. If anything it sounds like a very efficient setup, you get a full LRGB image per run.

[Elp]

In general when shooting purely mono your luminence gets the most attention as that's where the sharp defined detail comes from.

With your mono you'll also have the benefit of imaging purely hydrogen alpha which provides fantastic detail on emission, of which you can also use as a luminance channel. On galaxies this technique will not really apply, but you'll have the benefit of imaging whatever band you like.

I've done this with poor dslr data acting as RGB, with mono lum and ha providing the detail.

You can also laugh at the moon whenever it gets in your way, by shooting with narrowband filters it has little to no effect (nothing like how OSC gets affected).

Edited December 5, 2022 by Elp

[vlaiv]

2 hours ago, tomato said:

but would I suffer from an equivalent lack of quality RGB data, given that this would all be coming from the OSC camera?

What do you mean by this?

[tomato]

35 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

What do you mean by this?

One consistent feature I have noted of just having OSC data is that the colour is never very strong after the initial stretch compared to when I shoot LRGB using mono cameras and filters. Boosting the colour brings its own problems during the processing, so I wonder if this issue will be exacerbated when my proportion of RGB data contributing to the overall image is decreased.

I’m not planning to dispose of any cameras to acquire the mono camera, so ultimately I suppose I would have more options to play with.

[vlaiv]

8 minutes ago, tomato said:

One consistent feature I have noted of just having OSC data is that the colour is never very strong after the initial stretch compared to when I shoot LRGB using mono cameras and filters. Boosting the colour brings its own problems during the processing, so I wonder if this issue will be exacerbated when my proportion of RGB data contributing to the overall image is decreased.

I’m not planning to dispose of any cameras to acquire the mono camera, so ultimately I suppose I would have more options to play with.

You'll have the same problem if you go OSC + Mono route.

However, its easily correctable if you do proper color calibration, which you should for both mono+RGB filters and OSC. That way you'll get exactly the same color from both methods (or very very very similar with barely noticeable differences).

[Clarkey]

I briefly worked with a dual rig using a mono camera plus a DSLR - just an experiment really to see if it was worth investing in a OSC. Also, one of the scopes was only a doublet so there was a small amount of false colour. If I work out the problems with the OSC camera, I might go back to it at some point...

I would say go for it. I think the mono will give that small bit of extra detail and the colour management will be little different to now. You will also get the bonus of NB imaging. 

[Clarkey]

Wrong thread.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Clarkey
Wrong thread!

[tooth_dr]

On 05/12/2022 at 19:55, tomato said:

I’ve been fortunate to be able to image for sometime with an Esprit 150/IMX571 OSC dual rig with some success and I am enjoying processing the data, but in the quest for further improvement I’ve been considering replacing one of the cameras with a mono version. 
I’m trying to decide if  this would be a successful combination. I would get a ‘proper’ luminance channel which I think is important for my preferred galaxy targets, but would I suffer from an equivalent lack of quality RGB data, given that this would all be coming from the OSC camera?
Any thoughts before I commit to trying to sell some kit to help fund the camera purchase would be much appreciated.

I use a dual mono OSC IMX571 rig and use it as you have suggested.  You really don’t need much colour data at all, but colour data is good from the OSC so you needn’t worry. 

[tomato]

Thanks @tooth_dr. Moves are afoot to purchase a QHY268mono. I thought about another Risingcam but China is a long way away compared to Modern Astronomy.

[tooth_dr]

5 minutes ago, tomato said:

Thanks @tooth_dr. Moves are afoot to purchase a QHY268mono. I thought about another Risingcam but China is a long way away compared to Modern Astronomy.

Definitely nice to deal with a supplier in England, and Bern is a decent chap and has been in the game a long time.

[tomato]

Indeed, he helped me with my decision to buy a Mesu right at the outsight, something I have never regretted.