First Camera for planets? (That’s got some future proofing)

[Neutrinosoup]

Non-astrophotographer wanting to dip my feet in the water…

My daughter wants to take some pictures of the planets and try stacking with our dobsonian.

I’ve also got a 72mm apo and HEQ5 Pro mount, which I may want to dabble with at some stage.

—> Is the cheap-ish  ZWO ASI224MC camera a good choice or do I want something slightly more expensive for future proofing?

—> do I just connect the camera to an old laptop for a live view and  is there a way to Bluetooth/wifi to a device?

 

if there’s a guide to this sort of stuff already on the forum, please just point me that direction and I’ll stop with the silly questions.

thanks

Niall

[Elp]

I've had the 224 for around 4 years, never felt the need to change. The x85 would be an FOV upgrade (385/485/585), but I still prefer the 224, I had the 485, works okay for DSO work too which the 224 can't do well due to the small sensor (it amp glows hard across the FOV as a result).

You'd have to check an FOV calculator to see what's suited to your optics, too small FOV and if your tracking is off you'll have to recentre a lot which isn't fun.

Edited February 7 by Elp

[Kon]

For planetary imaging the 224 is still excellent. It also has nice sensitivity to IR. You can also look into a used 462mc, it is discontinued as of last year. Look around for a used one for either of them.

Regarding imaging, you want 5-7x times the pixel size of the camera with your telescope. I am not sure which Newtonian you have but with my 200P and f6 I had to use a 2.5x powermate to bring it to f15 which is 5x the pixel size of my 462.

 

[bosun21]

The ASI585MC is also a very good planetary camera which is also good for astrophotography should you decide to go this route. The sensor is larger than the 224 allowing some DSO's to fit in the frame. It also has zero amp glow.