#Astrophotography Beginner - ASI585MC Camera or Other

25 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

kindred bone
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Background
I have a William Optics ZenithStar 61 II APO (WOZ61) with the FLAT61A field flattener. I am relatively new to astronomy (essentially just starting my second year) and love visual astronomy with my Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic Dobsonian telescope. I spend time between the US and Canada and wanted to have a more "travel setup". For whatever reason, I decided to get the WOZ61 to be a small travel telescope AND to "dip my toes" into astrophotography. I've kind of done things backwards 😜 and already purchased an ASIAIR Plus (256GB), a ZWO Mini Guider Scope, and a ZWO ASI120MM Mini (for my guide camera). By the way, I have a Sky-Watcher EQM-35i for my mount. I was thinking that I could use the ASIAIR Plus and guide camera to help my with finding targets for visual, giving me time to decide what camera I should get. However, the astronomy "bug" has hit me and I decided to buy an ASI585MC (uncooled, of course) camera as a "beginner" camera.

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Question
Essentially, I'm rethinking that decision as my telescope (61 mm aperture and 360 mm focal length) is not well suited for planetary AND I'm really (other than lunar) more interested in nebulae and such. The question, for you experts, is whether I would be OK with the camera that I have (just to start with) and try to grab some bright, easy DSO's or to get a cooled camera. Also, if I go for the cooled camera I'm leaning towards an ASI533MC Pro (color)... keeping to color vs. mono right now to simplify things for me a good bit. I like that it is a newer camera version, has the "no amp glow" feature, and I'm OK with the square frame. The question is whether the resolution of 2.15" per pixel at OK seeing (2-4" FWHM) will be an issue (whether I really need to worry about that right now. as a beginner). If I can just start getting some halfway decent images and learn along the way, I will be a happy camper). The ASI183MC Pro (color) has 1.38" per pixel at OK seeing which is better suited for my camera (I believe) but it has amp glow and it's an older camera.

Thank you, in advance! I really appreciate any guidance that you could give me.

vocal prism
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the 585 is very capable, especially with small scopes since the small pixels give it a nice sampling. To start with it's great, if you'll ever want to upgrade to a cooled camera the 533 is also a great option but you loose a bit of resolution due to the larger pixels. As for the 183, just don't, it's a really old sensor

kindred bone
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Thanks, @vocal prism! I'm not looking for perfection here (I have a LOT of learning to do)... this won't be my last camera and telescope (by a long shot). It's just good to know I'm at least in the "ballpark" with what I'm thinking. There are just so many options out there.

vocal prism
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yeah there's ton of equipment available and stores not mentioning how old something is really don't help

kindred bone
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Thanks for the link! That's an awesome 2-camera example 🙂

vocal prism
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oh and btw, with your dob the 585 will be amazing for planets

kindred bone
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I was wondering about that. It's not a GoTo with tracking, how do you manage that? Via video and stacking?

vocal prism
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the way I did it with my untracked newt was to use sharpcap, reduce the area of the sensor used (ROI or region of interest) to get more fps and place the planet so it would cross the screen, when recording I would move the ROI to follow it all the way to the other side of the fov

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so you end up with a prefectly framed and very still video of the planet

kindred bone
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Awesome... very good to know. I love my dob, it hooked me into this hobby! When my fiancé and I looked at the moon in it with my Tele Vue 17mm we were just blown away. BTW, would the ASI533MC Pro work OK (at least) with the dob?

vocal prism
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I'm not entirely sure, as far as I know it's not that capable of shooting at very fast fps. the 585 will be much better

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one thing some people do is to use the 585 for guiding and planetary

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so you can keep the cooled cam just for dso

kindred bone
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That, is also very good to know. That sort of feedback helps me tremendously. I know I'll make some mistakes in these purchases (it's part of the learning curve), however, I just want to try and mitigate that as best as I can.

vocal prism
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feel free to ask here when in doubt

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and for here I mean #🤓-ask-a-nerd

kindred bone
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I really appreciate the help!

vocal prism
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but so far you've bought nothing wrong, good mount, good scope and you've thought about guiding which is a game changer

paper coral
hallow knot
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Ok but he has uncooled

kindred bone
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@paper coral Thanks for the heads up on the cooled 585! I've got an ASIAIR Plus system so (for now, at least) I'm sticking to ZWO cameras. Although I won't be doing that forever... just to honor my current purchases for a bit while I'm learning. I did decide to keep the ZWO ASI585MC (uncooled) camera AND purchase the ZWO ASI533MC Pro (cooled) camera. Now, if I can only get some clear skies in which to use them 😜 It was looking good for tonight but things changed quickly.

silk wedge