#Need a new camera probably, not sure which

34 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

bitter wedge
#

I hope this isn't too general, I'm just not sure what I need. I believe I'm pushing the limits of my rig, the nebula detail is still quite soft.... There's a few weak links in my setup, such as nearing my mount's weight limit and having no guide camera. I suspect my weakest link, though, is my old Sony A7s; the pixels are huge.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good, mirrorless full-frame camera that would be worth the upgrade without breaking the bank? I considered astronomy cameras, but the full frames ones are crazy expensive. I probably can't go higher than $700

PacmanNebula_1-13-2025_V1.jpg
signal spindle
#

Is a non-full frame sensor a deal breaker? You can do plenty good astro with a smaller sensor astrocam

#

The imx585 and 533 sensors are quite popular, try check them out?

bitter wedge
#

I don't know if it's necessarily a dealbreaker, but it'll be a lot harder to capture large targets like andromeda or even the Orion nebula without a full frame

signal spindle
# bitter wedge I don't know if it's necessarily a dealbreaker, but it'll be a lot harder to cap...

what equipment do you have? I mean you could either mosaic with a smaller sensor astrocam, try to save up and find a good deal on a used fullframe or aps-c sensor astrocam, or keep using the camera you already have

in ur position idk if it would be worth it to spend money on yet another mirrorless/dslr with fullframe sensor just with smaller pixels as opposed to gaining the benefits of less noise/cooling from a dedicated astrocam

lofty stream
bitter wedge
#

For better context, here's my equipment:
Skywatcher 130pds
Sony A7s with coma corrector
Star adventurer GTI
No guide star setup yet, and i"m dithering manually about every 15 frames.

Most of the time I'm doing 40 second exposure with ISO 1600 or 3200

#

And yeah, I totally agree about the astro cam, if I'm already planning to upgrade I might as well get the best possible one. Mosaics are a hard sell right now though, because I live in the city and have no access to a private space for viewing so I need to stay near the scope. At best I can 2-3 hours a night.

I have no experience with astro cams, so I don't know what to expect from the sensitivity. Since a mosaic would cut down my overall exposure time on a target, could I still get a better image within that time frame?

signal spindle
#

you say your images are soft, are the individual sub frames soft as well?

signal spindle
#

besides, youre pretty well sampled with the newt and your current camera
so unless since youre already dithering, you could try drizzling when stacking to potentially get a bit more detail?

image.png
#

if anything, the "weak link" in your setup would be your mount

bitter wedge
#

Yeah, that's what I thought too. The mount handles it surprisingly well, but I know it doesn't take much wobble to muck things up. When all added up I'm basically at the weight limit...

The individual frames look ok to my eye, but I'm not sure. If it helps, here's the best image I managed to get with this setup. I included the final stacked .jpg and a single raw frame to compare

TriangulumGalaxy_11-24-2025_COMPRESSED.jpg 📎 DSC04712.ARW
#

really appreciate the help, btw. It's hard to navigate forums when there's so many variables lol

signal spindle
#

i dont see any reason to rush getting a new camera tbh, so unless you stumble upon a good 2nd hand deal on an astrocam, its be wise to start saving for a more powerful mount so you can get longer subs

bitter wedge
#

Wonderful, thank you! This is probably more for a different thread, but I've had my eyes on the EQ-AL55i Pro Mount.

I was also wondering about what longer subs actually does for an image. Does it get any more actual detail from dust lanes and such? Is it better at handling noise?

signal spindle
# bitter wedge Wonderful, thank you! This is probably more for a different thread, but I've had...

havent heard much about that mount so i cant comment on that im afraid

longer subs do help bring out dimmer detail as well as help with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Dimmer object emit less light, thus need a longer exposure time to capture its detail, and since stacking is pretty much averaging out the pixels of your subframes, the more of the object is visible in your subs, the better youll see it in the final stack

tidal stump
#

but once you are in tracking mount territory, any sub length past 30 or even 15s wont make a perceptible difference in SNR. the main benefit is storage and stacking time with longer subs

signal spindle
tidal stump
signal spindle
#

longer subs affect the image way more than just "reducing the storage and stack time"

#

otherwise people wouldnt be investing in guiding and precise mounts is all they needed was 30 secs

tidal stump
#

like i said, read noise. but its effect is quite small

signal spindle
tidal stump
#

and its not "all you need" is 30s, longer is still better of course

tidal stump
signal spindle
tidal stump
#

...what? ignoring non random noise and dithering, snr is entirely time dependent

#

thats simply wrong

tidal stump