Trading Up DSLR for Cooled Color CMOS

[Baskevo]

Hi Guys,

I currently have a T7i that is sitting on my shelf, about 6 months old. Now that I have the ASI1600mm Pro, I do not touch my DSLR, because I don't want to hassle with darks and stuff.

However, with galaxy season upon us, I would like to have the option for light pollution filters, as the LRGB filters make it so difficult to get through the light pollution... The DSLR is unmodified, so instead of modifying it I would just go for a dedicated CMOS that would allow me to use light pollution filters. Also, I feel for galaxy season, it would be beneficial to use a color CMOS over a mono because I could gather more subs, with my thinking being that 3 hours x 4 filters (LRGB) is still only 3 hours of detail... Whereas with a color, I can get 16 hours with full color. Does that make sense or does it not matter the integration time for each filter, and only total integration time matters?

Does anyone have any experience with the QHY183C? It's inexpensive, fits well with my f/6 triplet, and offers me a tighter field of view for smaller galaxies than my current DSLR and mono... Or would I be better off just modifying the DSLR or just using the mono?

[Star Dad]

I bought the ZWO ASI294MC for a couple of reasons. #1. I don't get many clear nights and so trying to get multiple objects per night is important to me. I am still trying to get all the Messier objects photographed. Using a mono camera would be way too time consuming, If I lived in Texas.... #2. There's no shutter, no mechanical moving parts. #3. It's a cooled camera which is important in the summer. #4. It's fairly light weight at ~1 pound (.5Kg). So it lessens the strain on both my TOAG and focuser. #5. it was fairly inexpensive at about $1000. and finally #6. I can use my Canon camera for terrestrial photography knowing it still has a couple hundred thousand images left in it (mean time before failure).

[yobbo89]

I disagree with the need to get a colour camera over a mono to do galaxy imaging . you just need enough time for the colour channels and if you don't get enough, you can do noise reduction on the rgb frames/blur them,do whatever you like and spend most of the time on the lum and your image will still come out well, i spend about 1/2 or even a 3rd of the time on rgb over the lum channel.

I don't know,i've been doing mono imaging for a few years now and sometimes i have to wait a month to get that last frame set to finish an image. but if you're willing to put 16 hours of data into a osc camera then you may as well stick with mono.

but yeah,each to their own on how one wants to image and process their data, having a mono camera for the lum and a osc for rgb can do justice on those cloudy season where you can only obtain the bare minimum for rgb data

[NoDarkSkies]

I plan to use Both (T6i) but I went with the ZWO ASI183GT Camera ZWO LRGB Filter Set - 31mm Unmounted - LRGB-31 + ZWO 31 mm H-alpha & OIII Filter
You really need a good Mono Camera, the LRGB is taken care of with using the Filter Wheel + 1 H-alpha installed

[Baskevo]

I disagree with the need to get a colour camera over a mono to do galaxy imaging . you just need enough time for the colour channels and if you don't get enough, you can do noise reduction on the rgb frames/blur them,do whatever you like and spend most of the time on the lum and your image will still come out well, i spend about 1/2 or even a 3rd of the time on rgb over the lum channel.

I don't know,i've been doing mono imaging for a few years now and sometimes i have to wait a month to get that last frame set to finish an image. but if you're willing to put 16 hours of data into a osc camera then you may as well stick with mono.

but yeah,each to their own on how one wants to image and process their data, having a mono camera for the lum and a osc for rgb can do justice on those cloudy season where you can only obtain the bare minimum for rgb data

Yobbo what you are saying makes sense... So the only thing that the OSC would give me is the ability to use light pollution filters, and more color intergration (which you're saying is not needed), is that right?

It is frustrating when you think "wow I can't believe I've imaged for 16 hours on this one target" and then you cut down your frames, and find out you only spent 2 hours for each filter. lol

Do you have a processing guide you follow? Because maybe I'm doing it wrong lol I can't get anything done with LRGB filters

[yobbo89]

you can use light pollution filters on a mono camera.really one of the advantages of a osc is that it gives you some sort of relief if the clouds roll over and you want to processes your image asap unlike running a mono setup where if i wan't build a rgb image in one night i then have to work out how long the target will be in the sky for and split that time up 3 ways for rgb but one can also image in automation with a mono setup to have the filter swap over and to refocus in a sequence (r,g,b) (r,g,b) (r,g,b) (r,g,b) (r,g,b) ect to even the frames out.

osc pros:
cheaper
simpler
less obstruction for fast/hyperstar sct scopes
less time refocusing unlike mono filters where the filter sits further away from the chip and usually each filter requires different focus points .
you can take away with what frames you have and build an image if the clouds roll out.
can capture time sensitive targets in colour ie iss moon transit,mono is two slow for this

osc cons:
not excellent in building a lum channel compared to a mono camera let's say we used ha filter for lum
poorer results on blue channel with cheaper refractors that have ca,mono cameras can focus blue individually due to seperate filters
osc is made off 1xred 2xgreen 1xblue pixel, it indicates that you would need more integration time over mono rgb and the q.e is lower for a osc
https://astrojolo.com/gears/colour-came ... f-comfort/
not great at narrowband imaging.


what processing software do you use ?