4 cameras, opinions...?!!!

[TareqPhoto]

Hi all,

It has been really long time since i posted here or even reading, got busy and carried out in life and astro became like forgotten passion for a while now.

Anyway, i am trying to get gear as possible to finish my setup i need, and the long i wait then the more options or opinions are happening which keep changing my plans, and i really don't mind waiting so long no buying or using until i get the right tools rather than using many gear and keep changing or replacing them if i can replace which means i didn't choose right from beginning, last 3-4 years were enough for me to show what should be done, i just need to choose correct wisely and plan it precisely.

I have many scopes now, and i am trying to have something like 3-5 scopes to be very similar if not same give same or close FL/FOV, not like others using so all big difference FL/FOV scopes to match, i already covered most but i try to stick to a specific FOV/FL and having multiple imaging setup for it, so in this case wit those 3-5 scopes say i will choose 4 of them to use same exact camera sensor, then which version i should get as the 3 following options:

1. 3 Mono cameras and 1 OSC camera
2. 2 Mono cameras and 2 OSC cameras
3. 1 Mono camera and 3 OSC cameras

I can give more details for above if you need to give better answer or opinion, i just give the idea of what i want, living under Bortle 8/9 i know i always or mostly need longer integration time for most targets, and i don't have patience to finish one target in like 3-7 nights or even months to make it perfect, and most nights here are short time and targets don't stay in ideal/optimal zone in the sky for imaging, so it is almost like 2-4 hours only, this is not enough to cover all filters needed say LRGB/SHO or even half of that to make it nice, and i don't use or busy fast optics, so i depends on having multiple scopes and cameras of same/similar FL/FOV i mentioned before to capture different filter then i stack later.

[Graeme1858]

It has been really long time since i posted here or even reading, got busy and carried out in life and astro became like forgotten passion for a while now.

Hello Tareq

Good to see your passion has returned and good to see that you have returned to The Sky Searchers Forum!

My first thought was that if you are mainly imaging using LRGB/SHO filters then your first option of 3 Mono cameras and 1 OSC camera would be best.

What cameras have you got in mind?

Graeme

[TareqPhoto]

It has been really long time since i posted here or even reading, got busy and carried out in life and astro became like forgotten passion for a while now.

Hello Tareq

Good to see your passion has returned and good to see that you have returned to The Sky Searchers Forum!

My first thought was that if you are mainly imaging using LRGB/SHO filters then your first option of 3 Mono cameras and 1 OSC camera would be best.

What cameras have you got in mind?

Graeme

Hello Graeme,

Thank you very much

Well, i was thinking or planning that to use OSC for only RGB stars signal, but someone today in another site mentioned that no matter what i will do that OSC will never be good, no match to RGB filters, and because i am under Bortle 8/9 with LED main light from one direction it is kind of that broadband is not good, but i will never give up, it might be done if i expose it for long time which is the plan of having multiple setup anyway.

I will shoot LRGB SHO, also in same site someone else also commented that using lum filter is useless because all information needed are within RGB, so he suggested to just ignore lum and use RGB to create lum, some also said they prefer that way of lum, so i have many options to think about, just to let you know before i go further.

Now about cameras, well, first i must mention my current cameras and which scopes to connect them to so you will have a better idea of what i have and what i want to get:

1. 1IMX571 OSC & Mono
2. QHY294M-Pro
3. QHY163M
4. ASI1600MM

So 5 cameras, 4 mono and 1 OSC, 4/3" Panasoninc ones are connected to 60mm doublets, QHY294M connected to FRA400 for now, the two IMX571 are meant to be used with 90mm f/6 triplet APO + 0.8x.

I have new scope i received short time ago like about 10 days ago or 1 week, which is 106mm f/6.6 triplet APO, i wanted to buy 0.6x reducer whatever to bring it from 700mm to 420mm, so i can buy another IMX571 for it, not sure if i should buy OSC to use my dual band filter, or mono then which one filter to use, Ha? And the other mono for what, OIII/SII? what if i want to use Ha and Lum also like for some galaxies, mainly the mono will be used with the 4 main filters of LumSHO, i might use 1 camera for 2 filters, but wanted to have more data time with each, i can't buy two IMX571 any soon, only one now, while i can buy OSC, and if i can find the prices as before when i bought my two IMX571 then i can buy again one mono and one OSC, but not two mono, say i can have one mono now and the the other maybe end of the year or next year at best.

Another option is, to use that QHY294M with FRA400 to get RGB, the scope is well corrected so the stars should be perfect at least, and it is wider at 400mm, so i can crop it to smallest format which is 432mm from 90mm, but QHY294M has amp glow, older model than imx571, so is it a good idea combining RGB data from an older model sensor with LSHO from newer/better sensor?

I will buy more mounts eventually later, for now i have Skywatcher AZ-EQ6, i can mount two scopes rigs but some keep telling me about dithering and aligning things, i will figure it out, and i have two newly acquired Skywatcher AZ-GTi, this can't handle my 90mm or 106 for imaging, but it can handle either 60mm doublet or roughly FRA400, i am eyeing on one mount portable i think rated for 20KG not very expensive, harmonic drive not from any known brand, so if i can manage to use two scopes at once on one mount that will make the job easier than having say one mount individually for each setup, unless if i can find capable nice mount for about 400-500 GBP [$600-800] then i could buy two of them and use say the two 90s, one on each, this extra information i provide so people don't come to comment about how why what this multiple setup and not possible, i got most of my gear so far at reduced offers prices brand new, so i saved a lot already which allowed me to buy more, and i might buy more also with nice prices around, i am open to all markets in the world so China market helped me a lot, while from USA and Europe i was lucky to buy some items also at reduced prices as offers before they change prices, so i stopped for about 2-3 years only shopping for items at good prices while waiting budgets, and last year a big budget should be paid for me in fact but a case stopped that, so i suppose this year i could get that then i am open to buy like 2 more cameras and maybe two EQ mounts if i can find cheap capable ones and maybe say one more scope and 1 filter, accessories such as cables dovetails computer power can be managed easily while i already have some.

Waiting your all answers, thank you


Tareq