Color CCD Which color CCD choice? (1 Viewer)

[Tracy]

If one was looking for a DSO camera (already have an ASI585MC that's great for planetary) and prefer to stick with ASI due to the possibility of going to an ASIAir, which of the of the listed in the poll would you choose. Please feel free to detail why you selected the option that you did.

This would primarily be targeted towards use on a NexStar 8se for DSO captures, and due to the short nature of the tube, would rather not have to deal with a filter wheel on the rig. So I realize that there are several factors involved.. but as I said, the primary use would be with the NexStar 8se, and possible use with a William Optics ZenithStar 103mm if the current ASI533MM Pro decided to take a dump on itself.

For the next couple of days (at least through 01/03/2023) I can get
ASI071MC Pro: $1280 (MSRP $1480)
ASI533MC Pro: $799 (MSRP $899)
ASI183MC Pro: $719 (MSRP $799)
ASI294MC Pro: $899 (MSRP $999)

I realize that 3 of the 4 are the "older" chipsets, but I think I might like to try the larger (read wider) capture format than the 1x1 that my current ASI533MM Pro has. Also OSC would be nice on the NexStar 8SE as it would reduce the optical train length/weight. It might alleviate some need of shooting mosaic for targets. And from what I understand, getting rid of amp glow is not that hard of a thing to do.

 

[Sheridan]

Unless you're using an ASIair, why limit yourself to the ASI product line?
Touptek makes pretty much the same cameras rebranded as Risingcam, Altair Hypercam, Omagon, Orion and a few other names at a lower price. I have the RisingCam imx571 That I picked up for less than half the cost of what it would be for ZWO.

 

[Tracy]

Unless you're using an ASIair, why limit yourself to the ASI product line?
Touptek makes pretty much the same cameras rebranded as Risingcam, Altair Hypercam, Omagon, Orion and a few other names at a lower price. I have the RisingCam imx571 That I picked up for less than half the cost of what it would be for ZWO.

Altair Hypercam 115M Mono TEC Cooled Camera - $1422.56 USD
ASI294MM Pro - $1280 USD (on sale, normally $1480.00)

Altair Hypercam 183M PRO - $1037.94 USD
ZWO ASI183MM Pro - $899.00 USD (on sale, normally $999.00 USD)

ZWO ASI385MC - $269.99 (on sale, normal price $299)
ToupTek Kamera G3M-385-C Color - $367.78

ASI2600 MC Pro - $1799 (on sale, normal price $1999.00)
RisingCam Monochrome 26mp SONY imx571 - $1738.50

At those price comparisons... I'll stick with the ZWO cameras as I know the quality of support provided with them. QHY is similar, but I understand they have more driver issues.

The other problem you frequently run into is you have to make sure that they are supported by EQMod or ASCOM drivers.

The other companies may have a great product... but how well are the supported by N.I.N.A, Stellarmate OS, AstroBerry/KStars/Stellarium and such. That is the important part to me. I'm currently having issues which I'm pretty sure are going to end up being a driver issue with my mount (an EQ6R-Pro, which is a very common used mount)... so I can imagine what could happen with cameras.

 

[Sheridan]

I have never I have never had a problem with the touptek drivers. There is also Indi driver support. However in the end you need to go with what you're comfortable with.

 

[Stan]

Player One cameras look interesting, but like Tracy said getting all the software working together can be a pain, so I'm sticking with ZWO equipment

 

[Sheridan]

The new player one camera that's cooled

 

[Tracy]

Looks like a decent camera... about $130 less than a ZWO ASI2600MC (MSRP), which it is competing against. Currently you can get the ASI2600MC for $1799.00 (normal $1999) and when I priced the Poseidon-C Pro (their equivalent chip) it was $1869.