Dsi Vs Lpi

[pisaia]

I can’t take a decision which one to by. I want something that can get good pictures of planets and Deep Sky Objects. I don’t know if Meade DSI can take good pictures of planets and also I don’t know if Meade LPI can get good pictures of Deep Sky Objects. I have a Meade ETX-125AT w/UHTC. Give your opinion please.

[iceman]

I don't own either, but I think some forum members do. However from what i've read and seen from images posted, it can probably be summarised like this:

- DSI is better on deepspace stuff simply because it can do much longer exposures and deepspace stuff is exactly what it was designed for.
- DSI is not quite as simply and easy as the advertising would have you believe, but once you're past the learning curve I have seen some good to very good images of DSOs posted using the DSI.
- DSI has had some software and/or hardware problems, I think they've released various upgrades, and there's also now the DSI Pro with support for RGB imaging. Not recommended for the novice.
- I have seen very few images of planetary/lunar/solar taken with the DSI. From what I understand, the software just doesn't support itself well for that type of imaging.
- The LPI is primarly designed for planetary/lunar/solar. It can do up to 16 s exposures for DSOs, but it's quite limited and the images of DSO's I've seen with the LPI are really not that spectacular.. certainly not compared to the DSI.
- The LPI can do a quite reasonable job of solar system objects. You can either use the software supplied from end-to-end, or use it simply for capturing BMP's and then use alternate software (registax etc) for processing the image.
- I've seen some very good stuff produced with the LPI (some of the Jupiters by Rob in the solar system forum are GREAT!), however for solar system work most will recommend the ToUcam.

In the end, it's going to be up to you - do you primarily want to take solar system images or DSO images.. there's not really one camera that will do both WELL. The imaging techniques to do each (solar system vs DSO) are very very different, so finding a camera that can do both will be difficult.

You'd find that most people have 2 cameras, one for DSO work and 1 for solar system work.

Hope that helps.

[dhumpie]

Can the DSI be used to image the planets???? If so then I will go with the DSI as it will be a more versatile tool.

Darren

[dhumpie]

Okay I was not paying attention to Mike's post. If you can get the DSI and somehow incorporate the software that came with the LPI then you will have the best of both worlds. I still think the DSI will be more versatile IMHO.

Darren

[pisaia]

Hi,

What about DSI pro. Is it better than DSI for planetary ans lunar images?
Is it more difficult to use than DSI?
Do you have to take pictures with all the filters to make a color one?

[iceman]

Maybe, Yes and Yes.

The DSI Pro is a monochrome camera, so you need to use RGB filters to build up a colour image. It's not for the novice. It's more difficult in the capture and it's more difficult in the processing.

It may be better on the planets simply because of the resolution and capturing in monochrome using filters, and not having to stuff all the colour information in a 640x480 resolution. But if you want to do serious planetary work, get a ToUcam, or a firewire camera that won't need to compress the data to shove it down the pipe.

[rumples riot]

I got rid of my LPI recently, well actually gave it away to a mate. The LPI is good to start taking images for planetary work, no good for DSO work though. It has its limitations in that it cannot take frames fast enough with the autostar software. You will need to download K3ccdtools if you get this program, so that you can image faster.

The DSI that I own has been out of its box once in the 7 months that I have owned it. It is suppoed to work fine on planets, but to this day I have not seen a single image of jupiter taken with one that I would consider to be good. All the pros use either the Toucam or a fire-i camera. The DSI is good for DSO's, on Cloudy Nights forum there are some people taking pretty good shots of DSO's

So this is what I think you should do. Buy the standard DSI, that way you can practice on DSO's and try your hand at planetary. If you want to do more planetary work buy the Toucam pro 2. That is the one I use and you can see the results that I get with it. (look in the solar system imaging section).

This way you will have two cameras specifically designed for two types of imaging. You never know you might be able to get the DSI to take great shots of the planets and then will not need the Toucam. However as Mike said there is not a camera that will currently do both well within this price range.

Hope this helps.