Hi there all.
Going to open a can of worms here and hopefully get some discussion going.
As you know the ZWO camera is really starting to gain some traction and producing some amazing photos.
However, I am finding that it does have one limitation, which I am hoping playing with the gain settings will fix.
I tried doing 3 minute subs on unity gain the other night through the red filter and just got a grey sheet with some white dots.
Now, my proposition is this. If the gain is set to highest dynamic range (ie lowest sensitivity), that would enable you (force you) to take longer subs, which, if I understand the rules of this game correctly, is the end goal? Are you not limiting the collected photons by have lots of short subs? Isn't having longer subs better in the long run?
Because, if I understand it correctly, photons don't come in different strengths (they just vibrate at different rates), and all that increasing the gain (ISO in a DSLR) does is increase the "impact" the collected photon has, not actually collects more photons... and in the process, increasing the noise?
So, if you are not actually collecting more photons with higher gain, and actually having a detrimental effect on the end image, wouldn't it be better all round to aim for longer subs and lower gain, and thus increase the chances of collecting more photons and producing cleaner images?
This is what I will be aiming for anyway. But judging by the sensitivity of this sensor, I think 3 minutes in broadband and 5 minutes in NB is the limit anyway, so they're not really "long" in the grand and traditional way of doing things.
Interested in everyone's thoughts on this.
Not wanting to start a fight, but opening up a healthy discussion!
Cheers,
Scott