[pluto (Hugh)]

Hi Matthew,
I can't really help with the camera choice as I don't have any experience with the newer ASI cameras for deep sky stuff, though I've seen some good stuff from the 1600 and that 294mc looks good on paper.

The learning curve is a little higher when dealing with a mono camera and filters but it can give you higher quality data. Also if you go mono then you'll have more flexibility doing some narrowband if you wish, which can be good even if you're under dark skies - for example adding a bit of Ha to galaxy images can really help bring out the emission nebulae and make the image pop.
Obviously you can get an image out of an OSC camera quicker, and potentially cheaper, so it's really up to how much time and money you want to spend. Ultimately there's a reason why most people end up getting a mono camera and filters at some point in their AP journey.

As for processing, Sequator or DSS should get you decent results for stacking. I'd recommend either Startools or Pixinsight for processing (If you get Pixinsight then do your stacking in that too). Final tweaks in Lightroom is fine and is what I do - I basically never use PS for astro stuff as the image is 90% there out of Startools/Pixinsight and Lightroom is great for doing final colour balance etc.

And hauling an EQ6 with power and everything to a dark site is a PITA IMO!