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Another vote for the ZWO ASI 1600 camera (I'm about to lash out on getting one myself after a LOT of research).
Image quality from the ZWO camera is outstanding, every single bit as good as that from KAF 8300 based cameras.
From my reading, I've seen a few people recommend keeping the gain/bias lower,; with bias @ 21 and gain between 100 and 139.
Do lots of short sub exposures - 2-3 minutes max. 2-300 subs for each channel.
The ZWO can do longer imaging subs, but it is better suited to shorter (and lots of them) subs. The KAF 8300 are the opposite (less subs, but longer, as a rule).
I've just bought an Esprit 80 (queenslanders can think me for all the wet weather we've been having lol!) and will be mating it with the 1600 because the FOV matches what I want, and the arc seconds per pixel are in the 1-2 sweet spot.
I would agree with Ray's comments that the CMOS cameras are offering better performance at a lower cost. I give CCD cameras 5 years max before they become extinct in astro imaging. The same thing happened to DSLRs years ago now (and CCD was dead in under 2 years in that instance).
I've seen a lot of snobs hating on the ZWO cmos camera, simply because they are snobs. The same thing happens with other types of gear sadly, both in this hobby, and in other hobbies.
Cheers,
Dave
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