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Old 08-10-2019, 11:44 PM
Wavytone
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Wavytone is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Killara, Sydney
Posts: 4,147
Take a look at who's doing what, and the gear they use - in this forum on IIS http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=7

The reason I refrain from mating a camera to my scope is that so many people are banging away at the usual bright suspects that IMHO it has become pointless. And many of them have better gear than you or I can possibly afford.

Think about that aspect, before you leap in.

On a more positive note - another website to look at is http://www.astrobin.com as the details of the camera, scope, exposure and often the mount are available.

Note - your DSLR is really only entry-level in this game - the serious types are using cooled camera heads made specifically for attaching to telescopes (ZWO, FLI, Starlight Xpress and others).

I'd also suggest your refractor is a fair start, add a field flattener and you have a start at colour imaging, a lot of galaxies are within reach of that. Master the software workflow first (focussing, many frames to reduce noise, then the post-processing). Once you have that under your belt consider buying a better (cooled) astro-camera to match your scope.

This however is the start of a very slippery slope, financially. If you are lusting after serious fast aperture the Riccardi-Honders or Celestron Hyperstar scopes are the competition and it gets worse... more exotic big stuff can do f/1.5. I know guys who have spent north of $50k and more on this so be careful where this leads.

At the big end of town the technology is still evolving fast - an FLI Kepler 6060 camera, for example, that can match or exceed a typical cooled CMOS camera from 40,000 USD to a quarter million or more depending on the grade and QE of the chip. For now, guiding still wins. In ten years? Maybe not. But what it does mean is that any amateur plunging serious $$$$ on gear is inevitably going to find it is outdated very quickly.

And to what end ? Hmmm ?

Last edited by Wavytone; 09-10-2019 at 12:26 AM.
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