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Old 21-06-2022, 09:13 AM
Greggles (Gregory)
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Renting a CMOS astrophotography camera

Hi all,

I think I know the answer to this but just wondering if there is anywhere where you can rent CMOS astrophotography cameras such as a zwo ASI183mc?

Reason for my question is my current set up is a 10" dobsonian on a diy eq platform photographing with a DSLR. I have put Alot of effort into the platform and I love this set up and don't particularly want to get another scope and mount for astrophotography. The issue is although I can keep the target in the FOV for 1.5 hours the sweet spot for exposures is about 10 seconds. The 10 second exposure is obviously adding very quickly to the shutter count of the camera and before I know it I'll probably have to do some sort of repair/service.

So Im thinking of going to a CMOS camera to remove the shutter count issue. My only issue is I would really love to rent/demo a camera for acouple of reasons.
- will the camera perform well at high ISO and short exposures.
- how long does it take to save image to computer after each exposures? (This question stems from an issue I had with backyard Nikon where I was taking 10 second exposures but it would take 10+ seconds to save on computer effectively halving my exposures for a given time. obviosuly not an issue with longer exposures.)

Not sure if it's relevant but I generally only shoot from high light pollution in my backyard.

Looking forward to your responses.

Also please see attached some of my images
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Old 21-06-2022, 09:33 AM
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Nikolas (Nik)
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the 183mc is not suited to such a long focal length for starters you'd be better off with the 294mc, as for renting one? no idea
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Old 21-06-2022, 12:01 PM
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AstroViking (Steve)
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Depending on the DSLR, most have an average 'life' of well over 100,000 shutter actions before they need maintenance. I've heard of some going for well over 200k.
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Old 21-06-2022, 07:13 PM
Greggles (Gregory)
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Cool

I have the Nikon D5500 and expectancy is approx 100,000 however I'm fast approaching the 100,000 mark as a 3 hour astrophotography session yields 1,000 exposures.


Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroViking View Post
Depending on the DSLR, most have an average 'life' of well over 100,000 shutter actions before they need maintenance. I've heard of some going for well over 200k.
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Old 21-06-2022, 07:47 PM
sunslayr (David)
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What you are doing is a lot like lucky imaging or eaa. While renting is not really an option, you could attend a local star party or astronomy club, someone is bound to have a camera set up for eaa. You could ask people's experience with a camera you are interested in right here. You will probably find all dedicated astro cams perform better than an slr especially with live stacking and lucky imaging. In regards to your performance questions an astro cam can record images in the order of hundreds of frames per second at reduced size, or in the case of a 178mc 30fps at full resolution. For eaa I would definitely go with a newer more sensitive model like a 178mc or 294mc.
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Old 23-06-2022, 05:18 PM
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ChrisV (Chris)
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The usb3 cameras will be heaps faster than you'll get with the usb2 on a DSLR. As long as your computer has usb3 ports. My asi071 is way faster than my DSLRs.

And you probably don't need a cooled cameras with 10sec exposures. Definitely try your local astro club and see as there's loads of these cameras out there being used

I've used my asi071 at high gain for live imaging on an 8" F5 newt - 15sec subs or shorter. Works a treat
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Old 23-06-2022, 09:23 PM
Greggles (Gregory)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisV View Post
The usb3 cameras will be heaps faster than you'll get with the usb2 on a DSLR. As long as your computer has usb3 ports. My asi071 is way faster than my DSLRs.

And you probably don't need a cooled cameras with 10sec exposures. Definitely try your local astro club and see as there's loads of these cameras out there being used

I've used my asi071 at high gain for live imaging on an 8" F5 newt - 15sec subs or shorter. Works a treat
Awesome that's some great info, thank you. Yep my computer has USB 3 so that's great.

Definitely hoping to use it for some live viewing and EAA so thanks for the feedback.
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Old 24-06-2022, 08:06 AM
Greggles (Gregory)
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I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a dedicated cam. Interested in the SV405CC looks like it's getting some good results at a great price.
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