Did I buy the right camera ZWOi178MC ?

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Looking for advice ,very new to all that is Modern Astronomy.

I just want to start with Planets and some deep sky stuff. May be get a small refractor down the track.

After a lot of looking and some research the ZWOi178MC at 6 megapixels seems a good fit for my Meade 6"ACF 1540mm Focal Length, originally looked the at the 120MC and MM and then the 224MC.

Someone tell me I did the right thing. I would have started with a DSLR but don't have one.

Thanks for any input,
Cliff

[Lognic04 (Logan)]

For planets, yes. It should do well. For deep sky, absolutely not. The tiny pixel size will result in massive oversampling, tiny sensor at f/8 will be very limiting and to top it off, uncooled
Imo if you can, get a refund and buy a cheap DSLR, which will perform MUCH better than the 178. Again, if you are only interested in planets it should work great

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Indeed, the 178 has very good QE, so should work well for planets and don’t forget Lunar

The larger chip (than the 120 or 224) will get you more in the FOV.

[Ukastronomer (Jeremy)]

Too late now anyway it is a good camera I have one, but for The Moon it will be great

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Thanks Jeremy I guess the Moon will be my first target anyway. Maybe the Sun also .

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Thanks Dunk,

Yes I looked at the sensor size and FOV handy calculators online. Also the Sony back illuminated Sensor. Have to start somewhere.

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Thanks Logan, probably start out with Planets anyway. Maybe i'll still look for a cheap DSLR.

[that_guy (Tony)]

im sure you know this, but always worth mentioning NOT to look at the sun without a front aperture filter! especially with the 6" SCT

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Yep quite aware Tony, the Scope came with the proper Front filter. Used to image the Sun on an a Tasco years ago on a piece of Card but of cause refractors are a different thing.

[sil (Steve)]

Yes the 178 can do deep sky stuff. Its not ideal camera for anything, but superb for solar system and able to do long exposure stuff as well. Not useless. Its why I got mine and dont regret it. Solar system (planets, moon, sun) imaging require ultra fast frame rates while deep sky(galaxy,nebulae)and comets require longer exposure and usually lots of pixels too. All zwo cameras can be broken up into those two camps. The can all do both to varying degrees, some are great at one and poor at the other, the 178 is a good compromise camera of both. not ideal at either but strong for solar system but not useless at wider field.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Cliff,

Use it and learn with it. You got it for a reason, and now is not the time to begin double guessing yourself and doubting the camera, your gear or yourself.

Get a larger sensor camera will cost you a packet more, and you will still have the same mountain to climb educating yourself. You've done your money now, so use this capable camera to learn. When you are ready for the next step, that larger sensor camera will be cheaper or superseded by a much better camera.

Enjoy this camera. Learn to use focal reducers with it and shorter focal length scopes to get a wider image scale. The sensor size isn't everything. Give the camera a go, it will surprise you.

Alex.

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Thanks Steve,

I did research it and seemed the best compromise as you say, I guess I was attracted by the modern Sony back illuminated sensor and 6 Megapixels. I have a more technical background than Astronomer.
cheers
Cliff

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Thanks Alex,

Got your PM wont add more here

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Originally Posted by Cliff

I did research it and seemed the best compromise as you say, I guess I was attracted by the modern Sony back illuminated sensor and 6 Megapixels. I have a more technical background than Astronomer.

Cliff, the 178 is a good sensor...I use an ASI178MM-Cool for Deep Sky

One of the bonus features of the 178 compared to many others is the 14-bit ADC...so if you get a night of pretty stable seeing, you can dial the gain all the way down to zero and get the full dynamic range that the camera is capable of...on the Moon and the brighter planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter) it should be a winner! (just remember to use 16-bit output in your capture program)

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Hi Dunk,

Yes I noticed the 14bit ADC.

Later I could add my own Peltier cooling I guess. Just starting out.