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Old 28-10-2018, 03:02 PM
Thatonecloud (Bryan)
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EAA Camera suggestions?

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster.

I would like to purchase a dedicated astro camera for a skywatcher star discovery pro 150. This guy here but with a 7*50 finder and an electronic focuser.
\https://skywatcheraustralia.com.au/p...overy-pro-red/

I already own an 8 inch dob, with a starpointer pro and a celestron travelscope 70 acting as a secondary scope\wide field finder.

The dob is great to be able to RDF to a target and show 2 people the views to a target, also because its all manual i dont need to teach people how to use it or wrangle any cables or anything so i use it as my grab & go. But for potential outreach and for ease of use by my less able bodied mates I think a EAA setup would be great. Based around my 150 f5 reflector initially, something that allows near real time viewing on a laptop at a desk inside would be ideal.

I'm pretty much sold on a gstar ex3 colour based on this video
https://www.davidlloydjones.com/an-evening-in-july.html

this is at the top of my price limit for now, just wondering if this is the right call? done some dslr with this scope and all looked ok so i think i'll be ok for weight.

TLDR version.
I own a Skywatcher 150 f5 reflector on star discovery pro mount
I am thinking of buying a gstar ex3 colour camera
The intended purpose is for my less able bodied friends to see through my scope comfortably on a lappy while i use the dob or talk to people

Thanks for any help or words of wisdom

Bryan
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  #2  
Old 30-10-2018, 09:52 AM
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ChrisV (Chris)
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The gstar camera is certainly worth a shot (but currently out of stock?). The 1/2" 178 sensor will give more FOV than cameras with the smaller 1/3" sensors like the 224. And your 150mm F5 on the skywatcher mount will be great for it.

I understand that the fan cooling on the gstar helps. Full on cooling is not needed with the shorter subs you use for EAA (<15sec). But - there might have been some issue with amp glow on this sensor, although it might have been another sensor (the 174?).

Also, there's a few newer cameras with other sensors that are well suited to EAA (zwo, risingTech etc). The ASI385MC seems a favourite. Just depends on your price range. Ask on these sites, and have a look as many others have asked the same question:

http://astrovideoforum.proboards.com/
https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/7...and-equipment/

Edit: I just noticed you have a DSLR. These are fine for EAA - just use EOS Utilities to capture and Astrotoaster (runs on DSS) for live stacking. Try that first. I've used it for live viewing - its a bit fiddly running compared to other live imaging software but very doable. Watch this and others by the same person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG9ByXFDrEE
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Old 09-11-2018, 08:19 AM
Thatonecloud (Bryan)
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Thanks for your help, it seems i missed the gstar by a matter of days, and they won't have more till January. The 385 is about the same price, maybe even a little cheaper, and has a much larger user pool for support or any assistance i may need down the line. My Dslr is an old Nikon d3100 that doesn't support live output and has a few other issues preventing it from being anything other than a happy snap camera. I suppose sharpcap seems a bit less intuitive to toupsky and i'm after relative simplicity. I just dont know, must be a reason the 385mc is far and away the more popular choice.
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Old 09-11-2018, 08:30 AM
glend (Glen)
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The ASI294 is being pushed by ZWO as an EAA camera now. It has issues when used as a normal AP camera (uneven cooling, AMP glow,etc), but is sensitive and has deep wells, so can function as an EAA camera (Where calibration is not that important).
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