QHY268m + NINA

[AdamJL]

Hi folks

Thinking of going mono next year for the main rig. Top of the list is the QHY268M.
Just curious if anyone's using this camera with NINA and if you've had any issues with it?
I know the NINA devs have been supportive of this camera and their driver implementation is excellent (as is NINA). But QHY's driver issues are well known.

Keen to hear from anyone using this combo.
And also, what filters? I was thinking of going LRGB first with maybe 2" filters (36mm should be enough though) and then looking at HSO at a later date.

[Startrek]

Adam,
Sorry can’t help you with NINA
I’m also considering going Mono mid next year but Im a ZWO fanatic so it’s the 2600MM not the QHY268M ( both seriously good cameras )
I’ve researched 7 different brands of filters in past months and I’m probably going to buy the Astronomik 2” mounted Type 2C L RGB at 90 to 100% transmission and the Astronomik 2” 6nm Ha Oiii Sii filters.I chose Astronomik based on quality and price ( Astrodon’s are Rolls Royce but way too expensive, Astronomik come in 2nd or 3rd after those )
Filter glass thickness is 1mm and they are suppose to be parfocal ( questionable)
I use newts so hence the 2” filter size
Filter wheel will be a ZWO EFW 5 x filter
A mount upgrade is on the cards as well ( Skywatcher EQ8-R ) and a 10” carbon fibre newt )
All the above based on approval from the minister of finance ( Misses )
Good luck with your move to Mono next year and hopefully you will get an answer on NINA
Cheers
Martin

[jwoody]

Adam
I have a 268M and mainly use SGP. I have been playing with NINA and no issues at all with the camera or CFW3. I use 36mm filters with no issues.
Jeremy

[AdamJL]

Thanks Martin. Keen to see the journey you go on with your setup :) Especially that EQ8-R!
I considered ZWO, and it's still an option. I'll keep the 2600MC as a travel camera and maybe get a more portable setup to shoot northern hemisphere targets when we visit the family overseas (and COVID dies down a bit!)

For what it's worth, I've been looking at the Astronomik and Antlia filters over at Cloudnights. Seems the new Pro Antlia filters are really something else and can give excellent results.



Thanks Jeremy, that's great to hear. Did you have to buy clip ins for the filters? I heard that without them you can get weird results with your exposures and flats.
Did you use the QHY camera driver, the NINA one or ASCOM?

[Wilsil]

I am using NINA with the QHY268M without any issues.
No driver issues at all. Must be lucky.
I have 2" LRGB and HA, O2 and S3 filters.

[Wilsil]

BTW, with the SW ED80, the same as yours. :-)

[AdamJL]

That's really positive to hear :) How do you find that CFW filter wheel? I know the bolt system is a bit of a pain, but I really like the idea of nothing shifting or twisting in the image train. Seems like a great way to minimise light leak and even tilt.



heh, it's a lovely little scope isn't it? Probably a bit of blowout on blues, but that's to be expected from a doublet, even one as good as this.

[etill]

I use the QHY268M with NINA, no problems at all. Also works fine with the QHY485 and QHY10, all with the latest drivers. For a little while the QHY
SDK they shipped with NINA had to be replaced as it had some support issues with old and very new cameras, but its easy to swap SDK and the current version works with all my cameras.

The only comment I had regarding the 268M was that it struggles to cool compared to the much older QHY10 which can get to arctic low temps with ease. I had to increase my standard temp to -5c with the 268 to keep the current draw low and stable.

I also have the QHY OAG-M and CFW3 36mm filter wheel setup with ZWO filters.
I got the filters with the setup when I bought it all together, and although the filters are better than I expected (I believe they are the second gen ZWOs) there are bad halos with the Oiii filter. 36mm doesn't seem to cause any vignetting issues, at least no worse than the QHY10 with a 2 inch filter.

I think the full setup up from QHY is well worth it. All works together easily, and corrector spacing couldn't be easier with every adapter and spacer needed coming with it. NINA works out of the box no problem with the filter wheel + camera through the one USB cable. I just installed an Esatto focuser yesterday so now have the autofocus to configure.

[jwoody]

I think I use NINA driver, no issues at all. I use these with my filters
https://buckeyestargazer.net/Store/FilterMasks.php
Not needed at all but why not eh :)

[Wilsil]

Be sure to use the native drivers to have more data available.
The CFW is great, it's a big piece of kit what adds to the weight.
I had to change the focuser due to all the weight; over 2 kg in total.
Only yesterday it was struggling to get to the -10 C but ambient was still above 25 C at 9pm so that would make sense.

[AdamJL]

That's it. I typed the wrong thing in the beginning, I meant filter masks. Thanks
I saw a video about using them once, timestamped here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLkmczm42ug&t=346s

here if the video doesn't load: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLkmczm42ug&t=346s



Interesting comment about the cooling. ZWO does a gradual cool to target temperature. I've heard that the 268 ramps up power instantly to try and get to target temperate quickly. Is that the case?

And yeah I've some issues with star halos and filters. The latest Antlia Pros are supposed to really minimise star halos across all filter sets. Not Astrodon/Chroma performance but then not the same price either :)



Thanks! I think the Esprit will take the weight fairly well. And I'm after a Askar FRA400 next year as well which should be okay.
But with a good autofocuser attached, that should be more than manageable.

[etill]

I'm replacing a moonlight focuser with the Esatto because of the weight of the new camera setup, the moonlight was struggling with the weight.

I found it sat at over 80% cooler power at -10c when the temp was around 20c, and I got occasional warnings from NINA about it. QHY tech support said it was expected as the CMOS sensor in this one is harder to cool than the CCD in the old QHY10 so I decided to go with -5c instead which has been no problem so far.

[sparna]

I have the 268C rather than the mono version, but have been using it consistently with NINA for the last six months and have been very impressed. No problems at all with either the native drivers or the ASCOM drivers, both work flawlessly.

I did have some apprehension about going QHY again as I had (and still sometimes have) endless problems with my QHY5LII, and my ZWO cameras I’ve used always had zero issues on the driver side. However they seem to have really upped their game (OCCASIONALLY the 268 won’t be recognised upon startup by NINA, but this is always easily solved by unplugging the cables and trying again, so could well be a cable problem). The option of different read modes is very nice - I mainly use the high gain mode at 60 gain for duoband filters, but read mode 3 with the extended full-well depth is really nice for bright targets like Orion. The cooler is fantastic too compared to my ASI071, it cools down extremely fast and seems a lot more powerful than the ZWO one. I actually had it running at around -40 delta last night, I’m assuming because I allowed it to get there gradually over the course of 30 mins or so.

Downsides are the lack of a USB hub like the ZWO cameras, and it’s pretty darn chunky - adds a nice pendulum onto the back of the image train and wouldn’t be much good for a hyperstar-style setup. Also they forgot to hire someone with a brain for the connection interface/backspacing design of the colour version, but I believe the mono has a different (much better) design.

[AdamJL]

Thanks for the write-up, Shaun! Sounds great. QHY's driver issues are the one thing making me apprehensive, but I haven't been too happy with the oil leak issue from ZWO so I'm happy to try out QHY for now (only have their PoleMaster and it's been fine since I've owned it).

The lack of USB hub is a small issue for me, but I can work around it with my Pegasus Powerbox Advance.

One thing I've heard of is that the cooler on these cameras is so powerful, it can cause disconnect on some systems (especially with Pegasus products) because of the high current draw initially. We'll see how it goes.

Apparently someone very lovely has just bought me one so I'll hopefully have it in the next month or so :) :)

[Wilsil]

You will love the Esatto, I am using it.

[AdamJL]

I'd love that Esatto as well! They are pretty expensive, sadly. One day it'd be nice to have the Esatto and the ARCO together. They look like a fantastic combo.

[Wilsil]

I was lucky to get it second hand.