DSI or DSLR

[Yuzza]

g'day ppl,
Its prob a little early to ask this question cause the DSI pro 2 isnt in Australia yet, anyway i want to start astrophotography and was looking into either getting Meade's DSI Pro 2 or a Digital SLR. What are you views on what would prob be best to get?

The only info i have been able to find so far on the DSI is
http://astronomy.qteaser.com/DSIPROII.html

Thanks for any help

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Yuzza.

What type of scope will you be using it with?
Do you want to do terrestrial photography as well?
What's your budget?
Do you have the time/patience to do R/G/B imaging, or would you prefer a quicker solution like a 1-shot colour image?

Just a few questions to get us on the right track..

[Yuzza]

hi,

i will be using it with a 10" SCT, yep want to do terrestrial photography, budget is prob around $1200, have time and don't mind using the R/G/B filters.

Thanks

[acropolite (Phil)]

DSLR preferably Canon, IMHO from what I have seen, the DSI is a toy in comparison. To get any decent result you will need a wedge as well, and for long exposures,some guiding. The LX200 Alt/Az mount isn't the best when it comes to astrophotography unfortunately. The added advantage of the DSLR is that you can use it for terrestrial photography. Most imagers eventually migrate to equatorial mounts. If you're really serious about photography and haven't yet paid for the LX200, it may be worth considering an alternative OTA on an equatorial mount, for example the Celestron 9.25 and EQ6 seems to be a popular choice for astrophotography work.

[rogerg (Roger)]

I'd choose based on what type of targets I was expecting to photograph. For example my ST7 (comparable application to the DSI) is great for narrow field deep sky imaging - small faint galaxies and the like because it's a small high quality chip, low noise, extremely high sensitivity, etc. A DSLR in comparison is not so suited so well to that, being more for the wider field colour imaging, daytime/normal photography, brighter objects (unless modified), etc.

Personally I wouldn't buy a DSI pro, I'd only buy the single shot colour one. Why? The single shot colour one strikes me as a great simple all-round colour astro CCD camera that would be easy and fun to use. The Pro with the filters that stick out where they get dust and dew, are manually moved?, doesn't fit in that "small, cheap, simple and easy to use" category so well and yet isn't of the quality to fit in the higher end of the entry market they're trying to fit it in. In the astro CCD line I'd go the single shot DSI or save up for a different astro CCD. Also, I thought the Orion equivilant was better with temperature cooling & regulation not just temperature reading like the Meade?

That's my opinnion at least.

I've always wanted a normal DSI as a simple "grab and go colour ccd" for my wide field scope. It strikes me as a simple solution. But I've chosen to purchase a DSLR first, for many reasons like the use of it for wide field imaging, high megapixel shots and normal landscape photography.

Roger.

[Yuzza]

thanks for all the responses

to late to send the LX200 back got posted yesterday, lol my orig plan was
similar to the celestron 9.25 plan, i was going to put my C8 onto a EQ-6.
About what camera, still thinking..... I will prob get a DSLR cause most ppl i have spoken to have recommend them
anyway thanks for all the help guys

[Striker (Tony)]

Yep..get a DSLR...thier easy to use and they have a much larger chip then a DSI which can be used for almost anything with much better results.

[h0ughy (David)]

you can get a field derotator or a wedge for the lx200 to use with the DSLR

[Yuzza]

Yay the LX200 arrived yesterday
Took it out for its first night all good, except for the neighbors that turned all their upstairs lights on for my benefit. I think i saw more objects last night than i usually see in a year, but I'm gonna miss the hours of searching, so i might keep the C8 for that reason.
Anyway just got confused again, i went to Meade's homepage and had a look at the dsi pro 2 page and the user reviews and their pictures are pretty good http://www.meade.com/dsi_ii/index.html, and i think a bonus with the dsi is that you don't need to get a wedge with small frame exposers, anyway sorry to keep bugging you guys with this just want to be sure when i buy whatever that I've made the right choice, so after looking at those images what you think?

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by Yuzza

............................., anyway sorry to keep bugging you guys with this just want to be sure when i buy whatever that I've made the right choice, so after looking at those images what you think?

you will never be sure because everyone elses images alway look better than yours, especially Birds, mikes, Asimov's , Strikers...... but as for meades advertising, take that with a grain of salt, I can assure you that there were many more goofs and misprints before they found one for the ad. Whatever you get, learn it and master its use

[ving (David)]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-MEADE-DSI...QQcmdZViewItem

[Striker (Tony)]

Wow $900...what a rip off.

You can get a DSLR for that price.

[Gama]

Save your money and get a proper CCD Imager.
if your starting out, i recomend the Starlight series.
I had (For many years) the HX-516, and it was and still is a great camera.
Used on the 10" LX200, it got me detail and magnitude easily without much if any software enhancments.
A DSLR is going to be too much fidling with. You have to do heaps of dark frames, longer exposures and vignetting effects.
Once you have some experience, you can move to either a DSLR or a REAL CCD camera with all its bells and wistles.
I currently own and use a canon 20D plus a Starlight SXV-H9. But i prefer to use the SXV-H9 on faint galaxies and nebulae, and the 20D on brighter and wider fields. On sensitivity the H9 wins hands down, but the 20D wins on field of view.

[Yuzza]

i could by a nice and cheap Sbig St-2000XM
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SBIG-ST-2000X...QQcmdZViewItem

[Striker (Tony)]

Another EBAY Hoax.

[Yuzza]

Thanks guys for all your responses, after many hours of thinking i have decided to get the meade dsi pro 2 mainly for the drizzle software (don't really want to mount the LX on a wedge), and when i save up instead of selling my C8 im thinking of mounting it on a HEQ5 mainly for transport reasons and maybe in a year or so get a DSLR to use with the it. Hopefully one day i can take images like you guys<!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="" style='width:13.5pt; height:13.5pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\Yuri\LOCALS~1\Temp\msoh tml1\06\clip_image001.gif" o:href="http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/images/smilies/happy04.gif"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p>