Choosing the best deep sky camera can be difficult. No one camera is best, or pairs best with a single scope! You want to be sure to correctly pair your scope’s focal length with your camera's pixel size. Your seeing conditions -- levels of atmospheric turbulence, cloud cover and humidity -- all play a major role in image quality. It’s important to have a basic understanding of what your average conditions are before you make a choice. Most of us live under average seeing conditions, so referring to the second column in the “Deep Sky Camera” chart below should suffice. While this article is advising you how to pair your camera sensor with your telescope’s focal length, it is not explaining the consequences of an improper pairing. For a thorough explanation of resolution, undersampling and oversampling please read this article: Sampling: Over and Under.
How Do I Determine My Seeing Conditions?
There are many ways for one to determine their average seeing conditions. Seeing conditions can change from week to week, night to night and even from hour to hour. It is rather difficult to determine your average seeing conditions, but a great way to look at your average seeing conditions for your location is using a Clear Sky Chart. This is a great tool to help monitor your average seeing conditions over a period of hours, days, weeks, or months. This can, in turn, help determine which scope/camera combination is best for your location. If you are interested in reading more about seeing conditions, please refer to our detailed article here: Seeing Conditions.
Here at High Point Scientific, we like to use this scale to determine the best resolution for you.
You can determine the resolution (arc-second/pixel) of any scope/camera combination by using this equation. You want your calculated resolution to pair well with your seeing conditions. Reference our “Recommended Resolution” chart above.
This chart is here to help you choose a focal length/camera combination for your given seeing conditions! We chose common focal lengths found in common telescopes designs and common cameras produced by ZWO and QHY. When referencing the chart, start with your seeing conditions and go from there.
The chart demonstrates that smaller pixels pair well with shorter focal length scopes while larger pixels pair best with longer focal length scopes. As seeing conditions increase in quality, smaller pixels can be paired with medium to long focal length scopes. Pairing smaller pixels with longer focal lengths assumes that your seeings conditions are above average to great. Pairing larger pixels with shorter focal lengths assumes your seeing conditions are poor.
Why Do We Recommend These Cameras?
During your research on dedicated astrophotography cameras you’ve likely found that there are a lot to choose from! There are some very specialized cameras on the market but we have chosen 8 that have transfigured deep space imaging for the amatuer astronomer! The eight cameras that selected are some of the most popular deep space imaging cameras made by ZWO and QHY. To ensure that you’re able to find the best deep space imaging camera for you, we have chosen cameras that will accommodate a large variety of short, medium, and long focal length telescopes. Among our choices of deep space imaging cameras are some of the most revolutionary in the world.
Small Pixel Cameras (2.9 microns)
Smaller pixels means high resolution! These highly quantum efficient Sony IMX183 sensors from QHY and ZWO provide the perfect camera for short to medium focal length scopes! These cameras have the ability to cool to -40C and produce very low-noise images.
Medium Pixel Cameras (3.75 microns)
The ASI1600 and QHY163 Micro 4/3 sensors boast a pixel size of 3.75μm, making them extremely versatile! They’re both great options for those looking for a camera that will work well with an array of different scopes. Yielding high sensitivity and low noise, the ASI1600 and QHY163 can really bring your imaging to the next level.
If you are looking for a sensor that will provide a larger field of view, the ASI6200 and QHY600 offer full frame IMX455 sensors with 3.75μm pixels. These two cameras are highly sensitive with relatively low noise, as we have come to expect from the Sony sensor line.
Large Pixel Cameras (4.6 microns)
The ASI294 and QHY294 are becoming extremely popular options for those who are interested in high resolution, long focal length imaging. The larger pixels pair very well with medium to longer focal length scopes and are available in both monochrome and one shot color.
Still have questions or need help choosing the right astrophotography equipment? Contact our gear experts and shop confidently knowing we have over 115 years of astrophotography experience between us!
