OT: Camera Opinions...(Hope this topic is okay here)

[LD]

Hi All,
Please excuse me if this topic is out of place on the PI forum but, frankly, both the discussions here as well as the images posted with such a variety of equipment are unsurpassed. So I thought I might tap into your collective experience to help me through my extreme indeciveness I might add that most other forums are specific to one brand or type or camera, so hard to get unbiased opinions.

By way of background, I am now camera-less having sold all my astro equipment save my trust 8"LX90. Previously used a Starlight Xpress MX716 with Astronomik RGB and Ha filters. Found myself mostly shooting Ha through a piggybacked Zenithstar 66 SD (wish I didn't sell it!) guiding the LX90 with a Meade DSI. You can see my level of experience here:

http://www.freewebs.com/drivewayastronomy/

I am pretty convinced that my next purchase will be a one-shot camera. (Briefly had a Q8 in my hands, but sold it before ever using it). I know there are big compromises, but simply don't have that much imaging time and always lose my subject behind trees  before getting all filters. At least this way I would have full RGB data to play with in PixInsight...and it's that playing in PI I'm really missing!

So, big question and I respect all opinions, would a modded Canon 20d be a good choice from New York metropolitan area suburban skies, LVM ~4.5? My other choices fall into used SBIG ST-2000SCX (like the idea of self-guiding), or Q8 or Starshoot Pro or used SX H9C or other DSLR. These would all roughly fit within my budget when adding new piggyback and guidescope (under $2000US). I specifically ask about the 20d because i see one on Astromart now at one-third the cost of the other options, and I also see some great images with it posted here.

I should add that, while I was doing lots of Ha wide-field previously, my real interest is in galaxies, so I would hope to shoot more through the LX90 at f/6.3.

Again, sorry if this is out of place here as well as for the long-windedness of the post. 

Thanks,
Larry

[Nocturnal]

Can't really beat a QHY8 for price/value. Stacks easily with DeepSkyStacker and naturally works well with PixInsight as well but then again that's true for most if not all cameras. If you can afford it I would urge you to get a real astronomy camera, not a DSLR. The cooling alone is worth the price of admission not to mention the 16 bit ADC, small size and 100% remote operation.

You can see my images here: http://gallery.tungstentech.com/main.php?g2_itemId=45 (skip the DSI section for obvious reasons).

[Yuriy Toropin]

QSI-583wsg
simply - wonderfull piece of mechanics & electonics

[Nocturnal]

QSI-583wsg
simply - wonderfull piece of mechanics & electonics

Yes and an STL11K is nice too. You didn't read the part about his budget.

[Harry page]

Hi Larry

I am a fan of sx cameras and the sx h9c is one of the best cameras there is , a sx m25 is My favorite camera because as you say sometime clear nights are hard to come by and instant RGB is very rewarding.
I have nothing against SLR and many people do great work with them, but I agree with sander a ccd camera would be best 

What ever camera you choose , come back and show us how you are getting on 

Harry

[LD]

Sander, Yuriy, Harry,

Thanks for your replies. Yuriy, yes I wish I had more money to spend Actually, I'm not sure I even have any to spend until I make my pitch at home, seeing as some home improvements are already underway

And, Harry, if I had the money to spend, I think SX would be a no-brainer for me. I really enjoyed my MX716 and found their support and Yahoo group excellent. But there sure are a lot more players in the market now than when I made that purchase.

Sander, I've found your advice on various groups always helpful. And you have me leaning to the QHY camera. I guess two things have had me eyeing used DSLR's: cost and staring at Vicent et al's amazing images. (Of course I have neither his scopes nor, more importantly, hi skill I also found this comparison

http://www.dl-digital.com/astrophoto/QHY8-Picture-Page.htm

Very enlightening. So I think I'll be looking at another Astro CCD...after first making my plea at home!

Thanks, as always, for the input,
Larry

[Nocturnal]

Larry,

you may want to hold of just a little while and see how the current Kodak 8300 'battle' is going to play out. I just heard that QHY is coming out with a color 8300 camera at about the same price point as the QHY8. I still think the QHY8 is a better choice because of the Sony sensor but the point is that there's a recent influx of new cameras that may cause other prices to drop. Same thing happened when Orion introduced their Starshoot Sony 413 camera. The QHY8 dropped from $2000 to $1500 overnight

I'm glad you've found my posts helpful here and there

[LD]

Sander,
Yes, I see a lot of ST2000's on A'mart all of a sudden, too. So there probably will be some trading up going on. But, having had one, I think I'll be sticking with a Sony chip.
Larry