Anyone using Meade DSI?

Might be a bit pricey for me. The eq6 on its own has tracking motors - are these sufficient for astrophotography?, its 450gbp extra for the Skyscan.
Thanks a million for all the help.

Ahh stephen you missed the boat:( Last week I sold an EQ6 mount with very high quality stepper motor drive system for 750E:(

As a former EQ6 owner who has gone through it all I can tell you that the standard EQ6 drives are NOT up to astrophotography. You need at least a decent stepper based drive system with high quality gears attached (I dont mean the mount gears they're fine) I mean the reduction gears on the stepper motors.

AWR Systems in the UK do very good stuff but pricey. This was what I sold last week.

As I said above, if you want really good results, you're really talking of getting a CCD that's at least 10 time the price (seriously). But you really need to cut your teeth first - in my opinion, you can't get better value than the DSI-C

I disagree a bit here Dave. Digital SLRs such as the Canon digital rebel 300D offer an affordable way of doing very high quality imaging. You can get these for under 500 nowadays on the second hand market. However I wholeheartely agree with everything else. Newbie astrophotographers would do well to pay close attention to your excellent advice.

As I said above, if you want really good results, you're really talking of getting a CCD that's at least 10 time the price (seriously). But you really need to cut your teeth first - in my opinion, you can't get better value than the DSI-C

I disagree a bit here Dave. Digital SLRs such as the Canon digital rebel 300D offer an affordable way of doing very high quality imaging. You can get these for under 500 nowadays on the second hand market. However I wholeheartely agree with everything else. Newbie astrophotographers would do well to pay close attention to your excellent advice.

The DSI-C is only €360 new Dave G.
Bill H.

[The DSI-C is only €360 new Dave G.
Bill H.

Yes but its not 10 times the price and can deliver infinitely superior results, and compared to the DSIPro which we'll end up payin over 500 lids for it offers infinitely better value for money IMO.

Hi Stephen - I guess you need to ask yourself some serious questions about astrophotography.

1. What do I want to image and why
2. How much time am I prepared to invest
3. How much money am I prepared to invest

Like anything else, your goals will narrow down the field.

Personally, I have thought long and hard about my goials and I now have them set. That led me to a purchase an AP mount that was the price of a small new car. I still have to purhcase a new OTA, CCD and other gizmos but I've decided I'm in this for the long haul. My ultimate system will enable me to achieve my goals but it'll take a few more years to save up!

I could quite easily recommend you a system that will take hubble-like images but I doubt you're prepared to pay the Lotto-winning price. Likewise, I could recommend a system for less than 500 quid but you'd be lucky to image the tree at the end of the road.... :lol:

As Bill says, even with the 'right' gear, there's a lot of pain and trauma ahead but the rewards can be very satisfying. Let us know what your goals are and perhaps we can narrow the field down a bit more.

Bill - so far I've stuck to the galaxies because I know I can do them :lol: I'm now starting to move away from 'pretty pictures' and into the realms of my goals - photometry and astrometry. But I'll have a go at nebulas when the weather clears

Cheers

Dave McD

Good point Dave G - I guess there are advantages to a DSLR but I would have thought that a CCD designed specifically for astrophotography would be the way to go if astrophotography was your goal. The DSLR's are a super dual piece of kit. But they don't come with cooling, I suspect you have to pay extra for the fittings to get it onto your scope and then there's the whole software mish mash. With the DSI, you get astrophotography out of the box - no hidden extras.

But I accept that the DSLR's, as evident by the pics on this board, are a serious consideration. They take fabulous images for sure, but the costs (either in terms of pure cash or time downloading software etc) may be more than the 500 quid you suggest. But I'd be prepared to be proved wrong on that point!

I guess it all depends on your goals and the depth of your wallet - as does this whole hobby :lol:

The ten-times the price I quoted was for something like the SBIG or Finger Lakes CCD's - these usually sport class II or even class I CCD's, have cooling that can take the CCD to -65 degrees below ambient and a whole host of other features. In fact, if you want to get really serious (in an amateur sense), the top of the range Finger Lakes CCD imager will set you back $40,000. More than 100 times the cost of a DSI. Even top of the range SBIGS come in around the $10,000 mark. And entry level 'serious' CCD will set you back about $2000. And this is without the compulsory electronic focuser and filter sets - a good BVR set for photometry is about $1500... Soon you're talking serious money....

Cheers

Dave McD

Yes but its not 10 times the price and can deliver infinitely superior results, and compared to the DSIPro which we'll end up payin over 500 lids for it offers infinitely better value for money IMO.

Well, I won't argue with you about that as I haven't used the Canon, I couldn't afford it. But what do you use to make the comparison. If it's my images, then yes, the Canon is far superior, but if it's the images of the more competent users of the DSI-C that know what they are doing, especially the ones I've seen, then I reckon it's extremely debatable. One day I will be posting that standard of image :lol: at the moment, I'm just a bit slow in learning how to do it. :roll: IMO I really don't think the canon, going by what i've seen, can really touch the DSI-Pro, so even if it cost €600 new, it would be better value than a Canon at €500 second hand. The advantage of the Canon would be simplicity. Most of the time, I think it's "swings and roundabouts" but at the end of the day, how much can you afford! I know when I have got the way of the DSI-C and can afford to upgrade, I will go DSI-Pro, I'm so confident of the quality - plus I quite fancy pretending I'm back in my old darkroom mixing my filters :lol:
Bill H.