How to Choose a Solar Camera

[@poruatokin]

Excellent, thank you from a budding solar imager!

[@eanderson1956]

I really appreciate your tutorial. Being very new to solar imaging, your explanation of the pros and cons of various camera/telescope setups is very helpful.

[@philippefossier7178]

Excellent tutorial. I feel a lot better informed when choosing my next solar camera

[@captainkoloth1631]

Fantastic video! However, i did some research in connection with buying a camera for my Lunt 80, and i believe the well depth for the IMX290 is only 14.6 ke. This would suggest the 462 is a better choice.

[@richardsauerbrun2412]

Mark ... NASA should be very proud they named you a NASA Ambassador. You always seem to exceed expectations.

[@AZASTROGUY]

Thanks Richard!

[@mars_man5619]

Thank you! I find all your solar videos very helpful. There's a typo in this video at 12:30, IMX628 should be IMX678 (I think). Also I found the Pixinsight Solar Toolbox to be easy and convienient, eliminating the need for IMPPG and Affinity Photo.

[@Seafox0011]

Very helpful analysis! Thank you.

[@AZASTROGUY]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Space-Stuff]

Hi William, congrats on your new 152! That's a big boy. I use an ED 127mm x 952mm APO for my solar setup with a Quark Chromosphere eyepiece Filter. Then I put my ASI432MM on the back of it. I love Solar imaging.

[@AZASTROGUY]

Who is William and what 152?

[@cryptojihadi265]

I started out with a 462MC and it was horrible on the sun. I ran it in monochrome mode and it improved a lot. But once I got the 290mm the images were stunning. I then purchased the 174mm for full disc imaging and although it's decent and certainly better than the 462mc, it can't match the 290mm. Same thing with planets. Although the 462 is usable, much better than on the sun, it still doesn't hold a candle to the 290mm. I just use my 462 for guiding now. It does a good job for that. Lol.

[@fotispigi]

Good evening from Greece! I admire you and thank you for sharing your knowledge! I have a lunt 40 B1200 and I also have power mate x2,5 and x5. I want to buy a time lapse camera. I am between 178m and 432m. Do you think it is a better option? Thank you very much!!

[@AZASTROGUY]

The 178 is a far better pixel match than the 432 for the F7 Lunt 40. However some people have reported issues of a grid pattern seen. Others do not. It can be eliminated by taking flats, but for sure you should get a no questions asked return policy from your supplier before you buy.

[@fotispigi]

@@AZASTROGUY thank you very much for your answer! I forgot to say that I use the power mate x5 more. that's why I said 174 or 432!

[@AZASTROGUY]

@@fotispigi in that case you could consider the IMX174. I get better results with it at F30 than I do with the IMX432

[@fotispigi]

@@AZASTROGUY Do you think the Double Stack is worth buying?? thank you again! I'll go for the Apollo-M USB3.0 Mono Camera (IMX174).

[@sjpp71]

Very comprehensive analysis, thank you! What if I use my Zwo290mc in mono mode, would it be similar to the290mm in solar imaging?

[@AZASTROGUY]

Will be better than using it in color but not quite as good as the dedicated mono version

[@adamhofmann2769]

I joined the Bluewater Astronomical Society about a year ago. Just got into imaging and enjoying great results in my wide field setup. I purchased a Skywatcher SolarQuest mount and have borrowed a Lunt LS60T HA with B1200. I want to stay in the ZWO brand at this time and would be interested in best option for this setup.

[@AZASTROGUY]

A ZWO ASI178MM should give you (barely) a full solar disk with an excellent pixel match to the focal ratio

[@adamhofmann2769]

@@AZASTROGUY Thanks for the advice. I really enjoy your videos - very thorough. Some parts way over my head re. experience, however it is nice to see that you have thoroughly tested to help us at the start of our learning.

[@AZASTROGUY]

@@adamhofmann2769 Thanks!

Be careful. I had a 178mm and got banding in my pictures.

[@adamhofmann2769]

I also realize that with the Lunt B1200 option it doubles the size of the sun from 6mm to 12mm. So that might cause problems if I want a full image of the sun. I likely will need a reducer with what what ever camera I choose.

[@davepastern]

An interesting video, thank you. I have a Lunt 60 (pre MT) and also the ZWO 90mm and ZWO 1600mm pro. It seems both are reasonably well matched to my Lunt, with the 290 slightly better due to smaller pixels. However, the 290 is only ~2mp vs 16mp of the 1600, and the latter also allows for full solar disc imaging, whereas the 290 would require me to work with mosaics (a p.i.t.a imho). It seems that I would need another camera for closer detail of the Sun using a barlow. Both of my cameras have low FPS, are rolling shutter, and have low full well capacity. It would be nice to see a high mp solution, that can fit the entire solar disc in 1 go, global shutter and suitable pixel sizes, but it seems that camera innovation is well, bypassing my setup. A frustrating experience.

[@kamilkp]

Great video! I do wonder if the 1.02 factor in the formula is correct - can you double check? Because I googled and found exact same formulae BUT this number was 1.22 instead of 1.02. I wonder which is correct 🤔

[@AZASTROGUY]

Good question. 1.22 is used when you assume the Rayleigh limit. 1.02 is used when you assume the Dawes limit. I used the Dawes limit formula because actual performance often exceeds the Rayleigh limit (actual performance is what is provided in the Dawes limit formula)

[@kamilkp]

Aah, okay, thanks for explaining that! I just ordered a 1.6x barlow for my 478/81 refractor + quark + IMX432 which seems to going to be just perfect of a combination according to theory ☀️

[@albertocapriglioni]

Thanks for the valuable tutorial. I have a question regarding the camera to match the following equipment. I have an Astrophysics 130 mm f 8.35 refractor, a 174 mm asi camera and h alpha Day Star Quantum SE filter and barlow powermate 4x and rejection filter. With this configuration I use the Asi 174 mm mono camera. If I wanted to use the telescope at f 8.35 the recommended camera should be the Player One Mars II with IMX 462 sensor, while if I wanted to use the telescope with 5x barlow it should be the Player One M Max with IMX 432 sensor. Can you kindly confirm this?? I also have a quark filter for the chromosphere that I use with 2 80 mm f6 refractors and a 76 f 5.5 without a rejection filter. In this case can I use the Asi 174 camera or would it be better to use the Player One M-Mini?? Thank you so much for your valuable advice.

[@AZASTROGUY]

All daystar products have a built in 4.2x Barlow so a quark with an F8 refractor is actually at F33.6 so a larger pixel size is the best match (eg imx174)

[@siegfriednoet]

Thank you for making these interesting videos, always very well explained. Question though, if you use a Quark and want to add an extra Powermate, than where do you put it ? Before or after the Quark, so at the telescope side or at the camera side ?

[@AZASTROGUY]

I would be cautious about adding a powermate. If your telescope is an F7, with the internal telecentric of the Quark of 4.2x you are already at F30. Adding a 2x powermate would put you at F60! You would need a lot of aperture and incredible seeing to use that effectively. But if you did, I would put it after the quark before the camera.

[@siegfriednoet]

@@AZASTROGUY Thank you for the answer, for solar I use my Esprit80 with a Quark, this is an native f5 scope, so with the Quark I am at F21. Therefor my question. What would you do with my setup ? Would you add an 2x Powermate or is it not worth the cost ? Thank you in advance !

[@AZASTROGUY]

@@siegfriednoet That context is helpful. You could consider a 2x powermate, but you might also consider a 1.5 or 1.75x from Sieber Optics. I have no affiliation with them but do own a 1.5x that I like. www.siebertoptics.com/SiebertOptics-barlows.html#Ad%201b0

[@davepastern]

I also was thinking of dragging my (as yet, unused) Lunt 1.25" herschel wedge out. I have a Baader solar continuum and UV/IR cut filter for it too (also both unused). The wedge and filters are in storage (my living circumstances are well, difficult so a lot of stuff is packed away and not easily accessible to me). Some have suggested using a ERF on the front of the scope in conjunction with the wedge. Is this correct? note: I haven't used the wedge as the focuser on my equinox isn't working very well and I'm getting focuser movement with pretty much any weight, even an eyepiece, even when locking down. It really needs to go back to SkyWatcher for them to look at, but money has been really tight for me since 2016...

[@lotus30com]

This is awesome. Thanks for all the work you put into this.

[@Skyman82]

Great video, I have an Edge HD 9.25 and a .7x reducer to bring the scope to f7. I have both an ASI482MC and an ASI533MC Pro. I have a white light Baader film and contiuum filter. Between the two cameras, What is the best camera for this setup? Or the best camera in general?

[@JethroXP]

Great video! I'm looking to get into Solar imaging. I've been doing DSO imaging for a few years now and I've dabbled in Planetary. I'm looking to start with the Lunt LS40THa, which is an f/10 native telescope. It seems there are slightly different versions of the critical sampling formula in use. I started out using one that multiplies 1.22 by wavelength, not 1.02. That resulted in slightly different optimal values. I guess the big question is, how close to ideal do you need to be for good results, is "ballpark" good enough? Before watching your video I was convinced the Play One Apollo-M Mini (4.5um pixels) was my best choice, but now I'm thinking something like the ASI178MM with 2.4um pixels is probably a better choice if I stay at f/10.

[@AZASTROGUY]

You can get an idea of the impact of pixel matching with my example images

[@Michaelkolb-hs6sl]

Yikes I love your videos, got a solarmaxiii 90 on the way. Time to learn math I really want to image. Have all my barlows from night set up,

[@AZASTROGUY]

The first time I looked in a 90mm Solarmax I was really impressed. Hope your instrument gives you a lot of fun!

[@Michaelkolb-hs6sl]

I will be watching

[@nortonphoto]

Thank you for such an informative video Mark. I currently use the Mono IMX178 and find it pairs really well with my Lunt 50 which is also f7. I have heard stories of newton rings, but I've thankfully never had an issue with it. You've got me interested in trying a 290/462 to see if I can gain some detail. Is there a preffered choice between the 290 or 462? I will probably go for the Player One version. Thanks

[@AZASTROGUY]

The resolution and speed are the same. The 462 has lower noise but the 290 has significantly better full well capacity. I would need to do a back to back test to know for sure but would guess the 290 has the edge

[@groundhoppingwlkp3622]

Great work :) I have a question - what about CaK line with Herschel wedge? If you put it to Lunt instead of h-alpha wedge - it's still f7 scope? So best would be smaller pixel?

[@AZASTROGUY]

The equations are covered in the video. Wavelength has a small impact but overwhelmingly the most important criteria is pixel size match to F ratio.

[@hael8680]

Great video!!! Which camera would you recommend for a 60mm Coronado? I now use a 178MM guide camera that gives me a full disk but a really slow frame rate of 17fps.

[@AZASTROGUY]

If you have the F6.6 version they my recommendations for F7 scopes will be essentially the same. Basically you want to avoid large pixel cameras like the IMX174 UNLESS you are at focal ratio around F28. With 60mm aperture it would be tough to get a lot of light with a 4.5x barlow (needed to get to F28).

[@Jude1957]

Hello., Could you assist me in finding the correct astro camera to use with a Lunt 50mm/ f7 H-alpha scope with double stacking filters for full disc photography. I have been getting so many varied opinions I am now paralyzed in making any decision My choices are Zwo mm178 (discontinued), Zwo 174mm ( large pixel size ) and the zwo 432 mm (even larger pixel size). I would appreciate your trusted input for any suggestions you could make on those or other brands/ models that would work in high resolution, full disc photos. I will check back w/ you at this vid for your advice. Thank you in advance.

[@AZASTROGUY]

Hi Jude. It's confusing for sure. For the Lunt 50mm F7 scope you do NOT want the 432, a 9 micron pixel size is WAY too big for an F7 scope. I just ordered a Neptune-M mono camera (IMX178). It has a 2.4 micron pixel size which is a great match for your scope. And with the Lunt 50, this camera will frame the Sun nicely. Some people have reported a grid pattern with the IMX178 sensor, although you should be able to calibrate it out. I plan to check it out when my camera arrives and will report my findings here. Another good alternative is the IMX533 sensor, used in the Player One Saturn SQR-M camera. I have this camera and it produces excellent images. You'll use a smaller region of interest setting because the native 3008x3008 pixels will be too big to frame the Sun with the LS50. You could look at the IMX290 or IMX462 cameras, both of which have a 2.9 micron pixel. But with these cameras and the Lunt 50 the sun would BARELY fit; the edges of the sun would touch the sides of the image. The popular IMX174 camera is not really a great pixel match to any F7 scope, UNLESS you're using it with a 4x barlow. I get better results with my Saturn SQR-M on my Lunt 100MT F7 scope than the IMX174, every time. Remember, if you add a barlow, everything changes. Hope this helps!

[@Jude1957]

@@AZASTROGUY Hello again , Someone from "Cloudy Nights " site told me about the ZWO ASI 678m (pixels are 2.0, FPS 47 full sensor) How do you think this camera Stands up The Neptune sensor is an IMX 178 and as you stated can be problematic sometimes, Also have you seen the Player One Apollo Mini solar ? Pixels are around 4??

[@AZASTROGUY]

@@Jude1957 I doubt the full sun would be visible if you use the 678. I had the Apollo M mini and sold it later because I did not see the value given I already had a 290, 533, 174, and 432. I’m also getting a 178 arriving today which I will evaluate

[@Jude1957]

@@AZASTROGUY Thank you! Is the reason you don't think a full disc is possible because of the 2.0 pixel size? I am a little hesitant to purchase the Neptune m because of the issues of 178 chip Grid pattern you mention and have been known about the 178 and since I am a newbie I have a lot of trial and error I am afraid by the time I realized that My camera had grid issues I couldn't return it. Also where can I purchase the Neptune M if I decide to get it.

[@AZASTROGUY]

@@Jude1957 you can buy it direct from Player One. Mine took 3 business days to arrive. Await my report!