Anyone use SVBONY 305 PRO for DSO and how did you get on?

[Cumbrianwolf]

SVBONY state it as a planetary only camera, albeit having a chipset that other manufacturers use for their DSO imaging. The reason I am asking is to check people's experiences before I spend more money on another guide camera which would replace this one as in the current format it is my guide camera, do I take a punt on it or keep it as a guide camera and upgrade to a good cooled unit as the DSLR route is not ideal, what with noise, amp glow and batteries dying out so quickly in the cold. 

[TerryMcK]

It seems to have the same sensor as the ZWO ASI 290MM (although that is mono) which is also intended for use as a planetary camera/guider. I would tend to keep it as a guide camera as you already have it. You can also use it on the sun (through suitable filters, moon and planetary if needs be). Also go down the cooled route for DSO cameras but budget is the only constraint on that.

There are a lot of good cameras out there at the moment but all the cooled ones are quite expensive. Do some research as to the ideal resolution to suit your scope. http://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability is a good calculator. 

You could always sell the Svbony and buy a cheaper ASI120MM or similar.

[Cumbrianwolf]

52 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

It seems to have the same sensor as the ZWO ASI 290MM (although that is mono) which is also intended for use as a planetary camera/guider. I would tend to keep it as a guide camera as you already have it. You can also use it on the sun (through suitable filters, moon and planetary if needs be). Also go down the cooled route for DSO cameras but budget is the only constraint on that.

There are a lot of good cameras out there at the moment but all the cooled ones are quite expensive. Do some research as to the ideal resolution to suit your scope. http://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability is a good calculator. 

You could always sell the Svbony and buy a cheaper ASI120MM or similar.

Thanks for the link, as a guider it has so far worked well it is the colour version of the above chip and I know that will limit it somewhat but as it is linked up to a fast 80 mm refractor, so it should be able to see many stars. Thanks for the link to the calculator, I had never considered that option, and I am learning more and more.

[Cumbrianwolf]

Seems to be a few minor iterations on the offerings made by SVBONY, if the 305 camera has the word “Full” printed onto the base then it has the AR coating (anti reflection) and not the UV / IR cut filter which is on the one that has no markings. I did not know this, but it is good to know if you plan to image anything in the Ha red spectrum. They seem to not mention the issue all that much on their website nor the media adverts and as for a guider it works very well with no complaints so far.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[Cumbrianwolf]

The purpose was to guide a Newtonian telescope via a piggybacked 80 mm refractor, and I am not an expert so take this as a guide to my findings as your results may vary. I personally do not think this camera was a good choice for guiding, albeit it will do it as a multitasking camera in a pinch in order to keep the budget restrained, hence my reasoning behind the purchase. Please note, I have not used it for any form of planetary imaging, of which is the main design and my reasoning below follow that point.

 

Over four nights of imaging have given me enough time to work with it and although the chip is a good Sony chip, and the software and driver worked flawlessly I feel that SVBONY have not optimised the chips sensitivity with their own in house circuitry, which is a shame as the chip is used elsewhere with success for imaging and being a colour chip this will not beat a monochrome version in the guiding stakes as we know.

 

I own the AR version (anti reflection coating) and not the UV/IR cut model, of which the AR has FULL printed on the base whereas the UV/IR does not. The inherent problem was star bloat when guiding, and that caused PHD2 to often lose the star as the SNR was compromised, even bright stars were not clearly defined dots and no amount of fine focusing would help this, a solution could be the installation of a UV/IR filter to the end of the camera to reduce this.

 

Coupled with an 80 mm refractor it would see some stars but only very bright ones, not as many as I would have expected considering the aperture being used, maybe a differing focal length would have helped, but I cannot be sure.

[GazAstro]

Hi, have you tried adjusting the gain or maybe binning in phd2 ? Also try multi star.

I've guided pretty well with an old Altair gpcam on finder scope.

Show us a guide log before you spend more money maybe.

[Cumbrianwolf]

6 minutes ago, GazAstro said:

Hi, have you tried adjusting the gain or maybe binning in phd2 ? Also try multi star.

I've guided pretty well with an old Altair gpcam on finder scope.

Show us a guide log before you spend more money maybe.

As for the guide log, I shall have to upload that at a later time as on the main PC now and its on the laptop. I use multi star as standard and the binning was set up and trialled as well as fine-tuning the gains and exposure times for PHD2, but the star bloat is terrible and whereas I can do the UV/IR cut I think it is better to opt for a monochrome dedicated guide camera. (this sort of follows on with my other post)

Edited March 7, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[paul]

SVBONY sell cheap 1.25" IR/UV filters. I use one with my ASI290MC for guiding. The cheap ebay no-name 60mm scope I use is very tricky to focus but using a bahtinov mask has helped. My guiding is not great tonight but here is a quick screen grab. 

 

 

[Cumbrianwolf]

13 minutes ago, paul said:

SVBONY sell cheap 1.25" IR/UV filters. I use one with my ASI290MC for guiding. The cheap ebay no-name 60mm scope I use is very tricky to focus but using a bahtinov mask has helped. My guiding is not great tonight but here is a quick screen grab. 

 

 

My stars do not look like that for sure and yes I could have bought the UV/IR filter of course.

By the way what guide scope are you using as I am curious?

[paul]

The price has gone up by £30 since I bought it. It really isnt that special - certainly cant use it for imaging. Using the bahtinov mask got me focus and the best star shapes.

Conditions are not great tonight 😞

Edited March 8, 2022 by paul

[Cumbrianwolf]

@GazAstro

As requested, these are the tracking log, hope you can extrapolate the information to say whether or not my tracking was adequate.

 

PHD2_GuideLog_2022-03-06_190027.txt

Edited March 8, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[GazAstro]

Had a quick look, you have some good periods there for over an hour (20:39 and 21:46) where your RA is 1.06 and dec is 1.0.

Cant see if you ran guide assistant, thats well worth a try. Also you're using very short guide camera exposures (some of the time) try 2 seconds and also you're binning 3 x 3 ?

Star focus is a little high @5.5 hfd but not terrible.

A strange thing is that your polar alignment seems to fluctuate ... check everything is tight ...

[Cumbrianwolf]

32 minutes ago, GazAstro said:

Had a quick look, you have some good periods there for over an hour (20:39 and 21:46) where your RA is 1.06 and dec is 1.0.

Cant see if you ran guide assistant, thats well worth a try. Also you're using very short guide camera exposures (some of the time) try 2 seconds and also you're binning 3 x 3 ?

Star focus is a little high @5.5 hfd but not terrible.

A strange thing is that your polar alignment seems to fluctuate ... check everything is tight ...

Glad to know it was not that bad, did not notice my binning level being that high as not sure what it should be as I really do not understand that part of it yet, star focus needs improvement I know that and will be looking at a Bahtinov mask, the bloat on the stars was what makes it difficult. Also, what is a guide assistant, and could you recommend a few base settings that I can use? As for polar alignment that I am not sure what it could be as everything is tight or at least I think it is.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[GazAstro]

If you try 2 seconds guide cam exposures with no binning in phd2 settings ( I think it's called noise reduction in settings) let it auto choose a star then force a calibration ( hold shift when clicking the guide icon)

Let it run for at least a couple of minutes then accept all the recommendations .

Guide assistant is at the top under tools.

 

[Cumbrianwolf]

11 minutes ago, GazAstro said:

If you try 2 seconds guide cam exposures with no binning in phd2 settings ( I think it's called noise reduction in settings) let it auto choose a star then force a calibration ( hold shift when clicking the guide icon)

Let it run for at least a couple of minutes then accept all the recommendations .

Guide assistant is at the top under tools.

 

Thank you, I have just added those settings to the program and will try that guide assistant on the next outing, which could be awhile due to the low pressure. I also have a ZWO ASI120MM MINI on the way as well, so might try that as the guide camera and play with the SVBONY for imaging to see what it can do, that is before I part with it as that was the deal I made with the other half after purchasing the ZWO, might be able to swing her around to my thinking at a later date if it is any good that is. 😉

Edited March 8, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[GazAstro]

The 120mm is a good guide cam 👍🏻

[GazAstro]

Me again, you've also got your 80 mm guidescope set as focal length 328mm in PHD... what scope is that ? and is that the correct focal length ?

Most 80mm scopes are 400mm ... small differences but they make a big difference in phd2 especially when you consider the light you're grabbing can be 6400 light years away 🙂

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by GazAstro
typos

[Cumbrianwolf]

11 minutes ago, GazAstro said:

Me again, you've also got your 80 mm guidescope set as focal length 328mm in PHD... what scope is that ? and is that the correct focal length ?

Most 80mm scopes are 400mm ... small differences but they make a big difference in phd2 especially when you consider the light you're grabbing can be 6400 light years away 🙂

 

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p7357_TS-Optics-80-mm-Guide-Scope-Finder-with-non-rotating-helical-focuser.html

80 mm aperture

328 mm focal length (focal ratio: 1:4.1)

Objective: Achromatic 2-element objective—fully multi-coated

19 mm back focus (focuser in the shortest position)

Focus range: 8 mm

helical focuser, non-rotating

fits standard finder shoes (Skywatcher, Vixen, GSO . level)

Weight: 1450 Gram

[GazAstro]

Cool, just checking 🙂

Also, gain is set to 0, try 100 as you keep losing guide stars.

I think we'll leave it there for now till you get the 120mm. Plenty of things to try though when you get it.

Good news is that you're not far off what your aiming for so with a bit of tweaking I'm sure you'll get there.

I noticed you have a 250pds, big old lump that it is ! It may seem silly but a gust of wind will throw your guiding off with a scope that big 🙃

[Cumbrianwolf]

10 minutes ago, GazAstro said:

Cool, just checking 🙂

Also, gain is set to 0, try 100 as you keep losing guide stars.

I think we'll leave it there for now till you get the 120mm. Plenty of things to try though when you get it.

Good news is that you're not far off what your aiming for so with a bit of tweaking I'm sure you'll get there.

I noticed you have a 250pds, big old lump that it is ! It may seem silly but a gust of wind will throw your guiding off with a scope that big 🙃

It certainly does, as it can often make a better sail than that of a telescope when the wind is up, might sell it on in the near future and opt for a refractor or something with less weight as this is heavy to set up, hell the mirror and cell alone is probably 10 kg! Saying that the mount when it is accurately balanced never murmurs during operation, I just cannot get my thoughts away from the bigger the aperture the better and the fast F/3.5 (with coma corrector) makes for quick exposures. Darn it now that you mention the gain options I was not sure about that so never thought about it in fact I thought the gain was dynamically controlled via the camera through PHD2, so I never touched it, and it is now making me think that I did not need to buy the ZWO, but too late now and more shiny things is good. ;)

Edited March 9, 2022 by Cumbrianwolf

[TerryMcK]

You won't regret buying the 120MM Mini. It's a fine guide camera. I have a couple.

[Cumbrianwolf]

Well it has arrived, and I have just set it up and did some live feeds from it and what a sharp and detailed image even during the daytime! I think this will outperform the SVBONY for guiding for sure. Now to try the SVBONY as an imaging camera and see what it can do compared to the DSLR on brighter DSO, it may or may not surprise me, I shall keep you all updated.

[paul]

1 hour ago, Cumbrianwolf said:

Well it has arrived, and I have just set it up and did some live feeds from it and what a sharp and detailed image even during the daytime! I think this will outperform the SVBONY for guiding for sure. Now to try the SVBONY as an imaging camera and see what it can do compared to the DSLR on brighter DSO, it may or may not surprise me, I shall keep you all updated.

New toys are always fun! The moon is up 😉 so a good target for the holes in the clouds.