Newbie question?

Has anyone tried MEADE'S "Deep Sky Imager" with Aut*Star/Suite?? At under $300. seems like an entry level introduction.. Just saw the ad on the back page of ASTRONOMY (Feb. 05') I have a Celestron C8 and was thinking of trying one out.. Or should I save my nickels & dimes for a better unit. The images they posted were impressive, especially M-51. Which is just a fuzzie when I observe visually, thanks for your input (help) John M PS what is a Registax V3 ??

John,
I think Meades DSI is a good starter camera. Its a good way to learn the basics of imaging. And at 300 bucks its a real bargin considering the next step up would be a color camera from SBIG which cost around $3000.00.
Registax is a free program that you can download to process images that you have taken with a CCD camera. It does an excellent job on aligning and stacking lunar and planet images. I'm sure it works on deep space images also. And the best part, ITS FREE

Hello John!

I just wanted to drop a couple of lines about your question, since I own a DSI myself...

It is indeed a good way to introduce yourself into the DSO Imaging world, and at that price you won't find anything else that will do such job. You could of course wait a bit, put some more money together, and spend close to a $1000 for the next step up.

One word of caution... do not believe all they say about how easy & quickly you'll get shots like in the ads. I have not had much of a chance to use it, due to weather conditions, but I'll tell you that it has quite a steep learning curve (not as easy as 1,2,3) and that you'll spend countless hours either imaging and/or processing. (I've used it probably 2-3 days in the whole month I've had it)

Also, you'll need a good PC, with lots of memory, and USB 2.0 if possible.

Marketing has been very misleading, and I just wanted to make sure you knew how it is in reality ...

All in all, I like it. And I enjoy spending time outside and play with the toys... but I don't expect to get Magazine Cover shots any time soon...


Clear skies, and Happy New Year!


Ivan