ASI294mm pro VS ASI1600mm pro

So the asi294mc pro was my first astronomy camera and for a beginner at the time, it was a great camera. I have since moved on to shooting monochrome images and the asi1600mm pro has been really the been my workhorse for my imaging. Recently ZWO released the asi294mm pro so I decided to give it a try. It is a 12 megapixel camera vs a 16 megapixel like the 1600 but pixels are bigger allowing the 294 the gather more signal before blowing out bright objects like stars. It is also supposed to have close to a 90 percent quantum efficiency vs 60 percent on the 1600 so its is picking up 30 percent more signal in the same amount of time. After battling some clouds over a few nights, I was finally able to get enough data to make a comparison.

tadpoleha.jpg
unknownObject-MONO-session_1.jpg

The top image is the 1600 and that is 60x180 second exposures calibrated and stacked. The bottom image is the 294, 21x600 second images calibrated and stacked. I think both look good but if I get in close, I can see more detail in the fainter nebulosity on the asi294mm-pro. Also the contrast from the signal to background is really sharp. All in all, Im happy with the camera so far and looking forward to finishing tadpole and showing off the final results. Stay tuned!