You can watch the basic section of this video for free on youtube which will anwser the question posed in the title:This advanced video goes far beyond explaining how to choose your ISO/Gain and exposure length when taking deep space photos. It should give you a good understanding of how astro cameras work and that knowledge will help you choose the best camera to buy.

To access the full video please click the picture. You’ll need to become a £3 patron. Patrons get access to my other tutorial videos as well as access to hidden channels on my discord server such as #ask-a-mega-nerd channel where you can ask the best astrophotographers on the server for advice and you can ping me directly by adding “@astrobiscuit” into the question or you can simply message me directly on patreon.

CONTENTS

00:00 Intro
00:51 Basic Level
04:21 Histogram explanation
05:00 What the histogram of your subs should look like
07:09 Advanced Level Intro
07:48 Shot Noise
08:57 Signal to Noise ratio
11:22 Sky Glow noise (light pollution)
14:30 Dark Current Noise
16:52 Read Noise
19:27 Working out your best iso/gain setting
20:32 Fixed Pattern Noise
24:37 Dithering explanation
26:02 How long should your exposures be?
28:29 running through situations where you can get away with shorter exposures and when you can’t.
31:40 working out your exposure length using your historgram
31:55 working out your exposure length using Dr Robin Glover’s website and formula
39:05 outro