Hi all. Up to this point, I've been using a T-ring and mounting a Sony A7iii camera to my Celestron 6SE telescope, effectively giving my camera a super long lens, I suppose. It's given me very pleasing moon single frame photos and videos, but that's as far as I've taken my imaging. Most of the time I just observe with eyepieces.
I live under Bortle 7 skies, but have Bortle 3 sky about 30 minutes away, so I can get out to decent darkness pretty easily (now and then).
Question to you all, would pursuing a Zwo ASI224MC astro camera (or a similar one, like the 385?) be worthwhile for planetary and brighter object observations?
My 6SE is on the standard AltAz mount (no polar alignment option) and has a 1500mm focal length, I guess I'd want to pursue the .63x reducer to get a slightly wider view if I'm wanting to view/resolve larger, deep space objects?
Am I way off the mark? I know the 6SE on the standard mount isn't ideally suited for proper imaging, but for EAA, what's the experience like? Can the software compensate for a mount that isn't a typical astrophotography mount? I would love to see more DSO from my light polluted skies, which I suspect the camera would help with.
I have a Windows notebook and often use the Celestron wireless adapter to point the scope from my phone instead of using the hand controller.
Thanks for any input. I'd like to keep the budget under $500, which covers me for a camera and focal reducer. Curious to get your expertise.