ZWO ASI662MC 2.07MP USB 3.0 Colour Camera - ASI662MC

Good all-round beginner astrophotography camera

5/5. I have rarely purchased a piece of equipment that felt like money better spent. I have a 4" Star Watcher SkyMax 102 (1300mm focal length) mounted to a Star Adventurer 2i, and have been doing astrophotography (AP) as a hobby with my Olympus OM-D E-M10 II for about two years now. I'm no expert, I only have so much time to devote to learning/executing the craft, and only so much money to spend on equipment. I decided to get a dedicated AP camera that could be used as a guide camera, used for planetary imaging and, in a pinch, used for DSOs too, and all without the hassle of needing filters to do colour photography. Megapixels were of little concern to me, and some simulation in Stellarium suggested the ASI662MC was the right fit. It did not disappoint. Photographing the Dumbbell Nebula was a breeze with the ASI662MC. Even at its highest gain for DSOs (450), live-stacking 1,025 5-second exposures yielded the lowest-noise, best deep sky images I have ever taken---and this on my second night with the camera. ZWO's software, providing separate interfaces for planetary and DSO imaging and live stacking, has clean interfaces for each and makes working in the field with it easy. I'm still learning planetary imaging, since this camera is my first foray into it, but some initial attempts at Saturn were promising. Its fast maximum frame rate of 107.6 fps means my main concern is filling up my SSD, and the 128 MB buffer meant I never missed a frame.