From: "Tim" <tjp314@pacbell.net>

Date: June 28, 2005 9:54:09 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Serious question about my next camera purchase


Okay.


Here's the deal.  The Aplux version of the Fire-i that I bought on ebay is a few years old, 

and clearly not using the latest, greatest, most sensitive CCD in the world.  It also doesn't 

produce quite the nicety of images that the ToUcam USB camera can, though it does 

acquire images a lot faster without the awful compression I need to get 10 frames/second 

through the ToUcam (it does better at 5fps, whereas the Aplux does fine at 15fps on my 

C9.25).


For DSO's, which I admittedly don't shoot that often, I used to use a Starlight Xpress 

HX516.  That camera was a parallel port version from about 1999, with the USB 1 upgrade.  

Even with the upgrade, it took about 6 seconds to download a full frame (something like 

650x494 pixels, if I remember correctly).  I don't know for sure, but the newer version of 

that same camera, with USB 2, probably downloads in about a second or so.  


Anyway, I sold my HX5 to a friend of mine while at RTMC last month.  While I was there, 

Meade's vendors had the DSI Pro for a special price, and I bought one, figuring I'd use it as 

a guider eventually, and could always use the dichroic filters on another camera.   


Well, I've fiddled with the DSI Pro a number of nights now, and I must say that it's worth 

every penny they charge for it!  Considering it's got about the same pixel area as the HX5 

and costs about 1/3 as much, but is not as sensitive, has several hot and dead pixels (that 

don't usually get subtracted out during dark frame acquisition), ...well, it's a "fun" camera 

to fiddle with, but it is NOT a serious DSO camera.  No possible way.  It might just be a 

decent guiding camera, though, if I can figure out how to get it to work with my Nexstar 

925 (no small task, as I've never owned a GOTO scope before)...  (it's also a pitiful 

planetary camera compared to the favorite webcams out there).


Anyway, on to my question.  Milton's website shows at least one camera that's 

thermoelectrically cooled - the Optronics Quantifire - that's intended for microscopy.  

Anybody know of anyone who's used this camera for astroimaging?  


Mind you, I have no idea what it costs or how well it works.  But wouldn't it be nice to have 

a single "all purpose" camera for astroimaging of planets and DSOs that's firewire based 

and Mac compatible???


Maybe I'm just dreaming.  But I intend to find out!


best,

-Tim.