From: "Steve Bryson" <stevebeam@yahoo.com>
Date: November 20, 2005 10:26:32 PM MST
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Having fun with my Fire-i, but what about better cameras?
Hi Everyone - I've been really having a blast with my Unibrain
Fire-i monochrome board camera in the last month. Take a look at
http://homepage.mac.com/stevepur/firei_astrophotos.htm
for the results. I've included my history of Mars shots, showing
my improvements over time. (And thanks to Alan Friedman for
his encouraging words after my first post!)
Comments/helpful criticisms appreciated, of course.
While this is more than I expected from a $150 camera,
I am feeling its limitations. I want the following:
- less noise
- more sensitivity
- more resolution
- more dynamic range,
so I'm thinking of one of the more expensive cameras, and have
tentatively settled on the DMK 31AF03. That's a lot of money to me,
though, so I have some questions for the group (or maybe just Milton):
1) I am only interested in planetary/lunar photography with the webcam.
For deep sky I am content with my digital rebel. Does this mean I would
be happy with a camera without the extra trigger and I/O (like that on the
DMK 31BF03)? As far as I can tell I'm only losing the ability to do long
exposures (which I don't want) and to have very high frame rates (which
I might use but is not worth $200). Is this correct?
2) For more dynamic range it seems I have to move to the Point Grey
class of cameras such as the Flea, which puts out 12 bits. This might
be worth the extra money to me, but what exactly happens to those
extra bits? Milton's web site says the movie formats saved by Astro IIDC
supports 16 bits. Can anyone explain the specifics
of how it gets from the camera all the way through stacking to photoshop?
Will it stay 12 bits if I use, say, Keith's Image Stacker (I know KIS is 16 bit
capable, but I'm confused about how the images get in with all 12 bits).
How does the group feel about the desirability of more dynamic range
in a monochrome camera, particularly for Lunar work? Is it worth
several hundred dollars?
3) I was disappointed to discover that the Fire-i is not sensitive enough
to pick up Saturn through the color filters I have, despite my 12.5" dob
telescope. So I'm limited to white-light monochrome images of Saturn.
I know the more expensive cameras are more sensitive, but can I
reasonably expect them to be sensitive enough for RGB color filter
work with Saturn? I would want the images to be at least two stops
brighter.
I'd also appreciate general comments about the relative merits of
Imaging Source vs. Pt. Grey Research cameras.
But for sure, if you think $500 is a lot of money for a camera, the
Unibrain Fire-i board camera does a bang-up job for its price!
Thanks and happy skies
Steve