From: Alan Friedman <alan@greatarrow.com>

Date: November 21, 2005 12:07:20 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Having fun with my Fire-i, but what about better cameras?


Hi Steve -

On Nov 21, 2005, at 12:26 AM, Steve Bryson wrote:


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



You have some great images there - congratulations!


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)


Is this is a large model that is limited to 15fps? Might be nice for the moon, but the 640x480 array would probably be a better choice for the planets (you can always mosaic for a larger field). I do not believe that  AstroIIDC allows you to use just a small region of the big chip and access the faster download speed.


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 don't believe I had the RGB filterwheel when I was using the fire-I. The DMK is fine on Saturn with RGB filters using my 10" at f32. You can use a white light image at a longer focal length for luminance. You can also shoot the color streams at a much slower shutter speed - with the detail carried by the luminance layer, blurring from a longer exposure will not hurt the color data much if at all.


good luck -

Alan



  


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






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