From: Alan Friedman <alan@greatarrow.com>

Date: November 23, 2005 10:24:21 AM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Resolution vs. sensitivity

On Nov 23, 2005, at 3:33 AM, Steve Bryson wrote:

Hello everyone - I'm still working on choosing my next camera.  Based on Alan's pictures 

I'm not inclined to pay the higher prices of the PGR cameras, but I can't decide on which 

imaging source  camera.  I understand that we might want to give sensitivity a priority, but 

it's hard for me to let go of increased resolution.  

Sensitivity is more important, I think - especially if you are having trouble getting saturn bright enough. You will have plenty of pixels for resolution no matter whether they are 4,5 or 7 microns in size. I see a lot more images oversampled for the seeing than undersampled. There is no need to learn that fancy golf approach where the ball has spin and backs up to the hole if you are not regularly hitting the ball past the hole.

I would suggest getting started with the 640 x 480 chip size and tuning your equipment to work at its best. If focusing is a drag at 640 x 480 you need to improve the focuser - the bigger chip will not help enough. To focus accurately and quickly for RGB the image must remain stationery while you turn the knob. 

I've spent quite a bit of time fooling around with my 640 x 480 DMK camera and have not yet exhausted its capabilities.

just my .02 - there are a lot of ways to cook the chicken.

Alan