From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: September 3, 2006 10:47:49 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Questions on FireWire Camera Purchase

Hi David;

On 3-Sep-06, at 9:28 PM, David Illig wrote:

My old ToUCam (USB) has died and my iBot (FW) is OK, but no

better than OK, on a 'scope, so I'm thinking about buying an

Imaging Source DFK 21AF04 color FireWire camera. I would

appreciate help with the following questions:

The product list at 1394imaging.com also shows a DFK 21BF04,

which differs from the DFK 21AF04 in that it has "Trig" and I/O

(and costs a bit more.) What is "trig?" I assume it means

"triggering," but I don't know what that means outside of the

oscilloscope milieu and I don't know if these features are something

that I need.

Trigger and I/O are primarily of use if your doing machine vision type stuff. For example, if you were inspecting the shape of machined parts or color of cookies rolling down an assembly line or wanted to grab a frame when some action (i.e. a door opens, someone swipes their key card etc.) then it might be of use to you.

So you likely would be wasting money on Trigger and I/O and should just get the 21AF04.

This camera is not listed as supported on the Milton's site, but

its siblings, presumably very similar, are listed. Is it a safe guess

that this camera will work with Astro IIDC ?

Nope it will not work as a color camera with Astro IIDC, only the DBK series cameras will deliver Color.

All the DFK - xxxx series of cameras are Color YUV, not Color Bayer. So it will not show up as a Bayer Color camera with Astro IIDC and will only be seen as a Monochrome cameras (it supports multiple modes).

And the way Apple's Drivers work, you only get YUV411 video out (which has strong color aliasing) at 30 fps and will never get more than 3.75 frames per second either, so you'll never get 30 second exposures either.

The Imaging Source site says these cameras have a "C/CS" mount.

What is the name of the nosepiece needed to mate this camera

to a 2" port (or 1-1/4" reducer) on an SCT and who sells it?

Try searching Google / Yahoo with the phrase "C mount telescope", which found me the following re-sellers in the USA:

http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/borg/parts/html/7511.htm

http://www.scopetronix.com/webcam.htm (it's item STC125)

http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=148

I've never seen one for a 2" (they probably exist, I've never looked for one though) , but I've seen lots for 1.25".

Finally, I note that this company is in Germany. Does it take a long

time to get one of these cameras? (I'm thinking about going to

AstroFest on 20 September and would like to have it by then

They do have a re-seller in USA, as listed on