From: Dale J Martin <dale@massapoag.org>

Date: December 11, 2006 1:46:25 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] New guide camera wanted


Hi all,



On Dec 11, 2006, at 12:45 PM, Milton Aupperle wrote:


Hi Guys;


On 11-Dec-06, at 10:00 AM, Jeff Phillips wrote:


Maybe a Meade DSI?


Not if he wants to use it under OSX - there are no drivers for it on the Mac.  If he wants to switch to Windows and stop using Astro IIDC, then sure that's an option.


Windows is not an option! I do have a DSI that I bought some time ago and did try to use Meades' software, it is sub optimal (IMHO) compared to Astro IIDC!




An Imaging Source AF or BF series Mono camera would do the trick as it allows up to 30 second exposures and should give you more light gathering capability. The main issue with the Unibrains mono or color are that they are really noisy, especially at high gains.


This is the problem I'm having with the Unibrain camera, I'm having it having to turn the gain up and Astro IIDC is having problems locking onto a star and not noise.



As far as sensitivity goes, their is a 50% difference in sensitivity between the DSI CCD (EXHAD and larger pixel sizes) , however that can be compensated for by using 2x2 or 4x4 binning in Astro IIDC.



Would binning help with the Unibrain camera as well? I haven't tried that!


Thanks,


Dale