From: Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@me.com>

Date: February 11, 2010 4:04:28 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] PGR Grasshopper Review - 8 months later

Milton, 

No danger of me rushing off & spending that amount of money any time soon..! 

By the way last night I began with a one star alignment on Rigel then slewed to M 42 & tried to acquire some stars. It took me some time to realise I should`ve begun with a bright star to bring the camera to focus. I tried binning 4x ( that`s done at the bottom of the camera control window-right..? Forgive me but I was up `til late & haven`t caught up with my re-reading of the Manual again yet!) & Histogram expand (that`s another topic for looking up in the Manual soon..) but couldn`t find any stars..So I slewed to Betelgeuse & accomplished focusing quite easily. The Go To for Betelgeuse was quite a bit out though. Upon slewing back to M 42 again I brought the brightest group of nearby stars into the centre of the finder (which I`d adjusted that afternoon). I haven`t yet given much thought to your suggestion of aligning the finder with the camera`s offset but I guess this might be possible in late afternoon in the yard?Perhaps I should return to my 3 star alignments- I assume your suggestion of a one star alignment last time was to save me time..?

Mark.

On 12/02/2010, at 9:32 AM, Milton Aupperle wrote:

Mark;

Talk to the developers of those packages ( Equinox Image and iCCD) and
see what they say. They know more about them than I do.

If it's a camera not supported by Astro IIDC, then I don't have an
opinion on it. All I'm talking about is the Grasshoppers for 15+
minute exposures and your not getting a good bang for the buck with
them. Maybe the Grasshopper 2 will be better, but who knows.

And maybe you should learn how to do 1 minute Guided exposure first
before running off and spending $2 to $8K USD on more cameras.

Milton Aupperle

On 11-Feb-10, at 3:23 PM, Mark Gaffney wrote:

>
>
> Milton,
> I looked at the prices of Starlight Xpress cameras in Australia. I
> gather they`re somewhat cheaper than the SBIG ones. I guess it`d
> depend on how much you had to spend but what Starlight Xpress models
> would you be considering? Would you be looking at the SXVF H9C or
> would something cheaper do a good job? It`s a bit of a shame you`re
> now directing us away from Astro IIDC but I guess this is a
> specialised use..?
>
> Mark.