From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: April 28, 2012 12:22:14 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: "Mystery Camera" review

Hi Tim;

On 27-Apr-12, at 11:18 AM, doobisary wrote:

Milton:

This is exciting!  Like I said in a previous post, or maybe wanted to imply, I think it's getting to where the Sony CCDs are so low in noise and the Pt Grey cameras are so well engineered to work with them, that its looking to be possible to "skip" the big bulky dedicated astro cameras in favor of a compact system afforded by a couple of firewire cameras and Astro IIDC for deep sky imaging as well as planetary.

I agree. If your looking for a general purpose camera, the Grasshoppers or Fleas are hard to beat.

On a camera interface availability note, I am looking at buying a Caldigit USB 3 Express card for my MBP 17" laptop and then doing some testing of PGR's high speed USB 3 CMOS cameras. Caldigit is the only USB 3 card (Express 34 or PCI-E) manufacturer that supports any USB 3 devices. Lacie, Sonnet etc. have so far only supported their own USB 3 hardware at USB 3 speeds - if you plug in a GoFlex USB 3 hard drive, the Lacie card will only run at USB 2 speed.

And if you buy a Thunderbolt equipped Mac with no slots, your pretty much screwed. The only expansion options so far are for the Sonnet Express Card adapter, and it basically only works with their cards - if that. I read several reviews where there are all sorts of issues (unstable, Blue Screens, Freezes etc.) with it - even their own Cards. Looks to me Thunderbolt is so far just a Very Expensive Albatross (still $50 for a stupid 1 meter / 3 foot cable from Apple).

As to GigaE support, that simply is not going to happen on the Mac, as I indicated in the FAQ section

http://www.outcastsoft.com/ASCASTROIIDC.html#FAQ

for the question "Does Astro IIDC work with the GigaE Ethernet Cameras?"

Slightly off topic, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this camera that I just got an email about from Pt Grey.  It's expensive, but it's got a 6MP 1" Exview HAD chip in it!  That's bigger than the ccd in my SBIG ST2000!:  http://www.ptgrey.com/news/pressreleases/details.asp?articleID=579&utm_source=Insights-April-2012&utm_medium=Insights-April-2012&utm_campaign=Insights-April-2012

I believe Alan was testing that model (Grasshopper Express GX-FW-60S6) out:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Astro_IIDC/message/5522

I haven't seen it yet myself in person.

Lastly, if people want PGR to do more Astro trade shows, I would drop them a note asking them about it:

info@ptgrey.com

HTH..

Milton Aupperle

-Tim.

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, "milton_aupperle" <milton@...> wrote:

Hi Folks;

I just got approval from Point Grey Research (PGR) to release my Review on the "Mystery Camera" - which is a Grasshopper 2 Monochrome Camera:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astro_IIDC/files/Other/PGR_GS2_Camera_Review.pdf

It's a 1.2 megabyte .pdf and besides characterizing the Grasshopper 2, it also compares the Grasshopper 2 to the Grasshopper 1 camera.

Also, if your attending NEAF, you can drop by the PGR Exhibitor booth and see some of their latest cameras too.

And lastly, Stephen Ramsden (http://www.solarastronomy.org/) will also be exhibiting at NEAF this year too, so if you want to see live Solar imaging with Astro IIDC and PGR cameras, drop by his booth / station.

Clear skies (it's raining here again).

Milton Aupperle