From: Stephen Ramsden <sramsden@natca.net>
Date: May 21, 2015 6:55:56 PM MDT
To: "Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com" <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] IR Cut Filter Necessary?
....and that software doesn't exist as no one in the astro vendor community cares in the least about marketing a camera with capture/stacking software to Mac users (70% of the under 40 market) .
From my iPhone (sorry if it's short)
Stephen W. Ramsden
Director
Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project
404-543-7616
On May 21, 2015, at 6:17 PM, Milton Aupperle maupperl@gmail.com [Astro_IIDC] <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Just to clarify.
You do not gain any benefit from USB 3 cameras with Astro IIDC. It would have to have the USB transport part re-written to support SuperSpeed USB 3. At best your going to get USB 2 speeds (max of 480 mbps) out of it. At large frame sizes, it likely will not even work because USB 2 would be much to slow to transfer a full frame and the camera may not be able to run at such slow frame rates.
I had hoped to add it to Astro IIDC, but Apple will never support 3rd party USB 3 via PCI or Express cards (for my 17" MBP which has an expansion slot) for Vendor Defined protocols. I could not afford to spend the money to buy a new USB 3 enabled Mac. And lastly Apple had ZERO information on using SuperSpeed then and has only recently updated there data notes on how to do it - years after it was released in hardware.
So for maximum throughput with Astro IIDC, FW800 is the best you are going to get (800 mbps streamed to disk - 2x the rate of USB 2).
You'll have to look to some other software to get full USB 3 frame rate on your Mac.
HTH..
Milton Aupperle
On 2015-05-21, at 1:27 PM, "Wolfgang Heinemann-Reiff wreiff1@t-online.de [Astro_IIDC]" <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
[Attachment(s) from Wolfgang Heinemann-Reiff included below]
Hi Kevin,
recently I bought a Grasshopper 3 monochrome USB 3 Camera GS3-U3-23S6M-C.
I think that’s the one you are considering. This is imho a good decision.
This camera does not need an extra IR-Cut filter. The technical data (which you probably have studied) are excellent concerning QE and noise.
What it needs though is a fast computer with USB 3 ports and fast (SSD) Harddisk in order to cope with the 162 Frames per second the camera will deliver.
However, I’m attaching a quick and dirty first trial image in order to let you see what to expect.
Best regards
Wolfgang
Am 21.05.15 18:36 schrieb "fsm79734@gmail.com [Astro_IIDC]" unter <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com>:
I do only solar imaging, and I'm about to purchase a PGR USB3 camera to use with my Lunt 60mm H-Alpha pressure-tuned solar telescope. I have a few questions for those of you in the group who do this type of imaging.
First, is an IR-cut filter necessary? Doesn't the filter in the Lunt already do this? In my past discussions with vendors, they have recommend them - possibly with the intent of selling me a $73 filter - although I've never done a side-by-side comparison.
Secondly, any thoughts on the PGR Flea3/Chameleon3/Blackfly/Grasshopper3 relative advantages/disadvantages for solar imaging? All of the above cameras I'm considering are the ~2 megapixel, monochrome variants. In particular, I've never used a CMOS camera for imaging before, only CCD cameras.
Any suggestions are appreciated - thanks!
-Kevin
Milton J. Aupperle
206 - 6414 Travois Place NW
Calgary Alberta T2K 3T2
Phone: 403-453-1624
http://www3.telus.net/maupperl