From: "Tim" <tjp314@pacbell.net>
Date: June 25, 2005 11:05:25 AM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: a couple of questions
--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Willie Strickland <willie@i...> wrote:
I wonder if the 'Fire-i 1.2' is the newest version or if that is an
older version. What do your files say for the Model? Just curious.
As for the adapter, I think I am going to try and figure out how to
make one myself with a film canister. I will keep you posted. Do
you use a focal reducer?
--
Willie Strickland
willie@i...
My Fire-i is an oddball, made by Aplux apparently under lisence with Unibrain. It's also a
few years old. I bought it on ebay, pretty cheaply, to try out. If I had it to do over again, I
wouldn't have bought a used one, at least not without more knowledge of it's vintage.
Since it's a few years old, it doesn't have the latest, most sensitive CCD in it. I find it
comparable to my ToUcam in sensitivity, though. But that camera is about 3 years old as
well.
A while back I did a search for "unibrain fire-i" and found a page on Unibrain's website
that shows the internals of the camera and gives the dates those were made. I think you
might be able to find it by searching on Unibrain's website for something like "history". I'll
look for my link when I can get time later tonight.
Disadvantage of using a film can is that you're "stuck" with the IR blocking filter that came
with the camera. I can't remember whether it's easy to get off the fire-i or not.
I have a Lumicon focal reducer that I bought for DSO imaging with a Meade DSI Pro that I
also recently purchased. I don't use it with the webcams, though, as they're strictly for
planetary imaging (for me). I did experiment with the fire-i on M13 with the focal reducer
on my C9.25 at f/5, though, and couldn't see anything at all. But I didn't spend a lot of
time trying to refocus, and that may have been the problem.
The beauty of the firewire cameras, of course, is that they're incredibly fast compared to
USB cameras.
best,
-Tim.