From: Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@mac.com>
Date: June 28, 2008 12:06:39 PM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Flea 2 colour cameras..
Hi Tim, Milton`s already put me onto the Mogg website. I`ll have to look into the focal reducer. Do you use the autoguide facility on your SBIG camera at all & what do you use for processing with it? I priced the ST 2000XCM some months ago (the colour version of yours) & it`s well out of my price rang at $3825 Australian dollars. I understand Equinox 6 can be used to control it? Mark.
On 29/06/2008, at 2:31 AM, Tim wrote:
Hi Mark:
Steve Mogg makes all kinds of adapters, and is in your neck of the
woods: http://webcaddy.com.au/astro/adapter.htm
I have one of his c-mount/1 1/4" adapters that I use on one of my
fleas, plus the focal reducer that screws into the filter threads.
His adapters are made of a black plastic material - forget what it is.
They work fine for these small, lightweight cameras. I also ordered
adapters for my Nikon lenses to mate up with my DSI, and these are too
easily deformed when you tighten them enough to keep things from
shifting under their own weight on the scope. And you also have to be
wary of the threads stripping.
But again, the webcam and c-mount adapters are fine.
-Tim.
--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@...> wrote:
Hi Tim, That`s interesting, I`ll have to decide myself what I want to
use the camera for (planetary or DSO) when I`m able to afford one.
I`ve ordered a Lumicon C-mount to 1.25 nosepiece at only $24.95 USD
from Telescopes.com, the postage turned out to be a bit of a problem
to Australia at $44.97 USD! I had a bit of a search & found 2 places
selling nosepieces without going too far into Google, the other was in
England(haven`t heard back from them). I have Point Grey bookmarked &
I understand there`s a Sony 1/2" B/W or colour version of the Flea 2
at 1392x 1032 pixels (15fps) & a Sony 1/1.8" B/W or colour 1624x 1224
pixel job(15fps). They`re $995 USD & $1495 respectively plus $100 USD
each for the obligatory Development kit. Mark.
On 29/06/2008, at 12:35 AM, Tim wrote:
Hi Mark:
I have both the flea 640x480 color and the flea2 1032x776 color
camera. Depending on what I'm most interested in, I might guide with
one and image with the other.
I think where the smaller-pixel camera shines is on planetary imaging,
because the ROI feature allows you to crop around the planet an get to
high frame rates while still giving you the chip real estate to aid in
centering the planet. It also allows use of lower power barlows to
get the same pixel scales as cameras with larger chips. And of
course, for planetary imaging, the pixel size is less important than
the image scale.
So, neither of my Fleas can quite replace the other. Currently, I'm
fiddling with using the flea as a wide angle finder with an 11mm
c-mount lens on it, and the flea2 is on my C 9.25" with a meade f 6.3
FR for guiding, while my SBIG ST2000XM is on my Megrez 80 for imaging.
I'm still fine tuning the polar alignment and have just eliminated one
more source of flexure in the system, but following Milton's
suggestion for the Fleas, I have a 2" nebula filter in front of the
SBIG, and I'm imaging 13th magnitude galaxies from my home just 7
miles from downtown Los Angeles. ;oD
I haven't been to the Pt Grey website in a while. But I thought they
added 1/2" ccd models to the Flea2 line? Mine both have 1/3" chips.
-Tim.
--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Milton Aupperle <milton@> wrote:
Hi Mark;
On 22-Jun-08, at 1:03 PM, Mark Gaffney wrote:
Hi Milton, I was wondering if you`ve had a chance to use the 1032x
776 version of the
colour Flea 2 camera.
Yes. I have a picture I took of M67 with it
http://www.outcastsoft.com/AstroImages/M67_20080307_MJA.jpg
I still prefer a CCD with larger pixels though.
I was thinking of the possibility of buying one of these early next
year. I
notice the pixel value on the higher resolution model drops to
4.65x 4.65 micron pixels
compared to 7.4x 7.4 on the 640x 480 model.
You lose a 250% of the light gathering sensitivity with the pixel
size decrease too. So with 4.65 micron pixels you need 2.5 minute
exposure times to capture what a 1 minute exposure with a 7.4 micron
pixels can capture.
It`s an extra $100 USD for this model & Point
Grey also tack on $100 for a Development kit which has a IEEE 1394
b-a cable amongst
other things. I understand they`re transitioning away from the Flea
camera now?
Yes the Flea2 use somewhat different electronics and are support
FireWire 800. Physically they are the same size.
I`m told PG
don`t sell nosepieces so I`m hoping one from Imaging Source will do
the job.
It will. The noise piece uses a standard C or CS mount thread and you
can get them all over the place. It's just a "C mount to M1.25"
adapter.
With the
Unibrain Fire-i camera in the meantime, I was thinking of buying
one of these nosepieces &
widening the opening to accomodate the C-mount thread (as Jim Chung
did with a penknife I
understand).
The problem there is making sure it's perpendicular to the CCD and
that the lens mount here is an M10x0.5 or M12x0.5.
I`m thinking at the moment I`ll go with a $215 Orion Short Tube 80
Guide
scope to begin with & leave the Lumicon Easy Guider OAG til later
perhaps.
Just make sure your not putting too much weight on your mount. As I
said in another thread, you should try to keep the weight of Optical
Tubes, cameras, weights, finders, cables to around 50 to 80% of the
mounts rated capacity. Go over that and it won't track well at all.
HTH..
Milton J. Aupperle
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