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Moving from DSLR to CCD


poogle

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Hi

I'm thinking about moving from DSLR- to CCD-imaging. The main reason for this is that I live next to an airport in a light polluted city and would like to give narrowband imaging a try even though my budget is really tight :)

I currently image with my SkyWatcher Explorer 150p (f/5, 750mm focal length) on a Celestron Advanced VX mount.

Any suggestions regarding CCD? I have been looking at the Atik 314L+ or Starlight Xpress SXV-H9, but the chip might be a litte small for this setup?

I have also been looking at a used SBIG STF-8300m (17.96 x 13.52 mm chip, 5,4 um pixels), would that be a better match for my scope? The FOV would at least be bigger :)

The seller has provided a 5 min dark calibration file (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQZ82YERsxHTmZuM0NVbklpT2M/view) and a bias calibration file (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQZ82YERsxHNnhsR2hBYi13ekU/view). Anyone have anything to say about those?

/Patrik

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  • 2 weeks later...

The move to CCD is always a good idea and if you are fighting light pollution it is 10x a good idea. Maybe 100x a good idea. Narrowband is the only way to defeat LP almost totally.

CCD decisions come down to chip size (we'd all like more area), chip quality (Sony are best but Kodak/Truesense are biggest) and camera quality. The chip is not the camera.

I tend to feel that half way careful calibration removes the Kodak/Truesense noise problem (I use only these chips at the moment) but can see the Sony quality appeal. I used to use a small chip Sony in an Atik 16HR.

Camera make? I like Atik. I operate two 11000 cameras at the moment and one more expensive SXVH36. The less expensive Atiks have chip window heaters while the SXV does not, so the other night the Atiks worked and the SXV didn't. One remembers these things...

Olly

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i bought a Atik Titan but soon moved up to a Atik 314L+ after much deliberating over the price compared to my canon 1100d, not just the cost of the camera but the filter wheel and filters but i`m glad i made the move, the chip size of the 314L+ is certainly a lot smaller than the canon but the quality of image is very good if you have light pollution, even if you only get one filter to start with it would be a good choice, highly recommend the Ha filter, 7nm or lower. 

if you want a good quality image then you have little choice but to spend some cash.

i would consider the Atik 314 the starting point for a ccd camera.

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i bought a Atik Titan but soon moved up to a Atik 314L+ after much deliberating over the price compared to my canon 1100d, not just the cost of the camera but the filter wheel and filters but i`m glad i made the move, the chip size of the 314L+ is certainly a lot smaller than the canon but the quality of image is very good if you have light pollution, even if you only get one filter to start with it would be a good choice, highly recommend the Ha filter, 7nm or lower. 

if you want a good quality image then you have little choice but to spend some cash.

i would consider the Atik 314 the starting point for a ccd camera.

I've also previously owned the Atik Titan mono and the similar Brightstar Mammut Lubya and actually found the small chip to be quite good fun! You can get right upclose to objects like the crab neb, bubble, M51 and never have to worry about vignetting or coma. The same is probably true of the 314L+ I don't know? 

I think these tiny chipped CCD's are good if you want to guide and dabble in RGB/narrow band at least :)

Now if they could invent one that can see through this relentless thick cloud :(

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The Atik 314L+ CCD is a good starting point camera for many as they begin life with a CCD. If you have any concerns with regards to the field of view with the camera and your scope then have you looked at one of the calculators out there? This will give you a good idea of what you can expect http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php

The only thing I would say about the SBIG is that you'll probably be looking at 2" filters and these are more expensive than the 1.25" that the smaller chips can use. Ultimately there's no right or wrong - It's up to you to decide how you feel about chip size and how it will work with your scope.

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Narrowband is the only way to defeat LP almost totally.

Living in the suburbs of London, I can say that this is not the case with all objects.  Works on bright objects (i.e. worked a treated on the Veil Nebula) but I find I still have to go to a dark site to capture Oiii on many objects (i.e. Oiii on NGC6888 was absolutely awful from my location, but with the same kit was great in a dark site).  Even Ha is rubbish on things like the cone nebula and not great on the Wizard.  

But it does work well on a lot of objects.  

Carole 

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