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QHY soon to beta QHY miniCAM5s


kalasinman

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 According to their website the new camera is cooled to -35c ( below ambient) and has fan and set point TEC. Single stage cooling.

Mono and OSC versions . It's based on the same chip as the QHY5L-II and after cooling is said to have 78" QE in the mono trim.

To me, this sounds exciting, as I'd guess the price to come under $1,000.

Cameras have been produced for in house testing, with beta test to be offered .

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Hiya

I remember posting about the camera quite a few months ago but they've been quiet about it since! But having thought about it, I'm not sure it has any real advantage over using the non-cooled version as a guide cam or planetary cam. Maybe a cheap dso camera for smallish targets? It will still only be 12-bit... After using APS-C sized sensors I'm not sure I could get used to using such a small sensor! What do you think?

Louise

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I have the mono non cooled and find it interesting. If I were to add a color one, the options would be increased with the cooled version. There are smaller DSO's that I'd have to crop too much with the DSLR. The ring, small clusters, some galaxies....I'm not near ready to dive into filter wheels yet.

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They announced it half a year ago, so it may take some more time before it hit the stores. It's supposed to be a cooled planetary/lunary camera, with some option for DS imaging of surface-bright DS objects.

Small pixels won't help DS imaging - fast lenses would be preferred, but small surface-bright planetary nebulae and alike could also like the camera more or less.

As for ADC. Many sensors can't provide full 16-bit dynamic range, even those in DS cameras.

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Hi

Are you sure you put the right data in for the qhy5l-ii? When I did it on Stellarium, M33 wouldn't fit in the FOV... The trouble with Barlows is that they slow everything down significantly and make guiding more challenging. Maybe with dark skies they are more practical.

The QE of the colour version obviously isn't so high as the mono. I think if I were to get one, I'd get the mono version as I already have a fw and nb filters :) But... there's been no news on the cooled cam for a long time and I wonder whether they might even have abandoned it... It could just be something to do with their web site being hacked. I'll keep an eye out.

Louise

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Before jumping on it for DS imaging check resolution it will give with given telescope. Like for example 150/750 Newtonian and Atik 314L+ gives 1.77" arcsec/pixel. With miniCAM5s it's 1.03"/pixel - so imagine it like if the bigger Atik pixels would use 1.73x Barlow.

Higher resolution puts higher accuracy requirement for guiding, and smaller pixel size increase the exposure time compared to sensor with bigger pixels.

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I have no argument with those points. I always say, you are lucky if you get what you pay for. Those of us playing the game with a very meager budget have to consider compromises. I started less than a year prior with a $350 used Nikon D5100 on a $45 Chinese tripod and a 5 kilo exercise weight hanging from a plastic food bag. I'm not saying I'd buy one of these, but compared to a 460ex it could be affordable. So far, I'm working, and having fun. A good thing.

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Ah, sorry - uk site. Try the USA site: http://inovaccdusa.com/front-page-php/monochrome-cameras/inova-nebula-nbb-mx2/

It does mention 'suitable for short fl scopes' presumably because of the pixel size. It's not going to compare to a decent sized ccd though. Might be quite good for video astronomy - maybe better than the Lodestar as it's cooled. Using my qhy5l-ii as a guide cam I can often see a lot more detail in a few seconds exposure than I get with a long sub on my imaging camera...

Louise

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Interesting. A bit surprised by the seemingly high price ($850 when I paid $240 for my QHY mono). Since I'm not going this direction any time soon, have to say that even at nearly 3x the price the QHY21 looks more attractive. To me, getting on from DSLR looks to be a $3-5,000 step, more than what I've spent on the whole kit so far. I was musing that the new cooled QHY might come in at $500.

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Um, not sure where $850 came from? UK price for the NBB-Cx iNova is £450, US price seems to be $567.  I imagine qhy will pitch theirs at a similar price. I have a qhy8l which is excellent value at £999 but would like a mono. But that would set me back ~£1500... I half suspect that qhy may have abandoned the miniCam5S or had problems with it since it's been so long since they last mentioned it at all - October last year. And that was only in passing....

Louise

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  • 11 months later...

I know what you mean about the sensor size. My scope has a focal length of 750mm so I guess it would give quite a small field of view with it.

Still, there are lots of little galaxies, PN, globs etc out there. I don't have Goto now days though, so a bigger worry is finding objects with a small chip lol

I reckon it would be great with an ED70

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I use plate solving for image acquisition so finding and centering isn't an issue and if SGPpro start supporting the camera I'll be mighty tempted for small subjects or to set up mosaics. It's 50% smaller than my 314L+ and that's tiny compared to my Nikon ! I'm at 962mm but with a .8 reducer it's better - nearer your level.

 

 

 

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