Jump to content

Narrowband

Atik 414ex


Recommended Posts

I have had this camera a little while now and while this won't be a Craig Stark level detailed review, it is my first impressions as a total CCD novice and someone still in my first year of astro-imaging.

The camera and filter wheel and some LRGB filters all arrived safe and sound from Ian King. The camera itself came in a simple foam filled cardboard box, unlike the fancy hard plastic case the filter wheel came in.

New 414ex lands

The camera is nicely weighted, a little larger than I expected and comes with a sparse, but detailed enough manual.

I first tried the camera out using a MacBookPro. This involved using Nick's excellent Mac drivers for the Atik. I wanted a full capture program so initially tried Nebulosity, but this was using an older version of Nick's drivers and the resulting images had some serious glows in the corners, which was quite worrying. Running similar tests on a Windows workstation revealed none of the glow, which was a relief, as I thought my camera was faulty until I did this test. I decided to simply take the Windows punch and bought a cheap Dell of eBay to get up and running.

With the initial Mac hiccups out of the way, I managed to get going seriously with the camera. One thing I did notice is that the fan in the camera was rather loud, and was making some extremely bizarre noises at times, quite tortured. I spoke to Ian King and he forwarded me on to Atik Support. After sending a recording of the noises to Atik, I got a prompt response from a chap called Vince saying that it was normal, and that the little fan in this camera was quite loud in general, but seeing as the camera was still working, I could continue using it safely, but if I wanted to send it back at any time, or even over the summer when not using it as much, they would be happy to service it for me and give it a check up. I was much relieved and it shows what nice chaps they are at Atik and how helpful they are to their customers and user-base. I will be taking them up for regular servicing.

As for the performance. The camera itself produces much less noisy images and the sensor is significantly more sensitive than my previous DSLR. The cooling works really well, dropping the temperature to my default -10 within a minute. It screws directly into the filterwheel and was orthogonal straight away with no adjustment required. The small chip is obviously very forgiving for things like this, and also the reducer spacing, but it was all much easier than I feared. The connectors at the back are a little fiddly and the power cable worries me a bit with its fitting as it is not the most rock solid affair, but it has not let me down to date to be fair to it.

Another significant difference with the DSLR is the size of the generated files. Creating FITS files directly is a god-send rather than Canon CR2 files and the file sizes are so small in comparison, it makes processing significantly easier, so it has allowed me to test all kinds of calibration/stacking settings. The downloading is fast and the ability to bin has also been a boon to me in framing and other activities.

I initially tried the camera out on some open clusters, to get the feel for RGB imaging and the whole setup. I found the transition quite difficult. There is much more to get to grips with with a mono + filter setup and I found I only really got going properly with the addition of a motorfocuser to help automate the capture process.

Once the other bits and pieces were mastered, I could really give the camera a test out. The results speak for themselves in my opinion. I am a beginner, less than a handful of months with a CCD, less than a year imaging full stop and the camera has allowed me to take the images below. I have included a range of image types so you can see how this little camera has completely transformed my end product. I am extremely happy with the 414ex, the support behind it from Atik and Ian, and the possibilities it has opened for me to progress in this fantastic and humbling hobby.

If someone is looking for an entry level CCD, then as a fellow beginner, I heartily recommend this camera if the larger sensors are beyond budget. I certainly don't feel I have made a compromise in terms of what I can achieve.

a489eac71bada63b208ddc51cdd3f75d.620x0_q

fa731fdfafa353281f1acb14c936dc9d.620x0_q

97698f2765027b45264172283d13a320.620x0_q

f9872bd06567b1ce17dbf61099f91d13.620x0_q

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup - just to confirm that the amp issues were solved a while ago. The currently OS X drivers that support TheSkyX, Nebulosity4 and elsewhere work nicely with the 414ex (I have one :)).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.