ccd cameras

[mickonos]

hi out there, i need a little advise on which ccd camera to buy. my budget is around £400 and i need it to use in a guide scope and also for planetary imaging, ive been looking at a colour lodestar, any thoughts please

[riklaunim]

Color isn't good for guiding and semi-not-good for planetary Lodestar are good guiders but bad planetary cameras (interlaced CCDs don't do very short exposures nicely).

If you want ST4 guider + planetary cam in one then good options are limited. French iNova PLB-Mx with nice and "big" ICX445 could handle everything (+lunar and solar) but isn't that cheap. PLA-Mx has the "planetary" ICX618 smaller CCD. Both have ST-4 port.

There is also QHY5 (good guider, but bit noisy and not so handy QGVideo for lunary/planetary).

Non ST-4 cams can work as guiders through direct mount connection (via RS232 to USB) - for example the new DMK21AU618.

[gary1968]

What about a Mk1 or 2 Meade DSI? I use a Mk1 DSI Pro as a guide cam, never tried imaging with it, but it never fails to find a guide star.

Gary

[riklaunim]

DSI I/II are also interlaced - good for guiding, bad for planetary

[mickonos]

thanks for the info, can anyone recommend a reasonably priced guide cam and seperate planetary cam if one cam wont do both jobs then please

[Stephen]

I'd suggest guide cam DSIc (£80 s/h but will need a USB guider box at £60) or QHY5 (£120 s/h) <Guider>

Complimented with a Lumenera Lu070m (£180 new but will need a project case as it's a barebones camera) <Planetary>

That should all fit in your budget

[riklaunim]

Or maybe iNova PLA-Mx at 399 EUR for 2 in 1? It has the new planetary CCD and it has the ST-4 for guiding. The only disadvantage is that it's smaller than QHY5 guide camera sensor

( iNova - Boutique Pierro-Astro' - Caméras astronomiques iNova Caméra CCD PLA-Mx 310Kp ICX618ALA - Boutique M42 Optic i-Nova CCD-Kamera PLA-Mx 310Kp )

I'd suggest guide cam DSIc (£80 s/h but will need a USB guider box at £60)

Relaybox isn't needed if you have a SynScan or Celestron mounts (that can be connected via RS-232 to laptop USB)

[jgs001]

If you're looking at something that can do both guiding and lunar/planetary... then the QHY5v is actually a pretty good option. I use mine for all of the above, and it's not let me down. Decent frame rate (35 fps) on lunar mosaics, guides well, and I've pushed it to image Jupiter with a 5x barlow on my 80ED, the results were way beyond what I expected.

Is it the most sensitive for guiding, no. Is it the highest frame rate, no. Are there better cameras, very much so, but the 5v is cheaper as a single unit and, for me at least, works well. (it's got a global shutter camera, as opposed to rolling shutter, which is why it works nicely on the moon and planets).

[Stephen]

Relaybox isn't needed if you have a SynScan or Celestron mounts (that can be connected via RS-232 to laptop USB)

Whoops, good point