Planetary camera that can be used as a guide cam

[x6gas]

Hi all,

I've read some other threads on a similar topic but I am after some specific advice for my set-up and my requirements.

Having recently got an f/10 SCT I am thinking of upgrading my SPC880 to a dedicated planetary camera. Whilst I have an Atik EFW2 filter wheel and 2" filters, I reckon I'll go down the colour planetary cam to make things simpler on fast rotating Joop.

But, I also have an Atik OAG for my deep sky set up which has yet to see first light. I was hoping to use my Synguider with this, but I'm not sure if it will work and in any case it would be good to get a planetary cam that could double as a guide cam as this will also give me more flexibility in the future.

As I say, I want a capable planetary camera that will be a significant upgrade on my SPC880 and I don't want to compromise on that, but if it can be used for guiding with my 11HD/OAG/EFW2/383L+ then that would be a plus.

It seems that the obvious candidates would be:

DFK 31AU03.AS Colour

DFK 41AU02.AS Colour

QHY5v Guide / Planetary camera

As I understand it I would need the Hitec USB Guider Interface for the DFK cameras.

The DFK option is also more than double the QHY5v in terms of price.

Really welcome any views on these cams, primarily for planetary but also for trouble-free(ish) guiding... and indeed on any other options that I may be missing.

Budget is around £500, but obviously bang for buck is important.

[Cornelius Varley]

The '41 has a large sensor and relatively low frame rate and is more suited to lunar imaging than planetary or guiding. The '31 is the best compromise for a lunar / planetary camera and the QHY5v is a dedicated guide camera the can also image. You may also want to consider the lastest TIS '21 cameras.

Peter

[riklaunim]

DFK31 and 41 are quite bad choice - they do have circular artifacts at max framerate (on planets) and they use old low sensitive CCDs compared to current ICX618 or ICX445. They don't also have ST4 port so you need to connect the mount to a computer. They are also color.

I would recommend few cams: new DMK21AU618 if you can and want to guide via RS232 cable. It's also one of the best planetary cameras. Point Grey Chameleon with ICX445 has bit bigger sensor but may be tricky from the software side for guiding. There are also French iNova cams (iNova - Boutique Pierro-Astro' - Caméras astronomiques iNova) that do have ST4 (both ICX618 or ICX445 available but not cheap). QHY has IMG0H with ICX618 but it has rather "poor" software for planetary imaging (and it has ST4 for easy guiding).

As for QHY5 - it's good for guiding (mono), but noisy.

[drmillrace]

I have a QHY5 which I use for guiding, which it does very well. I have tried it for imaging without much satisfaction. I think I would go for something a bit better for the imaging side of things.

[x6gas]

Thanks for the replies and the information. Certainly been warned off of the DFK 31 and 41 so thanks for that.

The iNova cams look good but the models with the ICX618 or ICX445 are mono cams. I have an Atik EFW2 and so I suppose I ought to think about the possibility of going down that route... but the one shot colour still seems a more attractive route...

Looks like the current options are

DMK21AU618

Astrolumina ALccdIMG0H (QHY IMG0H?)

Point Grey Chameleon (or whatever)

Basler Ace (or something else Basler)

The IMG0H looks attractive - specialist astro cam, cooled and with an ST4 port. Very poor reviews of software initially but more recent reviews are more positive - anyone have direct experience of this cam? Seems to be the only one that ticks all of the boxes, subject to softare compatibility that is.

Finding it really hard to get any info on the Point Grey or Basler cameras - and there are a plethora of them! Any further advice greatly appreciated.

[riklaunim]

Basler is a no-no - the Ace ac640-100gm with ICX618 does also has some artifacts (randomly ocurring). USB cams (DMK, iNova, IMG0H) seems to be ok - as they aren't clocked as fast as GigE Basler.

QHY IMG0H has bit wicked software. They are working on a SDK so that FireCapture would support it for planetary imaging (then it will be cool). iNova is quite rare at the moment, some users are on the French forums.

[Navigateur]

Hi x6,

I had the same requirment regarding a planetary/guiding camera and went with

the img0h color. Did not had the chance yet to use it as a guide cam but, for planetary works, it is well build and a nice piece of equipment.

As you said the software is rather "ordinary" but QHY is still working on it and as it stands right now, it's still possible to get more than adequate images out of it.

(30 fps @ 640x480 and close to 60 fps in roi mode with no artifacts).

As rik said, Firecapture support would be a blessing.

here's a link of someone using it as a guide cam;

Equipment

Hth

Sincerely,

Navigator

[x6gas]

Hi x6,

I had the same requirment regarding a planetary/guiding camera and went with

the img0h color. Did not had the chance yet to use it as a guide cam but, for planetary works, it is well build and a nice piece of equipment.

As you said the software is rather "ordinary" but QHY is still working on it and as it stands right now, it's still possible to get more than adequate images out of it.

(30 fps @ 640x480 and close to 60 fps in roi mode with no artifacts).

As rik said, Firecapture support would be a blessing.

here's a link of someone using it as a guide cam;

Equipment

Hth

Sincerely,

Navigator

Hi Navigator - thats a lot for that. I had more or less given up on the QHY... Maybe a rethink now that I know that people are getting good results.

Early indications are that my SynGuider will work with my set up (Atik OAG on HD11) so may be the capability as a guider becomes less important...

To be honest though, in the dedicated astrocam market I cannot believe that QHY seem so disinterested in the software for their cams...

Maybe they should pay rwg (author of SharpCap) to develop their s/w for them!

[riklaunim]

FireCapture author should get a new QHY SDK within days. That will allow him to support IMG0H and alike - if no bugs will be found in the SDK