New Atik 428EX CCD Camera

[MikeWilson]

Yes Mike the 1.25" filters are more than enough PM me about filters for the QHY8 before you waste your money

As these new cameras come through, there will maybe be a crop of nicely priced used 285 cameras coming available.

I stacked the few subs of each target with the 428 yesterday, if I get a chance i'll post the results. Had a nightmare with the PC in my obsy suddenly deciding its HDDs have had enough of living, and the PSU to my laptop blew up as well. So I've bought a new desktop for the obsy, will hopefully get it set up today.

PM incoming :-)

I'm hopeful that there will be a nicely reduced 314L+ waiting for me somewhere. I'm thinking strongly about changing down from 2" filters (I have CLS and Ha at the moment) to a camera that's got a bit more resolution - considering that I'm using a short focal length refractor the 428's increased resolution over even the 314L is quite attractive

Good luck with your obsy desktop setup! Did you identify the cause of the problem? Old/unreliable drives and a PSU blowing up at the same time might be caused by something... electrical surges?

All the best,

Mike

[MikeWilson]

Just a few stats for those considering this camera, using my Orion ED80T CF triplet with 0.8x reducer:

(values in arcseconds/pixel)

[riklaunim]

Add SBIG ST-9XE to the chart... or even better STL-1001E with 24x24 pixels

[MikeWilson]

Add SBIG ST-9XE to the chart... or even better STL-1001E with 24x24 pixels

Honestly?

It ruins the chart!

[riklaunim]

Or from another perspective - instead of using a small APO you can use a big scope with a super big pixel camera to get the same resolution... only the cost is much bigger too

[bwana]

...big scope with a super big pixel camera to get the same resolution... only the cost is much bigger too

Oh, but think about those huge deep welled pixel. Dynamic range from hell!!

[riklaunim]

Yes I want to play with something like Sbig ST-9XE from a long time. I have a big SCT and I can reduce it to get even lower resolutions with such pixels. It's a small frame, but still quite interesting

[antimorris]

I pop off the computer world for a month or two and see what I miss?! GEESH. This camera is very tempting - I would love to try one out. I really wish places rented astrocams so one could compare for themselves with their own systems before they shell out the chunk of change required to buy one.

[Tim]

I Just set everything up properly so hopefully should be able to test response in SII and OIII soon.

Had a bit of a shock the other night, determined to produce at least one decent galaxy shot I ran a 10 min sub on M101 with Luminance filter. At the end of the 10 minutes there was just a white screen! Had to come down to 150 - 180 secs and even then peak ADU was >=30K.

Just having a problem stacking the results in DSS at the moment, not sure why. Will have another go in a minute and then try in Nebulosity if no joy. The fits will stack in Average mode only, anything else crashes DSS for some reason.

Cheers

Tim

[bwana]

Yupp, I've also found the sensitivity of the 428Ex to be a bit of a shock. My first light was with a Lunt 60 DS solar scope. I was running pretty much at the min. exposure Artemis would allow, i.e.: 2-3/1000 sec. With a 2.5x Powermate it was a bit better, i.e.: 1/100 sec. However, it did a great job!

- Full disk

- Greyscale sunspot

Now on to the use of the filterwheel... and up the learning curve big time!!

[Coco]

Has there been any posts on the OSC version?

[Tim]

Not seen any Guy.

Nebulosity 3.01 is now available and the Atik 428ex is supported via the Atik Universal camera selection. Somehow I had been saving the FITS in 32bit FP mode and it seems DSS doesn't like to play with them. Will try again when the skies clear

Tim

[Coco]

If anybody is wondering, the backfocus of the camera IS 13mm

Damn... was half way building an adapter for my 100-300 f/4 and 20mm f/1.7 Micro 4/3rd lenses for my OSC version thats on order. Was hopping it would be more like the 314, lens registration of Micro 4/3rds is 17mm .. MMn..

[Tim]

Well it is 13mm for the mono version Guy, but might be worth checking for the OSC version.

I get the impression that Atik are standardising the back focus for this range, but I haven't seen anything in writing to support that, just going on the details for the other cameras.

I actually have a few pics in the bag, although due to the lack of good skies they are just snapshots really. I'll create an album at some point to put the pics in from this camera. I was using it at 0.4 arcsecs/pixel the other night, the extra resolution providing good definition on the trapezium in M42.

Cheers

Tim