Mac Imaging Advice

[dazza1639]

Following the price drop on the SXVR-H9C at FLO

First Light Optics - Starlight Xpress SXVR-H9C Colour CCD Camera

I was wondering about the compatability of this camera with the Mac. I have Nebuloity 3 for Mac which I currently use to control my EOS 1000d and I believe that Starlight Xpress Cameras are supported. However I can't seem to find any information on how to do it so I thought I would post my questions here as I know that there are a few Mac users on here!

1. Do I need any additional drivers to run the camera on a mac other than Nebulosity's built in support? If so, Are these included on the disk or can they be downloaded?
   
2. Are there any guides to using Starlight Xpress cameras with a mac online?
   
3. Does Nebulosity provide full control over the camera ie, set point cooling temp, binning mode, gain etc?
   
4. Or would I just be better off using an XP VM or bootcamp?
   

Thanks

Darren

[PunkJay]

I cannot comment on compatibility with the camera you mention, however I am using Parallels VM quite successfully to run Windows applications and devices on my Mac.

It is incredibly useful to be able to pull down the windows start menu as and when the demand arises, and not have to worry about compatibility. Plus it runs Windows apps as if they were OS X apps, so bouncing files between the two OS's is pretty much transparent.

cs,

- Jason

[dazza1639]

Thanks Jason, I didn't really want to go down the VM route as I believe that SX cameras can work with Macs natively. So I really wanted to know if there where any limitations or additional software required to run natively.

Thanks

Darren

[ollypenrice]

I'm operating a Starlight camera and Mac belonging to Yves. I don't know the details of the drivers but it is working fine with all camera control funtions live in Nebulosity.

I do miss a lot of my usual software from the PC though, which I like to use for various purposes while imaging. The most-missed is Registar.

Olly

[vdb]

QSI and SX are fully supported in nebulosity ...

I never use a PC, I still remember how Olly cursed when one of is Windows machines decided to update in the middle of the night :-)

With Nebulosity 3 you can now even run multiple instances so no need for Registar ...

My arsenal on Mac is: Nebulosity - PHD - Fits liberator - photoshop with astronomy tools - Pixinsight ... no need for al that other cruft ...

Yves.

[dazza1639]

Thanks Gents, It seems as if its a viable option then! All as I need to do know is pursuade the powers that be that the SXVR-H9c is a bargin and I should get one before they sell out :-)