Super cooled DSLR

[RAC]

Got it 99% the way there today.

Home made water cooler.

Home made water cooler. by meg rac, on Flickr

All the caps pumped fill of heatsink paste.

Heatsink paste in all the caps by meg rac, on Flickr

Finished box from the front. The small grommet is for the lens release. To detach a lens or t-ring the grommet needs removing and a small screwdrive is used to push the release in.

Finished box all sealed up. by meg rac, on Flickr

This was with a 14v supply. The 55W peltier cools the 33W pelteir and the two are wired in series. If i wanted more i could wire them in parallel but i went with the safe option first. I have tested only one at a full 15 volts and it would only get to -11 degC so -18 degC is good:hello2:

End result by meg rac, on Flickr

I'm happy with the total weight being 890g, my other cooler box is 1150g.

One downside to the 1000d is that the temp sensor for the exif data is not on the cmos sensor so it doesn't read correct at all.

Next mission is to fit the MPCC and flush it out with nitrogen and see if i have any freezing problems.

[yesyes]

erm... hang on.... So you're not using a cold finger? Do you have any pictures showing how exactly that cooler/heatsink attaches to the image sensor? It looks like you're just cooling that metal shield behind the image sensor board...

[Gina]

It looks to me as if one of your TECs is the wrong way up - or are they different makes with different polarities?

[Gina]

Oh and if you're using APT you need to set the camera from M to Av for Flats.

[RAC]

erm... hang on.... So you're not using a cold finger? Do you have any pictures showing how exactly that cooler/heatsink attaches to the image sensor? It looks like you're just cooling that metal shield behind the image sensor board...

There is heatsink paste between the sensor and circuit board and paste between circuit board and shield. Its all cold! the last time i tested doing it this way i slid a thermocouple right into the middle back of the sensor and cofirmed the cold gets to it no problem at all.

[Gina]

My info is that the EXIF T measurement is in the image processor chip which I believe id the bigish square chip on the image sensor board. In which case it won't be far off the actual sensor temperature. I'm going to put 1-wire digital temperature sensors on my cold finger right next to the sensor but I see no way of actually getting the temperature inside the sensor.

[RAC]

It looks to me as if one of your TECs is the wrong way up - or are they different makes with different polarities?

They are only on the table in that pic, its by no means how they are in the camera!

I'm using the standard canon software and there is no need to ever play with the camera. My other 1000d stays in its cooler box, i havn't seen it for weeks

[RAC]

My info is that the EXIF T measurement is in the image processor chip which I believe id the bigish square chip on the image sensor board. In which case it won't be far off the actual sensor temperature. I'm going to put 1-wire digital temperature sensors on my cold finger right next to the sensor but I see no way of actually getting the temperature inside the sensor.

The 1000d temp sensor must be on the main board and not on the board above the sensor. My thermocouple was under that board and it was reading -18degC but the exif temp was +7degC.

[Gina]

They are only on the table in that pic, its by no means how they are in the camera!

Phew! Good I didn't really think you could have got it wrong

I'm using the standard canon software and there is no need to ever play with the camera. My other 1000d stays in its cooler box, i havn't seen it for weeks

Ah I see - that's alright then I wonder if the difference is the software or camera. I have a feeling earlier cameras didn't need to save the images to SD card as well as PC. This would seem to be quite a serious flaw for those wishing to put the camera in a new box with 1100D and APT. Be interesting to see what Canon's next budget release is like.

[yesyes]

There is heatsink paste between the sensor and circuit board and paste between circuit board and shield. Its all cold! the last time i tested doing it this way i slid a thermocouple right into the middle back of the sensor and cofirmed the cold gets to it no problem at all.

It is my understanding that this heat transfer paste only works well in very small amounts, i.e. if it just fills the gaps caused by uneven surfaces between CPU (or in this case imaging sensor) and heatsink.

In your case you're cooling through a lot of paste and through the circuit board. I'd be rather curious how this performs.

[RAC]

Phew! Good I didn't really think you could have got it wrong

Ah I see - that's alright then I wonder if the difference is the software or camera. I have a feeling earlier cameras didn't need to save the images to SD card as well as PC. This would seem to be quite a serious flaw for those wishing to put the camera in a new box with 1100D and APT. Be interesting to see what Canon's next budget release is like.

I've never run a card on my 1000d's. If i take flats i just look at the histogram to get the exposure right then fire away. The camera doesn't care about the date/time when using the usb connection either.

[Gina]

I've never run a card on my 1000d's. If i take flats i just look at the histogram to get the exposure right then fire away. The camera doesn't care about the date/time when using the usb connection either.

Ah! Looks like another difference between 1000D and 1100D. Hmmm....

[yesyes]

I've never run a card on my 1000d's. If i take flats i just look at the histogram to get the exposure right then fire away. The camera doesn't care about the date/time when using the usb connection either.

That's good news. So would you say that the display and buttons on the back of the 1000D are not required? That would save me a lot of effort when building my new casing.

[RAC]

That's good news. So would you say that the display and buttons on the back of the 1000D are not required? That would save me a lot of effort when building my new casing.

Yeah i don't use mine. I did go through and change a few setting just in case like making sure it was an RAW and shoot without card. You maybe able to change those with teh software though.

I just did another test. I put the thermocouple in one of those little holes in those copper clips that holds the sensor down. The clips are screwed to the metal frame.

Any cooling that has made it to those copper clips has to have come from the image sensor only and that metal frame is also acting as a heatsink taking cold away, this test was also done with the lid off and the outside edge of those clips sit at -10degC.

The cold gets through easy!

[yesyes]

Thanks for that. Sounds like this would simplify things a lot...

Also, would you say that the camera can be left in M mode permanently? I was considering installing that mode dial on the outside of my new case. But if M is all I'd ever need, that would again make things a lot easier...

[RAC]

Thanks for that. Sounds like this would simplify things a lot...

Also, would you say that the camera can be left in M mode permanently? I was considering installing that mode dial on the outside of my new case. But if M is all I'd ever need, that would again make things a lot easier...

I have never moved mine off M and i've done a lot of imaging over the last year with it.

[Gina]

I'll have to look into taking flats without changing that setting. Wish I could find a way of taking any images without needing the SD card - that's a real pain. Or even a way of deleting images or formatting from software via USB. Must ask this somewhere else and see if anyone has any ideas.

[Auntystatic]

I shoot with my 1100d saving to pc and not saving to the card, I just click the icon in eos utillity or you can set it in preferences, can't speak for 3rd party software yet as I haven't decided if I need it or want it or even which one to go for. I can even delete images off the card with eos utillity if needs be.

[yesyes]

If that works in EOS Utilities, then it should be possible in APT. We just need to convince Ivo to implement it, if he hasn't done it already (I seem to remember some discussion a while back but can't remember what EOS model that was for...)

[Gina]

I shoot with my 1100d saving to pc and not saving to the card, I just click the icon in eos utillity or you can set it in preferences, can't speak for 3rd party software yet as I haven't decided if I need it or want it or even which one to go for. I can even delete images off the card with eos utillity if needs be.

Thank you very much for that Danielle I'll try that.

If that works in EOS Utilities, then it should be possible in APT. We just need to convince Ivo to implement it, if he hasn't done it already (I seem to remember some discussion a while back but can't remember what EOS model that was for...)

Very true. I've posted about this in the Software forum which he posts in, so we'll see.

[RAC]

There is no reason why you can't delete photos off the card just using windows exlore.

[Gina]

There is no reason why you can't delete photos off the card just using windows exlore.

But of course! - now why didn't I think of that? Must be getting dopey in my old age