Orion StarShoot All Sky Camera

[SteveNickolls]

I am looking into the use of the Orion All Sky Camera-I can see it being particularly useful for meteor recording. Has any other forum user already installed one of these cameras or thinking about it?

Cheers.

[iwatkins]

At around £770 plus mounting hardware and somewhere to display the image, it is very expensive. Also note it is a video camera, output is video so you capture it for display. It also doesn't have any remote controls, so changing any settings requires you to climb up/or take it down to change anything.

You can build something similar for around a 1/10th of the cost though. Or is you already have an astro camera, you can reuse these with a suitable enclosure. Really depends how you are going to use it.

You may find this thread useful: http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=160629&highlight=sky

Cheers

Ian

[pete_l]

The lens (which is the core of the device) is a yv2.2x1.4a-sa2l from Fujinon. It's avaiable for < 100USD if you can find an american company willing to ship it, or for about double that from a UK supplier.

Oh yes, it's a CS mount, so it would fit any camera that takes that sort of lens. The Samsung SCB2000 comes to mind, see one person's experiences here: http://www.qcuiag.org.uk/sam/ Total price: about £250.

[SteveNickolls]

Thanks guys, certainly a lot to consider here. I'll follow up your leads here.

[SteveNickolls]

Browsing on the Internet shows a new Orion product superceeding the current version-http://www.amazon.com/Orion-StarShoot-AllSky-Camera-II/dp/B007XRDZJQ. Available in the USA on 14.6.2012. The Mk II has a very handy serial interface allowing operation of the AllSky II remotely by a computer using upgraded Orion HandyAVI Special Edition software.

I'll keep looking.

[Davey-T]

http://star.herts.ac.uk/allsky/index.php?c=3

to see view from allsky camera

Davey-T

[SteveNickolls]

Thanks Davey-T. Considering the advice I have been given I think a 'cool down' period is called for (for me to cool the urge to spend the cash iburning a hole in my pocket that is) before any decision is made.

[iwatkins]

Steve,

Assuming you'll be capturing to a PC of some sort rather than just viewing on a TV monitor, you'll be much better off with a USB camera.

You could buy a colour Imaging Source D**41 type camera (1280x960 pixels output), a quality lens, a domed enclosure etc. for a lot less than the Orion. Hook up to a PC, control exposures, frame rates etc from there. Would also give better quality results as you wouldn't have any of the analogue to digital conversion artefacts you usually see in converted video.

I think the Orion can do a maximum of 4 sec exposure IIRC. Whereas the IS USB cameras can do from 1/10000th all the way up to 60 minutes and they include noise reduction, debayering and lots of other nice machine vision tools. Shot below is a slightly cropped version of a 10 sec exposure on a mono DMK41 fitted with a wide angle lens I bought for £12. I haven't done any noise reduction or editing, just the crop.

Of course, there are other USB cameras, but all have similar features.

Cheers

Ian

[SteveNickolls]

Thanks for this Ian I will look into that camera, I like the greater output from it.

Regards,

Steve