Filter Wheel for Atik 314L+

[Gina]

I'm planning to buy an Atik 314L+ mono camera and wondered if there was any disadvantage in using a Starlight Xpress filter wheel rather than Atik - the same make. The price difference is considerable.

[Sp@ce_d]

Just got the 314L+/EF2 kit from FLO. After a bit of reading up on here & googling I think reading Steve's reviews on both of them ( http://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/atik-efw2-filter-wheel-oag-review.pdf http://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/starlight-xpress-filter-wheel-review.pdf ) finally clinched it for me in going for the more expensive Atik. Plus I like the idea of 9 slot disk for the 1.25". It really is very nicely made, the only thing mildly frustrating are the fiddly little allen screws when changing/adding filters. I added some narrowband to my LRGB set last night in the obsy with frozen fingers & was wishing I had taken it indoors to a nice well lit table!

[jnc71106]

If your going to use the atik Artemis software for capture then it can only control a atik efw no other makes are supported

[Gina]

Just got the 314L+/EF2 kit from FLO. After a bit of reading up on here & googling I think reading Steve's reviews on both of them ( http://www.firstligh...-oag-review.pdf http://www.firstligh...heel-review.pdf ) finally clinched it for me in going for the more expensive Atik. Plus I like the idea of 9 slot disk for the 1.25". It really is very nicely made, the only thing mildly frustrating are the fiddly little allen screws when changing/adding filters. I added some narrowband to my LRGB set last night in the obsy with frozen fingers & was wishing I had taken it indoors to a nice well lit table!

Those reviews make very interesting reading - thank you very much Having read Steve Richards' book "Making Every Photo Count" I much respect his opinions. It would certainly seem that the Atik EFW2 is a better designed and manufactured product and as usual the more you pay the better you get. I have plans for 7 filters - LRGB and Ha, OIII, SII so the SX carousel would be full. The Atik with 2 extra spaces would allow for anything else that might come along and I believe in "future-proofing" where possible.

It's looking like the FLO Atik 314L+, EFW2 and Baader LRGB filters is the ideal choice. Adding in Astrodon NB filters should give me an ideal setup I think. Two more things required - the money to buy it and the weather to use it!

[Gina]

If your going to use the atik Artemis software for capture then it can only control a atik efw no other makes are supported

Thank you Very interesting point. Which software to use with the Atik 314L+ is something else to look into.

[Sp@ce_d]

Thank you Very interesting point. Which software to use with the Atik 314L+ is something else to look into.

Artemis Capture (AC) is nice & easy to use.. I like it. I also have Nebulosity which works fine with it too. Tried them both running together Neb for the Canon & AC with the 314. Work fine.

[jezhughes]

I have the EFW2, its a solid bit of kit! The 9 slots is good too, i have L, L Neodymium, R, G, B, Ha, Hb, OIII and SII sitting in there.

FYI i believe nebulosity supports this wheel too as well as AC. In fact i think its ASCOM so anything will.

[Gina]

Well, I went for the Atik 314L+ mono CCD with the EFW2 filter wheel. Baader LRGB filter set plus Astrodon Ha 5nm and 3nm OIII filters - I might get the Astrodon 5nm SI filter later, plenty to do with what I've got yet. In the very limited imaging time I've had since buying this kit, I'm very pleased with it - it's showing great potential. I love the Artemis Capture software - lovely and easy to use

[jezhughes]

AC is great! I use it over Nebulosity which i've had crash on me a few times. AC is very fluent and simple.

Good luck with your new setup, i've just done the opposite and bought a QHY8L OSC as the weather has been awful for me and with mono i've only managed about 5 hours of data in the last 2 months or so. The mono Atik will come back out when either a) the weather sorts its self out or i move to somewhere sunnier

[jezhughes]

Ooops i meant 'b )' instead of that smiley guy, it would seem it changes that in to a smiler if you do a b+)...

[Davey-T]

FYI i believe nebulosity supports this wheel too as well as AC. In fact i think its ASCOM so anything will.

I think the Atik EFW2 uses a Windows HID driver (something to do with Windows mobile phones ?) so doesn't come with a driver, don't know about Ascom.

Dave

[Merlin66]

I use the original ATiK EFW with the ATik cameras (16ic/ 16icS/ 314L) all controlled by AstroArt....no issues, no problems.....