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Flea3 vs DMK21 618

willcastle

By willcastle
in Discussions - Cameras

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willcastle

willcastle

Posted
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People are raving about the flea3 at the moment but I'm interested in the DMK.

are they comparable? They seem to have the same sensor but the flea3 has a higher frame rate?

(i don't have a usb3 so no flea3 for me...)

thanks guys

will

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Arushin

Arushin

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Had a DMK 21 and now have an ASI. Camera is brilliant for the money and gives far better results that the DMK (I didn't pay any import duty either) but I can't get on with the new version of Sharpcap which you need to use with it and I couldn't get it to work with 'wcctrl' either. I am going to try with 'Firecapture' which seems to be a bit more user friendly.

I'd recommend the ASI which only took 4 working days to arrive.

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willcastle

willcastle

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Had a DMK 21 and now have an ASI. Camera is brilliant for the money and gives far better results that the DMK (I didn't pay any import duty either) but I can't get on with the new version of Sharpcap which you need to use with it and I couldn't get it to work with 'wcctrl' either. I am going to try with 'Firecapture' which seems to be a bit more user friendly.

I'd recommend the ASI which only took 4 working days to arrive.

thanks :) looks like you have helped me decide. Anyway, if I get the ASI I can also afford a beautiful canon dslr ;) in fact... I will most likely get the canon first. But the ASI certainly looks great. As soon as I get one I will do a very thorough testing and review to help people like me decide.

I don't know what sharpcap version I have but last time I tried it, I didn't have any problems with using it. Perhaps you should make a post about what you are stuck with? I'm sure everyone would help :)

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spit

spit

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from what ive seen from people with imaging skills, the flea and dmk reign, you can also push a higher f/r because of the larger chip, the ASI's are a smash hit taking nice images, the smaller cmos chip you may limited to f/2 though, the high frame is its plus- another option is the Qhy5ii- same chip as the ASI but ordering from HK saves about $100 over the ASI, mine was $195 USD shipped, firecapture seems to be choice, but i cant get it operate on my computer- they state you need a newer model with alot of ram and dual core for firecapture to operate, so im limited to sharpcap and EZ planetary- im not sure which is better of the two yet

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Arushin

Arushin

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thanks :) looks like you have helped me decide. Anyway, if I get the ASI I can also afford a beautiful canon dslr ;) in fact... I will most likely get the canon first. But the ASI certainly looks great. As soon as I get one I will do a very thorough testing and review to help people like me decide.

I don't know what sharpcap version I have but last time I tried it, I didn't have any problems with using it. Perhaps you should make a post about what you are stuck with? I'm sure everyone would help :)

Just seems that older versions of Sharpcap hang with the ASI. Managed to get Fire capture up and running instead but now need a clear night to test it.

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riklaunim

riklaunim

Posted
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There are various Flea3 cameras, including one on GigE which uses Ethernet port (and you should have a gigabit Ethernet port in the laptop/computer). However for ICX618 such fast interfaces aren't needed. USB2 in DMK21AU618 will do. Are those better than ASI120 or other mono modern CMOS based cameras? Hard to tell ;) I now have an e2v CMOS based camera - it's fast, has a big sensor, high sensitivity and what not, but as DMK it doesn't make some imaging easier (like Saturn blue channel).

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AstroFrog

AstroFrog

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Very interesting stuff, I was thinking about asking a similar question. In the market for a good planetary camera, and was wondering how the flea, the DMK and the ASI120/30mm compared.

I've been trying to do like-for-like comparisons on google images, but it's hard to say for definite which performs best without knowing much about the conditions that the images were taken in. Using this wholly unscientific method (google "flea 3 Saturn" view images, google "dmk Saturn" view images etc (and repeat for all cameras and all planets :smiley: ) I would say that it appears that the Flea 3 and the asi120mm produce the better images, with the DMKs very close behind. But then that's taking an average view of the first 20 or so photos that can be seen in google. I can't see a great deal of difference between the "best of the best" if you like, between these 3 cameras, so maybe it comes down to ease of use and people's reviews of their experiences? It's not always clear what scope has been used either, which is a factor, though most of the photos you see are taken with 8+ inch scopes it seems.

I'm looking for a step up from the Philips SPC900 that I've been using, it's a fantastic little camera, and very easy to use, but I crave that little bit of extra detail. I'd love to see a battle of the cameras - 3 identical scopes with a different camera in each and see which comes out on top!

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JamesF

JamesF

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It is tricky to judge the cameras based on other peoples' images, certainly. I found the ASI a bit of a struggle after the SPC900, but I think that's just the learning curve that comes with any camera. Unfortunately the seeing has not been sufficiently kind to really give it a good try out now I'm feeling happier with it. Probably the best way to compare images without actually having a camera in your possession is to look at the images posted here, for example, when you can get some idea of how the imagers and their kit compare as well. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone posting images from a Flea3. I have a feeling that some cameras perform better in large aperture scopes than smaller ones too, so finding images from kit similar to yours is also worth the effort.

James

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AstroFrog

AstroFrog

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You're right James, I've been hunting for images taken with these cameras and seen some fascinating results, though not a lot of Flea3 owners using small scopes it seems!

Will, which one did you go for in the end? Look forward to seeing how you get on!

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x6gas

x6gas

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You're right James, I've been hunting for images taken with these cameras and seen some fascinating results, though not a lot of Flea3 owners using small scopes it seems!

Will, which one did you go for in the end? Look forward to seeing how you get on!

Didn't / doesn't Damian Peach use a Flea3?

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x6gas

x6gas

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I thought so: http://www.ptgrey.com/news/pressreleases/details.asp?articleID=514

Though to be perfectly honest I suspect that the results obtained with any camera are largely limited by the skill of the imager. I've seen stunning results posted on here with an SPC900 that I cannot get anywhere near matching with my HD11 and QHY IMG0H planetary camera...

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