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Help - Atik 460ex


badgers

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Is this dead column issue only for CCDs? As I imagine if CMOS sensors had the same issue, Canon would get a lot of returned DLSRs

I do notice from FLO's website  that Starlight Express  have used Grade 1 ccds

"Grade 1 or better - No bad columns, no dead pixels, no more than 50 'hot' pixels (saturated in <10 seconds)"

If I was going to go down the ccd route,  would sx offer me a better option?  Or is it some random thing that may happen to any camera at any time?

Cheers John

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Is this dead column issue only for CCDs? As I imagine if CMOS sensors had the same issue, Canon would get a lot of returned DLSRs

I do notice from FLO's website  that Starlight Express  have used Grade 1 ccds

"Grade 1 or better - No bad columns, no dead pixels, no more than 50 'hot' pixels (saturated in <10 seconds)"

If I was going to go down the ccd route,  would sx offer me a better option?  Or is it some random thing that may happen to any camera at any time?

Cheers John

With Atik I get a 2 stage Peltier that really works, a heated chip window, the ability to bin 2x2 without artefacts and a physically clean chip, so I've never changed brand...

You can pick up a column defect on a perfect chip at any time. Then it's a Class 2!!

Olly

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Is this dead column issue only for CCDs? As I imagine if CMOS sensors had the same issue, Canon would get a lot of returned DLSRs

Cheers John

John - It is different with CMOS as they have different technology and so readout in a very different way. In any case with a DSLR the image is normally processed before you see it so any small issues can be masked!

Regards Andrew

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I had a similar column with my brand new Lodestar guide camera. It was a bit of a shock as I was expecting perfection and it didn't look like what I would call "Grade 1".

However, I kept it after reading up on the Internet, this is quite a common thing to happen and Kodak etc. as I understand it would not consider it a warranty issue. As far as I am aware, my little Lodestar would still count as Grade 1 as the column is not wiped out, it's partial and darks do address it.

I wondered if I returned it, if a worse one would come back :eek:

Re: warranty issues in general, this is interesting. I had a goto hand controller with my NEQ6 go faulty after one year, but before the two years were up. I was under the impression goods only had a one year warranty, so did not return it. However, should that have been repaired under a two year EU warranty?

Funny enough, I asked Atik at Kelling Heath whether the cameras had a two year warranty. The very nice chap said that in the print it says one year, as it has a one year warranty is some countries, but he seemed to say that I would have a two year warranty if I bought one.

The thought of a CCD costing 2K+ and going faulty after one year has always been a factor putting me off of expensive CCDs so it was good to see that the new Celestron webcams were being advertised with a two year warranty. Two years on a pricey CCD, maybe I can live with that, but some clarity would be good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bias frames have completely eliminated this issue for me.

Thank you everyone, I feel embarrassed for my 'hissy fit' :)

I don't have a massive budget and my CCD was by far the biggest expense so I was a little alarmed.

I finally got around to reshooting 200 bias frames and this has cleared up the problem nicely.

It was about time I reshot bias and dark frames anyway.

Thanks again for the support,

Anton

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Anton. You shout, rant, throw the dummy out the pram & try & kick the cat. Astro CCD cameras are extremely expensively

and as a result we handle them with kid gloves and pride ourselves in having top quality equipment. If it goes wrong 

it's traumatic. In fact,  astro imaging is traumatic, Hoping everything connects, works & that the evening goes to plan.

Glad to see you have sorted everything out and you're back on track.

cheers

Steve

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Oh that is very good news. Bet you're relieved... This is something I always have at the back of my mind & worry about with expensive kit. Like most of us, it's been quite a financial challenge to get this far & would be a disaster to loose use of.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

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