QHY5 review

[George]

While I'm still waiting for my payout from the insurance (long story but the loss adjuster was OK with my claim but some jobsworth has been sat with my claim in their IN tray for 5 days, had a bit of a row about it but should be sorted by tomorrow) I decided to have a play with the QHY5 guide cam that I bought the day B4 some of my gear was nicked ( bought another lappy off ebay cos i tired off waiting).

Anyhows hooked the QHY5 up and spent a good amount of time going round in circles trying to install drivers but eventualy got everything working, fired PHD up (my first time) and after fiddling with some settings actually got the thing to calibrate, 45 mins later lo and behold the buggers still tracking the guide star :shock:

I have to say what a wonderful bit of software PHDguiding is, it does what it says on the tin. The QHY5 is a cracking little cam its just a pity it wont work with KCCD, had a play with QGvideo with Mars and a slim crescent moon yesterday but forgot to save some shots. As a planetary cam it looks very promising albeit mine is the mono version. The moon of course did not mind being imaged in B&W and the cam returned some very crisp images......I must remember to save some shots tomorrow and post.

Anyhow heres a screenshot of PHD and you can see the tracking adjustments in EQMOD to the left.

Judeging by the amount of corrections being made I'd say my drift alighnning needs to be refined somewhat

[centroid]

I had the chance to try a QH5Y alongside the DSI that I was using as a guide cam at the time.

Although the QH5Y was somewhat less sensitive than the DSI, I found it an excellent little camera, and good value for money.

While there will undoubtedly be some occasions when the sensitivity of the QH5Y may necessitate moving the guide scope around a bit, to locate a suitable guide star, the camera's sensitivity will be adequate for the majority of occasions.

A very useful guide camera, for not a lot of Money. 8)

PHD, I found to be a very capable piece of guiding software, and being free, what incredible value.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work with my new guide camera, the SX Lodestar.

So, IMO, with a QHY5 and PHD, you can't go wrong.

Dave

[NickH]

Just tested one out, and yes, it works first time in PHD, impressive bit of kit

[PaulB]

Hi Guy's,

I currently use a Atik 2-HS with PHD and find the software doesn't work below 2 seconds and drops frames at an alarming rate. I believe this is because PHD and the 2-HS share the same windows drivers.

I have been looking into a replacement camera for guiding and possibly Solar System imaging, and noticed the QHY 5 which is reviewed on here.

Do you have any problems with using PHD with this camera. Is it more stable when using a camera with it's own separate drivers, than the 2-HS.

And would you recommend the QHY 5 as a suitable upgrade to an Atik 2-HS.

[PaulB]

Well guy's despite not getting any replies to my question. I have bought a QHY5 and put my Atik 2-HS up for sale.

Cheers.

[blinky]

Yup PHD, what a great bit of software! You know you can view the corrections being made from PHD by enabling the graph from the menu?

[PaulB]

How stable is PHD with the QHY5?

[Merlin66]

I'm using V1.10.0 PHD with the QHY5 and haven't ( touch wood!) had any problems.

[beamish]

Snap !

[Lester]

I enjoyed reading your thread, as I will be heading down this road in the next few months.

Thanks.

[therockfrog]

I just bought a KWIQ guider with that chip....wont be able to use it for 2 months as I'm fishing up in Alaska but everyone likes em.