In the market for a CCD imaging camera - what to get?

[carastro]

You are quite correct to a large degree but personaly speaking for me to get the whole of M31 on to the 314L+ I have to either use my Canon 200 F2.8 L or use a 0.6 X FF/FR on the WO ZS 71 with the penalty of imaging @ about 5.2 arcsec/pixel which is not ideal. I still can not get myself to part with nearly £2000.00 for a 460ex .

Yes M31 doesn't quite fit on the chip with the reducer, but not far off.  

Carole 

[lensman57]

Yes M31 doesn't quite fit on the chip with the reducer, but not far off.  

Carole 

Hi Carole,

I took the plunge for a second hand 383L+ Mono. That is all that I could push myself to spend so I am hoping that it works out fine in particular with 1.25" filters.

Regards,

A.G

[carastro]

I took the plunge for a second hand 383L+ Mono. That is all that I could push myself to spend so I am hoping that it works out fine in particular with 1.25" filters.

It's a great camera A G, but a couple of things to watch out for:

Taking flats needs at least 3secs exposures to enable the shutter to move out of the way otherwise you will get a shadow in the corner - took me a few weeks to work this out with the help of Atik.  3 secs is probably too long so you need to dull down the light.  I decided the best way to do this was with a light box.

Unfortunately a 383 really requires the 2" filters, so that's going to rack up your costs.  

Carole 

[brainy]

Thanks to your advice, I went for the KAF8300 sensor with the QHY9 and a set of narrowband filters. I should receive the package some time soon.

Out of curiosity, the KAF8300 sensor was release few years ago (something like 5 years ago I believe). Shouldn't the technology behind the sensor be outdated by outdated by now?

[lensman57]

Thanks to your advice, I went for the KAF8300 sensor with the QHY9 and a set of narrowband filters. I should receive the package some time soon.

Out of curiosity, the KAF8300 sensor was release few years ago (something like 5 years ago I believe). Shouldn't the technology behind the sensor be outdated by outdated by now?

Hi,

The sensor is actually older than 5 years old and the new generation of the Sony's sensors are much more sensitive and a lot more quiet than the KAF8300. Some of Kodak's other sensors are far more sensitive than the 8300 in particular in the Ha region but the KAF8300 is still the best " Bang for the Buck"  as far as sensor size to sensitivity and price is concerned. I have recently bought a used Atik 383L+ Mono that worked out about 1/2 the price of my intended camera which was an Atik 460 EXM so I guess it was a trade off between size and sensiitivty, and a couple of nigths ago I use it with a 1.25" Ha filter with a scope @ F4.9 and it does work with just a very little vigneting around the corners. Enjoy your new camera.

Regards,

A.G

[wuthton]

As above, the DSLR arms race of the number of pixels you can squeeze on a chip doesn't apply to to CCD. The only development upgrade is sensitivity.

A full range of usable chip/pixel sizes is already available it just depends on how much money you've got to spend.