Saturn- 22-03-08 - ToUcam and DMK

[jcm]

Very poor conditions so I thought I would do a comparison between the ToUcam and the DMK.

The mono DMK needs three separate images to be combined together , the ToUcam only needs one image for colour.

Did not try to match the colours of the two images.

Ist is the DMK

2nd is the ToUcam.

John

[legion48]

They are both nice images John, although I prefer the DMK.

[beamish]

I too prefer the DMK, but do you think one would get a similar result with a colour DMK ?Compared to the mono plus filters not the toucam.

Karlo

[jcm]

I too prefer the DMK, but do you think one would get a similar result with a colour DMK ?Compared to the mono plus filters not the toucam.

Karlo

emm - the sensitivity of the mono is greater than the colour but needs mork work to get the image.

John

[themos]

very interesting, are these stacks or single frames? I guess the cameras aren't parfocal so there was independent focusing on the two.

[jcm]

very interesting, are these stacks or single frames? I guess the cameras aren't parfocal so there was independent focusing on the two.

500 frames from about 700.

John

[Sam]

They're both nice results John! Well done. I think the DMK one looks slightly better.

[themos]

Would love to see the ToUcam's output when soft-modded to "Colour RAW". I found a very significant improvement.

[Nick Smith]

The RGB image has it, though there is not much in it.

The camera does not make as much difference as some people think...

Regards

Nick

[Tim]

Right someone grab Nick and hold him while we ask the obvious....

OK, if not the camera, then what is the difference?

Cheers

TJ

[Nick Smith]

Well, if you look at John's images, aside from the colour cast in the Toucam image, there is not much difference. Bear in mind the DMK is basically a mono-chipped Toucam that is capable of faster uncompressed frame rates. As Saturn is so dim, you can't utilise the fast frame rates in any case. The other night, I could only run at 14 fps on Saturn for RGB using the C11 and this was with the gain and gamma cranked right up. The DMK will be more sensitive than the Infinity 2-1, but I expect John was still using a relatively slow frame rate.

The DMK will have lower noise than the Toucam because of its better sensitivity, but when you are stacking hundreds or thousands of frames, this will not make much difference to the end result.

Don't get me wrong, the DMKs and Lumeneras are "better" cameras (especially on bright objects ie. the Moon, Sun, Jupiter, Mars), but collimation, focus and the dreaded "seeing" are much more important factors.

Regards

Nick