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New Camera from Altair Astro

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By Spacedout
in Discussions - Cameras

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Spacedout

Spacedout

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Hi karl. .I dont have either camera..what I was saying when altair made it public I.e they put up images questions were asked on the tech side..what scope ect was used it wasn't till they were pushed by another sgl member who`s posts were removed first time round that they put the info up..my personal view was that they didn't want to divulge the info..I think it's great we are getting new cameras on the scene but if it's going to be advertised we should have all the facts.you wouldn't buy a new car just because you liked the colour

Hello Dave,

Not sure if you are thinking of another manufacturer?  Either way, my point is lets try not to kill off the recent interest shown from these companies. 

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Spacedout

Spacedout

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Not my intention. I was trying to be re-assuring to anyone from this side of the pond wondering about these fine pieces of work. I also am noting the similarities between the many cameras of this genre. I wonder if the Altair is available over here. I'll take a look.

It looks like these would make excellent guiding-cams as just one application.

Be still my beating wallet,

Dave

No problem Dave, I just did not want anyone to read your post thinking I was somehow anti Mallincam.  

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JamesF

JamesF

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I am looking to purchase one of these cameras. I ordered one off the Altair Astro site, for delivery to the USA, no response. Tried an email and still no response. Is there a retailer in the US?

If you look at this earlier post of mine: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/251405-new-camera-from-altair-astro/?p=2747998 there are some suggestions regarding other cameras that might be pretty much the same thing.  Some of those will surely be available in the US.

James

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Joseki

Joseki

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It does look rather suspiciously like a rebadged QHY5L-II with a slightly different body.

It would be interesting to see the USB vendor ID and product ID from someone who has one.  Any volunteers?

James

There's an interesting response to this on the QHYCCD forum: (actually they don't mention the Altair Astro branded camera but I think it's relevant to this thread)

http://bbs.qhyccd-backup.com/~qhyccdco/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=5023.0

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JamesF

JamesF

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There's an interesting response to this on the QHYCCD forum: (actually they don't mention the Altair Astro branded camera but I think it's relevant to this thread)

http://bbs.qhyccd-backup.com/~qhyccdco/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=5023.0

Of the cameras discussed, only the Altair mono has the same sensor as the QHY mono as far as I can see, so accusing any of the others of being clones when they actually have a better sensor might be stretching the point just a little.  From the information we already have the Altair camera has Touptek's Vendor ID, so that presumably must be made by them.  If they are all made by Touptek then they either made an odd choice to clone someone else's camera when they appear to be capable of designing quite a range of their own, or they're cloning an awful lot of different companies' cameras.  They have their own USB Vendor ID too, and a range of drivers that aren't available for the QHY cameras, which suggests at least some degree of competence.

I have to say that whilst the sensor boards in the QHY photos are similar they're hardly identical even allowing for the capacitors that have allegedly been left out.  The interface boards only look similar in ways that would be pretty much forced upon you by the decision to mount a USB connector and guide port on the end of a 1.25" barrel, too.

So, I don't know.  It all seems a bit odd.

There would be a certain irony in one Chinese company having their products cloned by another though.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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It's also just struck me...

If this "clone" camera uses QHY's USB Vendor and Product ID then that's really not good, but it rules out lots of the cameras mentioned in this thread.  I think the only one we can't immediately account for is the Opticstar.

If it uses some random unused vendor ID and product ID then that's really bad as it could clash with those legitimately assigned in the future.  People with expensive lawyers would possibly get quite stressy about that.

Otherwise it must have a vendor ID that belongs to a real company.  It's easy to find the ID, and the list of IDs and the companies they're assigned to is simple to find on the net.  So you'd not be ignorant of who was making it, or they'd want to know because they'd probably be getting stressy and thinking about involving lawyers if someone else were faking their own ID.

James

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Spacedout

Spacedout

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I am looking to purchase one of these cameras. I ordered one off the Altair Astro site, for delivery to the USA, no response. Tried an email and still no response. Is there a retailer in the US?

Hi MTW,

The last I heard they were selling out fast of their first batch so you may best off contacting one of their dealers like Tring Astronomy - http://www.tringastro.co.uk/ 

Hope this helps

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

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I am looking to purchase one of these cameras. I ordered one off the Altair Astro site, for delivery to the USA, no response. Tried an email and still no response. Is there a retailer in the US?

Hi and welcome!

In response to your question, I've checked both Altair as well as Tring Astronomy - as suggested by Spaced - and there doesn't seem to be any mention of either selling or shipping to the USA, or any sort of listing for a dealer(s) in the USA. Canada - yes. And all Europe is well represented, both for sales and for new dealers to contact if they wish to look into accounts. So I am getting the message here that we are out-of-luck. 

I'll toss out a few emails and see if my luck at that is better than yours. I'll let you know what - if any - response I draw. Let us and/or yours' truly know if you hear anything, please?

Roll 'em!

Dave

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Spacedout

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hi karl and carl,,can you post more info / screen grabs on the camera and what software it uses,or a run through video on how it all comes together..cheers davy

Hi Davy,

I do not have one yet though one is on order.  I would check out their website on software information thought this does seem to be improving fast with steady updates.  There was another update today - http://www.videoastronomylive.co.uk/#!video-astronomy-live---chat/cct2

It's early days yet but hopefully Carl will do a live broadcast soon so we can all have a butchers  :grin:

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shirva

shirva

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hi karl,

spoke to carl about it and he has kept me right,told me to download the software and have a look round its operating system,looks a decent camera for the price I had noticed a price descrepency from val to tringastronomy but further checks I saw it had changed some bits included on val description.

looks a decent dedicated astronomy camera for its price,,sits in nicely price wise just above the phil dyer pd1, the thing that draws me to it is that it is a guide camera that gives great options to me,i have the canon 600d that will be put on my new sw allview.. video mode.. and hook it up to my off axis guider I will be able to hopefully get live video via dslr and altair camera via ed80..davy

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

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As I am still not 100% clear on whether the Altair-branded gizmo is the same as the Opticstar-branded gadget, I did, as I said I would, send off emails to both Altair and Tring to see if they would ship an advertised product to the USA. One response has, thus far, crawled into my box. Not sure if it's from Altair or Tring. But whatever - here is the body of the email:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I got your address on an astronomy-forum based in the UK regarding a certain video-camera. These are not available here in the USA. We are wondering if you can ship to us in the US?

Please do write me and let us know?

Thank you!

Dave
From You | Monday 21st September 2015 - 08:01

Hi Dave, thank you for your message and apologies for the slow reply - we have been away this weekend at a star party only returning late yesterday. We are not adverse to sending products overseas, but simply don't advertise the fact because the costs of doing so don't usually make it viable. What is it that you are interested in? Kind regards Neil

From Neil Hawkins | Wednesday 23rd September 2015 - 10:11

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So far,

Dave

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Spacedout

Spacedout

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Hi Dave,
 
I called Altair yesterday to get an update on the new batch of cameras but I also mentioned the US delivery question.  They basically said they ship all over the world all the time and that the price for accessories or the GPCAM to USA was about £20 for a 4 day tracked DHL delivery!  Regarding the cameras, the colour ones are back in stock (one on order :grin: ) and the mono should be ready to ship after the IAS.  

Hope that helps

Karl

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  • 3 weeks later...
morayskies

morayskies

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Interesting reading all the comments in this thread.  One thing is certain for me, the colour GP-CAM I have just received from Tring Astro will almost certainly give me better results than the ageing Phillips TouCam Pro I have been using for about the last 10 years  :smiley:

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