GPCAM2

[steviebee]

My wife has offered to buy me the GPCAM2 colour guide/imaging camera for my 60th in a couple of weeks. I noticed on the minimum specs required for CPU on computer is an Intel core2  2.8GHz. I have only just got my laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) which has a Intel core2 duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHz. Do you think this would be ok. Only I cant justify buying another laptop ( I would prefer to keep certain parts of my anatomy, so wont suggest it). Also on another post it said Altair was going to introduce a cooling module for this camera. Does anyone know if this is the cast. Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

Stve.

[ChrisLX200]

That will be fine, at full resolution the camera captures at around 14 frames/sec and the limiting factor is the USB2 interface rather than the CPU. I'm not sure what the cooler consists of but I suspect it's just a fan and heatsink rather than anything more sophisticated (like a TEC solution). The 224 sensor is fairly low noise anyway so I'm not sure how great a benefit an add-on passive cooler would be (the real issue is amp glow). I've gone out to 2 mins with this camera at which point amp glow is very intrusive but it can be corrected with matching dark frames. This camera is well suited to planetary imaging although for us in the northern hemisphere there are currently no bright planets at decent altitude around to image, and there won't be for a few years yet. For a colour camera this one offers relatively high sensitivity but it is still a lot less than the mono version, so it depends on your primary use which one to choose.

ChrisH

[steviebee]

Hi Chris, many thanks for your prompt reply. I intend to use it mainly for planetary, with hopefully the odd deep sky object. Yes I believe it is just a fan and heatsink that clips on. I feel that I am blessed with having our retirement home in S.W.France, so Dark skies are the norm, with a fantastic field of view. I was just a bit worried that after having purchased the camera I would find my laptop struggling. Again many thanks for your reply.

 

Steve.