this one that one....CCD cameras

[Eric Lawrence]

I know that I want a mono CCD. But is there much differance between SBIG or ATIK. Any input would be great. I have a Orion star shoot G3 mono.

[D4N]

I think in general terms the SBIG cameras have larger sensors and the Atik cameras are very low noise.

 

So it depends on what you want really.

 

I don't have an SBIG but I do have an Atik, it is a very good camera and darks are a waste of time on it.  I just use a bad pixel map for cosmetic correction.

[Eric Lawrence]

D4N, thank you for taking the time to help me. I'am not sure what I need but I know that the Orion G3 star shoot won't get me far.

[swag72]

There's a few things that need to be sorted with a mono CCD really. Firstly, you would benefit from spending some time with the Field of View calculator (such as this one ) and get a feel for all of those different size sensors out there. There are many and it will be a good investment and save you any potential wrong decisions if you spend a lot of time there. If you make a wrong choice and end up with a smaller sensor than you want for example, it's an expensive thing to live with.

From there, once you have decided on your sensor size, then consider manufacturers. I have found QSI to be excellent with regards cooling ( I don't know how hot you get it, but here in Spain I need excellent cooling). Also, you can think about whether you want an all in one integrated solution (including a filter wheel and often an Off axis guider). The benefit of this is that the integrated filter wheel option will often get the filters nearer to the sensor than a separate wheel. That means that you can user smaller (ergo cheaper) filters as well.

Hope that helps.

[Gina]

Interesting point about integrated FW and OAG Sara   I think I might need to guide my new widefield imaging rig and adding a separate guide scope/lens is rather awkward.  I haven't got enough back focus on my lens to fit in a normal OAG as well as filter wheel.

[D4N]

I have an integrated filter wheel on my CCD, the only downside to it is that it is only five slots, ideally you want 7 slots to be able to load LRGB SII Ha and OIII at the same time.

So I have a couple of options there, I either swap filters around when going between LRGB and NB or I use my filter drawer further down the optical train then select L on the filter wheel and put a 2" coloured filter into the drawer.

At the moment though I have just been doing NB and luminance.

As Sara says check out what field of view you will have with different setups, consider if you will be using a reducer/flattener when you do this.

Pixel scale is also important so you should check that out too. http://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability

[MattJenko]

Another consideration is support. Atik are UK based and very responsive. SBIG are US based, so servicing, fixing is extra hassle.