Altair Astro Hypercam 1600 mono

[jjosefsen]

1 hour ago, Adam J said:

I doubt that as its inherent to the sensor, beyond adding memory to increase read speed on USB2.0 you cant really do anything about it. Even then, I am not sure you would need to make it better, as its never caused me a single issue on my ASI1600mm pro, it just calibrates out perfectly like it was never there in the first place. For that matter in shorter exposures (30 seconds lum at Gain 76) that I use for shooting clusters I don't see it even with no calibration frames.  

Sorry to hear that the camera is not working for you though, its never good when you are itching to try new kit. I am having to send a coma corrector back that is clearly missing an AR coating right now so I feel your pain. 

Adam

I've read stuff elsewhere from people claiming to be in "the know" who say that the manufacturers are doing clever things like changing clock speeds, switching off electronics during readout, etc.. So it sounds like it could be possible to make an impact on amp glow..

But yeah.. I assume at this point that there is some faulty electronics at work here within the camera.

Edited April 8, 2019 by jjosefsen

[jjosefsen]

9 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

My ASI1600MM is off the scope at the moment,

I can produce some darks in the basement for you and share them  via dropbox, just let me know temp, exposures and amounts...

if needed

Hi,

No need, but thanks for offering.

[FLO]

19 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Alright I might have misspoken there

When a retailer (any retailer) tells you a product they sell is better than products they don't sell... 

I hope your camera is soon repaired and returned to you so you can continue to share your experience with it. 

Steve

[FLO]

19 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

My ASI1600MM is off the scope at the moment,

I can produce some darks in the basement for you and share them  via dropbox, just let me know temp, exposures and amounts...

 

10 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

No need, but thanks for offering.

Perhaps you should accept @RolandKol's kind offer ? 

It would enable you to make a real world comparison. 

Steve

[jjosefsen]

2 minutes ago, FLO said:

When a retailer (any retailer) tells you a product they sell is better than products they don't sell... 

I hope your camera is soon repaired and returned to you so you can continue to share your experience with it. 

Steve

Yeah I know, but this one was on me..

I hope it lives up to expectations, but I guess there is always a risk when you are an early adopter of a new product.

[jjosefsen]

1 minute ago, FLO said:

 

Perhaps you should accept @RolandKol's kind offer ? 

It would enable you to make a real world comparison. 

Steve

Yeah not a bad idea actually, would be interesting.. Once I have a working camera that is.

[Adam J]

37 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

doing clever things like changing clock speeds

Yes that is exactly what Starlight Xpress told me at the practical astronomy show about their upcoming CMOS camera..but ill believe it when I see it

[jjosefsen]

1 minute ago, Adam J said:

Yes that is exactly what Starlight Xpress told me at the practical astronomy show about their upcoming CMOS camera..but ill believe it when I see it

What do they claim it will do?

What sensor are they basing their cam off of?

[Adam J]

2 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

What do they claim it will do?

What sensor are they basing their cam off of?

Here, I summed up my conversation with them about it in this thread:

That is everything I gathered. 

Adam

[jjosefsen]

So I've had the chance to do some work with my replaced Hypercam 1600M over easter, and I must say it has performed very well.

I can't wait to try it out on some nebulae after the summer. :)

Attached is a very short 75minute RGB of M3 in pretty much full moon which shows in the background noise..

[Adam J]

31 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

So I've had the chance to do some work with my replaced Hypercam 1600M over easter, and I must say it has performed very well.

I can't wait to try it out on some nebulae after the summer.

Attached is a very short 75minute RGB of M3 in pretty much full moon which shows in the background noise..

I would love to see a flat frame. I might be seeing a dark ring in the background towards the corners?

[jjosefsen]

Man seeing that image on my work pc... Background really sucks!

I can find a flat no problem, I am still working out how to best calibrate the data in APP.

[RolandKol]

 Yep... the same always happens to me!

I usually process at home on the notebook and get scared once I check the final result at Office  

But in your case, it is Very good short RGB result during Full Moon  even a galaxy is slightly visible at the bottom

P.S. happy to see your new cam does the job as expected.

Edited April 25, 2019 by RolandKol

[jjosefsen]

Here is a screengrab of an autostretched masterflat for my Ha filter:

So faster scope and 1,25" filters will probably be problematic..

[Waynescave]

On 05/04/2019 at 17:35, jjosefsen said:

I just received mine today, so will let you know once it's seen first light. ?

Hi there, just wondering how you've been getting on with the Altair 1600 mono cooled cam? 

Thinking of getting this camera too but concerned about back focus... 

Also, what do you measure to and from if one doesn't use a Flattener or reducer?...or do you have to have one in the train? I've been fine with my t3i dslr camera up to now... 📸😅

Cheers

Edited May 26, 2019 by Waynescave
More info....

[Anthonyexmouth]

52 minutes ago, Waynescave said:

Hi there, just wondering how you've been getting on with the Altair 1600 mono cooled cam? 

Thinking of getting this camera too but concerned about back focus... 

Also, what do you measure to and from if one doesn't use a Flattener or reducer?...or do you have to have one in the train? I've been fine with my t3i dslr camera up to now... 📸😅

Cheers

If you're worried about back focus take a look at the zwo version. It allows a little extra space which might be useful for some setups. 

[jjosefsen]

1 hour ago, Waynescave said:

Hi there, just wondering how you've been getting on with the Altair 1600 mono cooled cam? 

Thinking of getting this camera too but concerned about back focus... 

Also, what do you measure to and from if one doesn't use a Flattener or reducer?...or do you have to have one in the train? I've been fine with my t3i dslr camera up to now... 📸😅

Cheers

Hi,

It has been a bit of a ride to be honest..

I have had some problems with calibration, but due to lack of astrodarkness here, I have had very limited chances to acquire new data.

I do believe I have the calibration problems under control now, so looking forward to late summer / autumn so I can start imaging again.

 

There is some random noise that I just can't figure out, and due to it's random nature the only way I can see to get rid of it is by swamping it with enough signal and then dithering, something I would do regardless.

The backfocus has not been an issue yet, but I have a quite slow system @F6.4 and I think it will be a problem when going faster with 1.25" filters.

 

I haven't done enough testing yet, I've had two sessions with it - one with a full moon and one with around 60% illuminated moon and some hih thin clouds.

[Waynescave]

1 hour ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

If you're worried about back focus take a look at the zwo version. It allows a little extra space which might be useful for some setups. 

Thanks. I'll only be adding a filter wheel at the moment and maybe a reducer/Flattener in future. Just wanted to be sure I'd be okay with 31mm filters in efw mini without vignetting.. On my 840 esprit120ed at f7, should be OK? Right? 🤔

[Anthonyexmouth]

9 hours ago, Waynescave said:

Thanks. I'll only be adding a filter wheel at the moment and maybe a reducer/Flattener in future. Just wanted to be sure I'd be okay with 31mm filters in efw mini without vignetting.. On my 840 esprit120ed at f7, should be OK? Right? 🤔

With the zwo version you can get the filter wheel a lot closer so less chance of vignetting

[jjosefsen]

10 hours ago, Waynescave said:

Thanks. I'll only be adding a filter wheel at the moment and maybe a reducer/Flattener in future. Just wanted to be sure I'd be okay with 31mm filters in efw mini without vignetting.. On my 840 esprit120ed at f7, should be OK? Right? 🤔

At f7 probably not a problem.. But i don't know about after reducer is added.. It might be a problem, and if you have to get new fw and filters it will drive the price up.

[Adam J]

14 hours ago, Waynescave said:

Thanks. I'll only be adding a filter wheel at the moment and maybe a reducer/Flattener in future. Just wanted to be sure I'd be okay with 31mm filters in efw mini without vignetting.. On my 840 esprit120ed at f7, should be OK? Right? 🤔

If imaging at F7 you will be fine, at F5.5 after adding a 0.8x reducer you will not be ok. I would go with 36mm filters for your setup with that camera. Or just get the ZWO....

[Waynescave]

1 minute ago, Adam J said:

If imaging at F7 you will be fine, at F5.5 after adding a 0.8x reducer you will not be ok. I would go with 36mm filters for your setup with that camera. Or just get the ZWO....

Ahh thank you.. Thought it would be close.. 

Adam you may be the man to ask, talking on reducers.. Which would be adaptable to my esprit? There's no dedicated one by SW. 

Saw one suggested one tsoptics I think at. 0.75x apo reducer... Its £369!!🤑

[Waynescave]

I give up... Think I'll be going with ZWO.. All my solutions keep pointing to them! 

Have been looking interestingly at zwo bigger sensored OSC now tho! 🙉 The 071 mc Pro.. 

In my class 4 bortle skies would I capture nearly as good detailed data as say the 1600 mono 

Wondered what other people's thoughts on this would be guys n gals?? 

 

[Waynescave]

Thanks in advance! 

[Adam J]

5 hours ago, Waynescave said:

Ahh thank you.. Thought it would be close.. 

Adam you may be the man to ask, talking on reducers.. Which would be adaptable to my esprit? There's no dedicated one by SW. 

Saw one suggested one tsoptics I think at. 0.75x apo reducer... Its £369!!🤑

To be honest I am not exactly sure what the best reducer for a Esprit 120 is. I suspect that one of the adjustable WO reducers would work fine.

I would always go with a mono sensor and good quality filters.

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by Adam J