Review Atik 2HS

[CELESCOPE]

Ok , now my time with the Atik 2hs is coming mostly to an end , it would be nice to reflect back on the Pro,S and Cons of this amazing modded Web Cam .

With a lot of new people coming into the Forum, and may want to progress into imaging , especially DSO, this could help in getting them on their way at a low cost.

Yes we all know that its not cheap , but we can at least gain very acceptable images without spending a lot of money .

Damo has expressed his view on the Pro,s and Cons of the planetry Web Cams , so will leave that to rest . and move to the growing demand in D.S.O imaging .

This liitle lightweight Modded cam can take you a very long way in achieving very good images , its is a fan cooled imager with removable nose piece , this enables you flexiblity when using different telecopes.

through the winter and spring ,autumn months it will perform well , the summer month do present a small problem , in the fact that this camera loves to work at 40 f and under, so we have a very small problem with hot pixels , which can be annoying to say the least , however this can be corrected in such software programmes as Photoshop .

For those of us working in ALT-AZ the exposure time will be critical, a max of 45 / 50 seconds would be the limit, and this is using certain processing software that can correct Star rotation , the correction will turn the framing of the image resulting in a loss of picture .

I have used this method with all my images with the Atik 2hs , so dont be down hearted as you can see by the images i have taken ,all these problems can be dealt with.

For those using an EQ Mount , this should not be a problem, however good polaralignment should reduce ,if not solve this problem.

To gain good images we have to look at the data that we can get onto the chip , this camera is very sensitive and although it may not appear that you have captured the very faint image you are going for , you will be surprised that in the process work how much comes to life.

End results can be effected in a few ways,firstly i always feel the faster the F Ratio the better , so those of us with not so good tracking ,keep it low i would suggest F3 /4 or 5 , anything over that and you will struggle , this will give you good results in under a minute.

For those with good tracking and spot on polar alignment , then taking the smaller nebular and planetry nebula like the OWL , M57 AND M27 , you can use larger F Ratio.s and longer exposures .,

SO its all a matter of balance really ,

Celestron gps 8 as you know , the secondary mirror can be removed and a lens called a fastar system can be used , this brings it down to a very fast F1.95 and will capture almost all the faint nebula up there .

the cost of this Atik is around £346 i think , but second hand ones can be bought , i would just say , be careful when obtaining one , make sure it does work .

Any way if anyone does take this route , feel free to ask questions , always here to help with more in depth info.

Rog

[GordonCopestake]

A good review Rog.

How does the Atik compare with a DSLR for DSO's?

[CELESCOPE]

Hi Gordon ,

It really depends on what you want to do , the Atik is of course b/w , but like i said is so sensitive it can grab almost anything up there , dslr camera,s are fine , for you have the instant colour there , but you have to have very long exposures to capture the really faint nebula , it will of course grab M42 easily with the DSLR, and other fairly easy nebs , also the dslr is a lovely wide field , so itS what you want really.

its a difficult one to say , once again, it does depend on the equipment you have , if you cannot do long long exposures , then the Atik would wipe the floor with the dslr, if of course long exposures are available to you the DSLR will produce some staggering images of wide field, have,nt really answered the question have i , but personally i would go for the Atik , and if you like colour then do LRGB ,

ROG

[GordonCopestake]

Hi Rog, thanks for the reply. I guess the major advantage of the DSLR is that you can take it off your scope and use it for other purposes. The ATIK is a little more specialised. But as you say, is more sensitive to those all important photons! The shorted exposure needed for the ATIK i guess means that your guiding doesn't have to be as clean, which for most means the cost of the mount has to be taken into consideration.

[CELESCOPE]

very true Gordon , processing is getting better all the time and many help for bad tracking etc , its time consuming woirking this way , but i tell ya what it gives you some valuable skills in processing images .and when u move on to shallwe say proper CCD IMAGING its a whole lot easier for the final result

Cheers

Rog

[OXO]

Enjoyd reading the Review Rog thanks for sharing

[radioactive]

nice review Rog even I understod it completely well as much as I understand anything these days

Now if only I could lay my hands on about £346 I could but I want to live a little longer yet so that idea is no good hope I get dead relatives leaving me some maybe Mmmmmmmmm get a hold of reality Martyn remember when you were young and mother loaned you out to them they would only feed you with a catapult!

No it looks like I will have to save hard thing is I always get offers I cannot refuse along the way

Mmmmmmmm now then sgl has 250 odd members and its a big birthday in june yes at a pound a piece thats errr then if you say accepting xmas pressies early + take B card or Visa plus MAT (like vat but a better cause then thats errrm yeh carry the 3 and divide by the diagonal thats errr

oh well maybe someone will have a 2nd hand one for sale can do a pound a week Ok? :)

[Jamie]

Great review Rog (liked it lots)

[MartinB]

I love my new second hand Atik 2HS. It has a much narrower FOV than a DSLR so forget wide screen imaging but it is a wonderful wonderful piece of gear when linked up with a laptop and k3ccdtools. Point your scope at a M51 or M81 or M13 (I could go on a long time here!). You will see a fuzzy. Enjoy. Then take out the ep replace with Atik 2HS. Put K3ccdtools in long exposure mode, say 10 secs for starters and select preview. This will continually update the screen every 10 seconds. Focus and .....WOW!!!!!!!

All time top purchase (Thank you, thank you Damien). Nuff said