Altair Astro GPCAM 290M USB3

[baggywrinkle]

This is my 3rd AA camera I also have the 178C and 183C.

My problem with the colour cameras for Lunar work was frame rate speed, image stability and therefore getting a better  focus,  especially for Lunar work, UK skies are not kind.

It was after a conversation with Nick I decided to go for a mono camera specifically for Lunar work as this would offer both faster frame rates and better image stability.

As ever it came well boxed but I was surprised how small it is compared to the baked bean tin sized 178 & 183. They do say good things come in small packages and so it proved. I did have an initial concern it might not be the best match for my Meade LX850 12" in my ROR obsy and a Celestron 9.25 SCT on an Evolution mount.

I was able to test the camera on both OTA and I am very pleased with the results.

I use Sharpcap for Lunar and planetary work and the camera was recognized straight away, and the control panel brought up the appropriate controls for the 290

The Meade 12" ACF  is an F10 OTA with a 3048mm focal length, my immediate feeling was how stable the image appeared compared with the 178C I normally use, the smaller chip in the 290 did mean I had a smaller image size compared to the wider vista the 178C can encompass. Focussing was easy as the frame rate at MONO12 setting and medium amount of gain gave me 60 FPS. I did not swop out the 290 and replace it with the 178 to see if the improved seeing was the result of using a mono camera v a colour one. 

If you run in MONO 8 mode the frame rate doubles.

Using the histogram I could also adjust the exposure and black settings to get a good exposure. As the seeing was very steady I also upped the anti by using a 2x Powermate and I was wowed by the resulting image, it was still reasonably stable and though I had to up the gain and exposure a little the FPS rate did not drop.

I shot 2000 frames rather than 5000 to ensure the mount tracked within the high magnification I now had. This was using the maximum 1920x1080 full chip area.

You can also set other areas of interest through the control panel.

The faster frame rate allowed me to take 2000- 5000 frames and using Autostakkert and adjust using Registax wavelets. The results of the Meade 12" are in the Lunar imaging section

On the next morning I tried the 9.25 SCT on an Evolution mount. on the patio. Seeing was again very good. As the Evolution is an AZ mount and IMO with a 9.25 OTA mounted it is working at its weight limits. I did not use the Powermate.

Again I was very pleased with the images, they are posted in the Lunar Imaging section for the 22nd August. I used 2000-3000 frames, I had though 5000 might mean the image would be cropped due to image rotation over a long exposure time on an AZ mount. At 60 FPS the exposure lasted 30-50 secs.

I did not see any real evidence of image cropping.

Overall I am very impressed with the speed and quality of the images generated. I will certainly be using this camera a lot.

Will I sell my 178C...?... No. That larger chip means wider vistas, but now I have the choice.