DSI Mk i / DSI Mkii

[Daz1969]

Hi all , can anybody tell me if the dsi mk 2 is a whole lot better than the mk 1?

I have a Mk1 which i plan to use for guiding and am wanting to get a cam for imaging but iam on a tight buget so was thinking of sticking with meade and maybe try to get a 2nd hand DSI Mk2 for imaging with.Am i right in thinking i could get a dsi mk2 for a couple of hundred quid?

Cheers

Daz:icon_salut:

[Ben Ritchie]

The DSI Pro II is a decent step up from the original DSI Pro - nice low-noise, red-sensitive CCD (Sony ICX429, as also used by the Atik 16, QHY6 pro and Starlight Xpress Lodestar). It doesn't have cooling, but that's less of an issue than with some CCDs as the noise isn't bad.

As for a couple of hundred quid, depends if you get lucky - i'd have thought a used one would get snapped up pretty fast at that price, they make great autoguider CCDs too.

[RobH]

Hello Daz,

The DSI pro2 is certainly better than the mk1 and has a bigger chip.

I had both, but unfortunately the mk 2 died and I couldn't get it fixed as I got it in the US and the warranty doesn't work in europe....I ended up buying an Atik 16HR instead which is a vastly better camera.

Cheers

Rob

[Merlin66]

Having had LPI, DSI I and now a DSI II pro I'd agree with Ben. The DSI II is much superior to any of the previous. BTW I was reading re the Outback cooler, that it really doesn't do all that much; there's still a slight amp glow which cooling doesn't remove.

[Daz1969]

Ah,Thankyou guys:)

DSI Mk2 it is then ,although iam begining to realise it may cost a bit more than i had planned.Cheers for the info

Daz

[Ben Ritchie]

There are some DSI Pro II images here which show what it can do:

Post Processing Meade DSI Pro II & III Images Start To Finish Photo Gallery by Matt at pbase.com

worth noting though that there's some pretty high-end supporting equipment there, even if it's a basic CCD, and Matt Taylor is an expert imager - so for most of us it's not "results like these the first night out" as Meade's over-optimistic advertising tag used to go. Shows the potential though.

[Psychobilly]

I had the "Colour" versions of both the DSI 1 and DSI II... Johns JGS001 is using my DSI I C one as a guide cam and I am using the DSI IIC... I did a TEC cooler mod job on the DSI II C but don't bother with it when using it as a guidecam... The mono Pro versions are more sensitive but I have never had problems using the colour ones for guiding...

[Daz1969]

Excellent:)

[Psychobilly]

I originally planned to do the same... Image with the Mk II and guide with the Mk I but soon got fed up with the tiny FOV from the Chip... ... and started using DSLR's instead...

Peter...