Testing Basler cameras with ICX618AL

[riklaunim]

I've got first camera for tests. Basler Scout sc640-120gm GigE camera with ICX618AL. The second camera - Basler Ace will be tested later when they will finally make it... scheduled at about 15-17 of may for delivery via avicon.pl which supply the cameras for testing(and which sells those cameras. Prices for Ace should be slightly higher than DMK21 in EU). Firewire cameras with ICX618 - Point Grey Flea 3 are already in use by some Australian planetary masters with outstanding results (on cloudynights.com) For images taken with ICX618 in a modded DMK21 go to Webcam Astrophotography by Emil Kraaikamp - home

Basler Scout sc640-120gm

- ICX618ALA much better than ICX098 (IS, webcam) and ICX424 (Lumenere Skynx 2.0)

- up to 120 FPS via Ethernet

- needs own power supply, no PoE

- has some extra features like external shutter control that isn't needed in astrophotography and raises the prices.

- 8 or 12 bit

- specs

Initial impressions

At first I had to install Pylon SDK from the Basler website. It works on my Win XP and they also have drivers for 64-bit windows as well Linux drivers. Camera after connecting can be tested with supplied Pylon viewer. GigE support in FireCapture is coming (we are working on it ) so real imaging will be possible next week. Camera gets quite warm when working.

Note that Ace will be even smaller than Scout It could get lost in a Barlow.

Pylon viewer and some artificial light from the scope

More to come in this thread KILL THE CLOUDS !

[riklaunim]

Here is some quick comparison with DMK21: test image

Car wheel captured with 150/750 newtonian For DMK21 I used 30 FPS, about 50% gain. For Basler - autoexposure, low gain in pylon viewer and screenshoted two single frames.

And for fun: Bush in IR, Bush in VIS

[riklaunim]

I'm after first true tests. The Basler Scout:

- has artifacts even on low FPS

- seems to be limited up to 400 ms of exposure time

- has less noise than DMK21

- FireCapture or more likely Pylon SDK are unstable

SATURN:

First line are RRGB images from convolved stakkert images. Second line are IR-RGB images wavelet-sharpened in Registax. DMK21 speed set to 30 FPS, Basler max speed was 32 FPS. Scout fails. To get artifacts in DMK21 I had to put it in 60 FPS mode:

M5 Globular Cluster

Comparison: link

4 sec DMK21: image 1, image 2

Basler Scout scA640-120gm in Pylon viewer and in FireCapture is limited to max 400ms exposure, which is much to short for guiding or imaging faint objects. Will have to check what will be the limit for Basler Ace. At 400 ms it is able to get something out of M5

Exposure times on Saturn

I couldn't use FireCapture for DMK21 as the beta version with alfa Basler support didn't wanted to work with DMK21, so the histograms weren't equal (bit to long exposures for Basler compared to DMK), but still IR sensitivity is noticeable.

I'm waiting for Ace, so I can test it next week, and SCT 8" to use longer focal length

[beamish]

Keep up the good work, I'm following a similar/connected thread on Lucam recorder Yahoo group

[riklaunim]

Darks: http://i41.tinypic.com/2evc1dz.jpg

- 250 frames stacked in Registax

- Master darks levels equaly edited in Photoshop

- 20C ambient, DMK close to ambient, Basler 33 C

Basler Ace postponed once again Aside of that I can get other cameras for testing and was thinking about re-testing Unibrain Fire-i B/W board (cheap imaging), and a Basler camera (Ace or Scout) with Sony ICX445 - 1/3" 3.75 x 3.75 µm pixels, with quite good sensitivity (spectral response).

[riklaunim]

Summary of current tests can be found on my page - Testing Basler Scout scA640-120gm. I'm waiting for Ace and better weather

[riklaunim]

Basler Ace is here:

Size is trully small Now some tests with VirtualDub, untill FireCapture will be compatible with Ace series (it has different API than Scouts :|)

[beamish]

That's just titchy !

[riklaunim]

It looks like Basler Ace doesn't has the circular artifacts. I've made few test images yesterday and no rings found on the stacks, but the images were bad due to clouds. I'll try confirm this on normal images today or later

Notes:

- it needs a power supply (direct or via powered ethernet cable). It can't use the computer to power it

- from what I see Basler Ace with ICX618 is limitted to 1 sec exposures. There may be some software addons for longer exposures... maybe.

- it will be supported by FireCapture

- it can go up to 100 FPS

[riklaunim]

Here is a nice image of the back of the camera:

Initial results and general description can be found in my article: First tests of Basler Ace acA640-100gm for planetary imaging.

Week of rain is forecasted (after a month of rain and clouds) so reviewing imaging stuff will be hard

[riklaunim]

Are you ready to rumble?

Basler Ace:

- PHD support: YES (img, img2)

- Metaguide support: YES (img)

- EQAlign support: YES (img)

[riklaunim]

Some new images of Saturn

At max gain (~1000 in FC) the pixelish noise is quite noticeable (on the Solar Continuum filter, and on f/28). Higher Ace camera temperature than DMK normaly has may impair low noise of the new CCD.

Making a copper radiators outfit for it could help, but the is not big heat channels inside the camera (like in laptops), so cooling would be hard. In my previous tests with Scout that had temperature sensor I've managed only to cool it to the room temperature by placing it by two frozen camping fridge cooling plates (they were at -5 to -10). The Scout housing was cold but the internal T was stil high.

[riklaunim]

I've got the detailed measurments for Basler Ace acA640-100gm: Camera Specification Measurement protocol using the EMVA Standard 1288

It contains a lot of QE, noise and other mystic data. CCD experts may say more on this (that could be interesting).

Some notes from my side are gathered on my webpage