DMK31 vs Opticstar PX-75M (Sony ICX204)

[Leedsgreen]

Dear All,

I first posted this question in the 'Equipment Help' section but only received one reply. I hope it's therefore OK to reproduce here?

Recently I’ve been considering an upgrade to my SPC900NC webcam for imaging the moon and planets. As I’m mainly interested in the moon, I have been considering one of the larger Imaging Resource DMK mono CCDs (i.e. either the DMK31 or DMK41). Having received some useful advice from this forum I was leaning towards the DMK31 as a good compromise between real estate and frame rate. If I understand correctly, whilst the DMK31 is listed as 30fps, circular artefacts mean 15fps is much more common?

However, just before I pulled the trigger, I cam across this new camera from Opticstar:

Opticstar PX-75M COOLAIR video camera.

It uses the same Sony CCD chip as the DMK31 (ICX204) but offers 20fps, the ability to use ROI and up the frame rate (to 40fps or 60fps), is also fan cooled and is almost £100 cheaper (with the new VAT rate).

I wonder, has anyone tried one of these cameras? If not (because they appear very new) could any one let me know if I’m missing something obvious? One thing I note is that they only offer a long exposure of up to 9s, which rules out DSO work but other than that, the specs seem better than the DMK31. I would really welcome any thoughts or advice. For example, is it likely that as they both use the same chip, the images will be similar or could the internal hardware have a big imapct etc.

Thanks very much,

Nick

PS I have no connection with Opticstar or Imaging Resource