Any idea what this ebay CCD camera is?

[Space Cowboy]

Found this on ebay but don't know what to make of it :

CCD CAMERA FOR TELESCOPE (& MICROSCOPE ?) - COLOUR on eBay (end time 10-Mar-11 16:51:38 GMT)

[Cornelius Varley]

It is an Opticstar DCT35

Peter

[Piers127]

Hi Cornelius,

Stupid question, but is it any good? 640x480 seems quite a low pixel count. Do you know of any shots taken with this CCD?

Many thanks,

Piers

[Space Cowboy]

640x480 is fine for imaging planets. USB 2.0 and 30 fps looks interesting but says auto exposure which is no use unless other capture software can control these settings. Can't find anything on google.

[Cornelius Varley]

The SPC900 /880 webcam has the same resolution as the DST35 (640x480). The DST35 has a larger sensor which means the pixel size will be greater. The FOV of the of the DST35 will be greater, but to get the best out of it you would need to shoot at a longer focal length than the better 900/880 webcam. The sensor is a cmos so shouldn't be as sensitive as the CCD in the 900/880. For £32 you could get a morgan's SPC880 flashed with 900 firmware which would a better buy. I don't think this camera has been sold by Opticstar for a number of years, the instruction manual only mentions Windows 2000 / XP as the required OS.

The supplied software allows exposure control. If you google "DST35 camera" most of the hits go to Chinese trade sites.

Peter

[Space Cowboy]

Ah yes its a CMOS censor not CCD thanks Peter! Already got the SPC 900 so wont be wasting my money lol