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Who on Earth is using Opticstar DS-336C XL camera ??

jarbi

By jarbi
in Imaging - Discussion

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jarbi

jarbi

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Hi,

I was apparently too quick to buy this camera, and I am just not able to put it in use... For the record, I can make reasonable astrophoto's with ALL my other camera's ( see my signature ).

How does it come ??? This CCD produces nice dark frames, but that's it :p. When I take light frames, it looks like swallowing than gathering light ??? Last week I have spent a whole evening by shooting test frames of M42 with this camera, mounted on an Zenithstar 70 scope. After 4 MINUTES of exposure ( 1x1 or 2x2 binning ) I can hardly see anything outside the trapezium on the frames, whatever gain/offset I tried ( I have followed Nebulosity's help to set that right at the first place )! I will put some example frames here this evening.

A Google search doesn't reveal any reviews about this CCD, am I the only clown on earth who paid for it ? I have sent my test results to Opticstar, and they stated there is nothing wrong with the camera, I have to gain more experience blabla..

At this moment it looks like I gave out 700 £ for a paperweight :).

Is there anyone who ever saw this CCD working properly ? I would apprecieate any additional info.

Clear skies,

Janos

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  • 4 months later...
jarbi

jarbi

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dear jabi.i now have an opticstar ds-336c xl and am wiating 4 the weather to clear to try it out.do u still have yours

Thanks for replying, you are the first one who I ever found owning one ;). I sill have my camera, and Opticstar just released new drivers for it some weeks ago. You also need the latest version of Nebulosity to use it. As I experience, the camera behaves better with the updated driver, but I didn't have a chance to run a proper fotosession with it yet. Weather was just horrible the whole july here in Belgium.

I am very curious about your experiences, please share them and post your astrophotos also if possible !

clear skies,

Janos

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old geezer

old geezer

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Edit: Message reinstated.

dear janos and all.please find my first pictures using my opticstar ds-336c xl camera.they were taken last nite using a celestron sl130 scope on wooden pilar mounted heq5pro .pictures with nebulosity 2,camera at 75% gain 5 minits or maybe more,checked out in deep sky stacker with basic tweeks but no drizzle etc,guide with sw st80/qhy5/phd.nebulosity v2 was used as one panel at a time ie with phd minimised otherwise it/i got confused. my only rocket science is light the blue touchpaper so more expereince imager will bet more from the pictures.comments welcomed please.from richard

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jarbi

jarbi

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Promising first images I must say ! Colors are already very nice. As I experience I get much less noise with this camera when the gain is under 50%, and flats/darks will help to make the light spots dissappear from the upper edge.

cheers,

Janos

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jarbi

jarbi

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Forget OpticStar cameras FULL STOP.

They make decent ones for lunar fast frame and that is about it.

They are unreliable with USB, they suck at decent pictures and are useless.

How do you know that ? I have my camera since almost a year, and it's just impossible to get any practical info or reviews about it on the net. And too late for me anyway, so I am trying to use it or sell it.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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How do you know that ? I have my camera since almost a year, and it's just impossible to get any practical info or reviews about it on the net. And too late for me anyway, so I am trying to use it or sell it.

I think you should argue with Opticstar. If the camera is not fit for purpose they shoud take it back.

Olly

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old geezer

old geezer

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Edit: post returned.

in reply to catanonias comments.has he ever owned/used one.ive not seen any comments like his on forum pages.his condemnation to say forget it full stop,it sucks its useless seem if i may seem over reactive.if its based on my pictures then ime not the best for taking/editing pictures so to condem the camera is maybe not correct.its unreliable and has usb problems.well mine runs on a 12 meter usb repeated which it shares with my qhy5.with my atik ic16 colour i sometimes do get usb errors i conclude are caused by power line spikes so i have fitter an in line mains filter which has reduced this.its useless,well i did have problems trying to run phd and nebulosity on the same screen but this was overcome by minimising phd when not needed.i did get some banding on the qhy5 caused by using 1 usb port.there was no banding on the opticstar.there was amp glow on the 5 minit pictures which dark frames will correct.the opticstar worked perfectly taking frames with lots of stars of 5 minit duration.if there grainy its my fault for miss using it .not everyone is a nik szymanek.he has excellent kit and skill in knowing how to use it and get the best from it.hopefully the reply is seen as a reasonable adult comment to a camera . i look forwards to his reply to my observations

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riklaunim

riklaunim

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Such cams need a lot of frames at shorter than usual exposures. Just like people do DS images with DMK/DBK/DFK cameras ;) Then it could work even quite nicely. Also dark/flat +/- bias frames for processing will be "welcomed" tu push the quality up.

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Catanonia

Catanonia

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How do you know that ? I have my camera since almost a year, and it's just impossible to get any practical info or reviews about it on the net. And too late for me anyway, so I am trying to use it or sell it.

Because I have had one before and they are awful.

I took it back to OpticStar for a full refund

I tried for weeks to get one of thier PL130 cameras to work as a guide camera and it was pants, and that was if you could get it to actually connect and work with a consitent image.

Somewhere on here (about 2 years ago) is a thread I started on it.

Edit See Here

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/81517-help-needed-guiding-camera-opticstar-pl-130m.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/82593-my-scopes-too-good-help-guidance-please.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/82953-quick-guiding-scope-question-you-veterans.html

In the end I gave it back as not fit for purpose. Heard loads of problems of users having issues with other OpticStar cameras

The very limited knowledge on the net is another indication, infact the only review I could find was a group test where they couldn't get it to work and no scored it.

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  • 1 month later...
Astro640

Astro640

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Promising first images I must say ! Colors are already very nice. As I experience I get much less noise with this camera when the gain is under 50%, and flats/darks will help to make the light spots dissappear from the upper edge.

cheers,

Janos

Hello Jarbi,

owner of a CCD TUCSEN TCC-3.3ICE, the original DS-336C is with interest that I read your forum on the subject of the CCD settings, to which I too am experiencing.

after testing with the test software Tucsen, the results are goodthis little halo on top, and left.

and nonexistent in the dark!

with the following settings:

binning 1x1, 16bit, couloeur,

Manual exposure.

Gain 25 dB,

Time 30s

Gamma 0.35,

Contrast 60,

80 saturation

2.5fps Frame Rate

But I work on the subject but unfortunately I do not have the plugins to continue my testing MaximDL Nebulosity or with whom the Tucsen should operate despite the opinion of OpticStar who would not send them to me (although I am a customer for 50% of my astro equipment, no comment).

If a pocesseur DS-336 C could help me for plugins, I'd be very grateful.

In advance thank you.

Regards.

Pascal.

PS: sorry for the quality of my English, but I am forced to use a translator French / English.

EQ6-Pro,OO-250,ED80,Tucsen 3.3Mp, EOS450

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jarbi

jarbi

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Hello Jarbi,

owner of a CCD TUCSEN TCC-3.3ICE, the original DS-336C is with interest that I read your forum on the subject of the CCD settings, to which I too am experiencing.

after testing with the test software Tucsen, the results are goodthis little halo on top, and left.

and nonexistent in the dark!

with the following settings:

binning 1x1, 16bit, couloeur,

Manual exposure.

Gain 25 dB,

Time 30s

Gamma 0.35,

Contrast 60,

80 saturation

2.5fps Frame Rate

But I work on the subject but unfortunately I do not have the plugins to continue my testing MaximDL Nebulosity or with whom the Tucsen should operate despite the opinion of OpticStar who would not send them to me (although I am a customer for 50% of my astro equipment, no comment).

If a pocesseur DS-336 C could help me for plugins, I'd be very grateful.

In advance thank you.

Regards.

Pascal.

PS: sorry for the quality of my English, but I am forced to use a translator French / English.

EQ6-Pro,OO-250,ED80,Tucsen 3.3Mp, EOS450

Hi Pascal,

I would like to understand more exactly what you mean, PM me in french. Not my best language, but we will manage :(

cheers,

Janos

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Astro640

Astro640

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Hi Pascal,

I would like to understand more exactly what you mean, PM me in french. Not my best language, but we will manage :(

cheers,

Janos

hello,

thank you for answer

yes, sorry, I understand, you have the halo of light in your image.

I have good results with these settings, see attachments.

and I would like to experiment my Tucsen with Nébulosity V2 or MaximDL,

but I need the plugin OS DS336 for adaptation.

I'm looking for someone who could give me, to continue testing,

because I pocede source code of Tucsen.

Cordialement.

Pascal

Tucsen_reglage de base ex M13.bmp

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jarbi

jarbi

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hello,

thank you for answer

yes, sorry, I understand, you have the halo of light in your image.

I have good results with these settings, see attachments.

and I would like to experiment my Tucsen with Nébulosity V2 or MaximDL,

but I need the plugin OS DS336 for adaptation.

I'm looking for someone who could give me, to continue testing,

because I pocede source code of Tucsen.

Cordialement.

Pascal

Pascal,

i have the Nebulosity driver for the Opticstar DS-335C and DS-336C XL, just PM me you email addres, I can send these to you.

cheers,

Janos

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