Re: Meade DSI pro versus firewire webcam for planetary use?

Hi guys,

Thanks for your responses. Not to throw a money wrench into the machinery
here, but there are a couple of people doing planetary LRGB imaging with
great results, Damian Peach and Thierry Legault. In Damian's case, he has
basically stuck with monochrome webcam (ATIK camera, but now Lumenera) and
does all LRGB with Astronomik type II filters. However, Thierry is a
different story. He does use a webcam, but I believe he has combined a
luminance from his 16 bit camera with his webcam color components. He
doesn't say that outright, but if you look at his purely 16 bit images and
then his later webcam images, you see detail in the webcam images not
normally seen:

http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/

He notes on several of his Jupiter images that conditions were "average" so
my guess is that he picked out the best 15-20 16 bit liminance frames and
combined them with the webcam color image. It is his way of imaging with
great results that lead me to think that maybe the Meade camera, being 16
bit also, and somewhat similar pixel relationship to a webcam, might suffice
very well for that luminance component. The only drawback I'm wondering
about is the lack of peltier cooling with the Meade and whether or not that
would play a significant factor.

Bob

"David Nakamoto" <res07oeg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:fMJle.4522$m%3.378@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Chris !
>
> According to the DSI Pro's specs, it totes exposure times of 1/10,000 of a
> second to one hour. I think this might be overkill on the short end.
I've not
> found any use for exposures of less than 1/1,000 of a second or so,
because of
> the long focal lengths I tend to use for planet and lunar imaging, but on
the
> other hand I don't have any telescopes capable of fitting the entire Moon
or Sun
> in the FOV. Of course, with the Sun you better use a filter or else
you're
> going to fry the sensor - what is true for the eye is true for the CCD.
>
> Your comment on Jupiter and tri-color imaging is something I completely
agree
> with, especially if you're running at very high magnifications, as you
should.
> One should push the magnification as high as is optimal, given the focal
length,
> aperture, exposure times, and so forth.
>
> Again, on planet and lunar imaging, I still think a webcam is better than
the
> DSI Pro - faster frame rates, more pixels in the horizontal direction, and
> definitely lighter in weight.
>
> Whether this camera is a good DS imager is debatable. Probably good as an
> introduction, but then you're not going to get much back for your money
when you
> try and sell it and go for a better camera. Since it seems that, for now,
the
> best camera for planets and lunar work is a webcam, and the best camera
for Deep
> Sky is a dedicated legitimately cooled CCD camera from SBIG or Starlight
> Xpress, among others, then get your feet wet with the former and save up
your
> money for the latter.
>
> I suspect that in a few years we're going to see a lot of these DSI and
DSI Pro
> cameras on the used market as users try and recoup their money and
upgrade, and
> the market will soon be saturated. This is one device I wouldn't
recommend that
> Celestron try and follow lead on. On the other hand, I did have one other
idea
> . . .
>
> --- Dave
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Pinprick holes in a colorless sky
> Let inspired figures of light pass by
> The Mighty Light of ten thousand suns
> Challenges infinity, and is soon gone
>
> david.nakamoto@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> "Chris L Peterson" <clp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:5sce911hgpms58jgakt4laasubeh1tnutc@xxxxxxxxxx
> > On Fri, 27 May 2005 06:17:29 GMT, "David Nakamoto"
> > <res07oeg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >>I was thinking that this was the Pro version this guy was referring to,
and
> >>this
> >>one uses a set of filters to do imaging. The specifications say the
maximum
> >>transfer rate is 5 frames per second if USB 2.0. If not USB 2.0 the
transfer
> >>rate is probably slower. The DSI Pro's CCD has less pixels than a
webcam; 510
> >>x
> >>492 as opposed to 640 x 480. And it requires you take three or more
sequences
> >>of images, one per filter, while a webcam takes all colors at once. Why
would
> >>you want to bother? Seems like a no-brainer to me. Go webcam.
> >
> > Well, since you can't find B&W webcams anymore, the fact that the DSI is
> > B&W is perhaps the one thing in its favor. This could push the QE high
> > enough to actually take advantage of more than 8 bits of dynamic range.
> > That would assume, of course, that the camera is capable of exposures
> > shorter than 1/5 second, which I don't know.
> >
> > But if my goal were color pictures, I wouldn't want to do tricolor
> > imaging on something rotating as quickly as Jupiter.
> >
> > _________________________________________________
> >
> > Chris L Peterson
> > Cloudbait Observatory
> > http://www.cloudbait.com
>
>


.

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