Re: Furthering the doom of astro CCDs...

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:49:10 GMT, Davoud <star@xxxxxxx> wrote:

When you say "advanced imagers" are you talking about researchers whose
needs are quite different to those of an amateur who wishes to make
pretty pictures?

Not at all; I'm not talking about scientific imaging. In most hobbies,
and astronomical imaging is no exception, there is a progression of
skills and passion (shall we say obsession?) from beginner to extremely
advanced. This is seen in terms of time invested as well as money (often
reflected in equipment acquired).

There are many parallels between astronomical imaging and conventional
photography. In the film days, a small percentage of photographers used
medium or large format equipment. This is expensive to purchase and use,
and doesn't deliver dramatically better results than 35mm. Nevertheless,
it does provide better performance and has capabilities beyond what is
even possible with 35mm. Those photographers might be called the most
advanced. Certainly, a group representing a very small percentage of all
photographers manage (or managed) to keep healthy a serious niche market
of equipment producers.

So with astronomical imaging. Currently, specialized cameras for this
purpose provide significantly better results than DSLRs, which is why
many, probably most, imagers are still using them. But advances in DSLR
technology over the last few years (which are ongoing) make these
cameras very attractive to many astronomical imagers. And as you note,
they have the advantage of being dual use. That said, we are years away
from them matching what is possible with filtered astronomical cameras
(IMO, that will never happen, but we'll see). So there remains a
progression: those who are most serious (passionate, obsessed...)
continue to advance beyond DSLRs for the simple reason that they reach
the limits of what those cameras are capable of.

Thus- and this was the point I was making to Rich's typically absurd
rant- there will always be a market (probably a pretty good one) for
dedicated astronomical cameras, and contrary to his assertion, their
"doom" is nowhere in sight.

(There was absolutely nothing in my original post that criticized
imagers for their choice of equipment. It is a simple statement of fact
that some imagers are more advanced than others, and the most advanced
don't generally use DSLRs because they find their limitations...
limiting. I sense you saw some insult in there, even though there was
none. People use what works for their interests- and budgets.)
_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
.

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