The STL11000 Monochrome is not far away now.

[Striker]

Just heard from Peter Ward today telling me the STL11000 has arrived at ATS....wahoooo

Wasn't expecting it till next month.

So I cant wait to have a play with it and start to learn all about dedicated CCDS.

I'm telling you it was hard depositing that amount of cash into someone elses account.....lol

I still have to wait for the filters and some other accesories but I can atleast get it set up and a start fairly soon.

Wish me luck.

[iceman]

Wow Tony, can't wait to see the results!

[h0ughy]

so your the problem RE the weather!!! well in anticipation, congrats

[TidaLpHasE]

:thumbsup:Good luck with it Tony, sure will be a learning curve worth mastering.

It might make it easier the more you make those kind of large deposits, i could assist with your problem and ease the pain, my account details are BSB:123456 ACC, 10482#####:lol:

Can't wait to see your skills with this fine camera.

[[1ponders]]

:sad: more cloud :sad:


:lol: Onya Tony. Hey what has happened to your new chilled 350D? Have you still got it?

[Striker]

No Paul,

Went back for a full refund.

I'm looking forward to the new learning curve.

Really excited that I need to take Luminance, RGB shots then all the Bias flats and dark frames just for 1 image.

I must be mad.

Still not entirely sure how well it will go with the 10" LX200R combonation.

Time will tell.

[Garyh]

Great stuff Tony!!!! I would love one of these babies..
cheers Gary

[rogerg]

I'm going to be very interested to see your results. A few things I've considered when dreaming about one of these for my 12" is if my field would be flat enough to utilise more than half the chip surface area, and how much their relatively low 55% QE really hurts the exposure times... so it's good to have a beta tester for us :)

Congrats on the purchase, I suspect however bad the results they'll still be stunning :)

Roger.

[RB]

mmm that's a bit of bad luck Tony cos if you waited another month or so you could have ordered the new STL15000 XL.
It's stated QE of 76% is nothing to sneeze at considering it's replacing the ST11000 at the same price point.

Oh well.
:shrug:











J/K
Congrats mate...:P

[Striker]

haha Andrew.

I would hate to see the price of a 11mp ccd camera with 67% QE...ouch.

I would guess at $20,000.

Do you think the severe thunderstorm warning over Brisbane on TV at the moment is my fault...lol

[jase]

Good to hear Tony. I'd better check where my STL11k has gone...:shrug:

[Striker]

Funny that Jase because when they rung me to tell the camera is ready they called me Jase so I played along saying yep I'm Jase...lol

[seeker372011]

Tony
do still have a H alpha filter?
that could be first light for the new toy couldnt it?

[Striker]

I have ordered the Astrodon 6nm 50mm unmounted.
And the Astrodon "I" series LRGB 50mm unmounted set as well.

Still awaiting for all my filters...could be some time due to the boom sale of the STL11000 class 2 chip.

Astrodon have been overwhelmed with orders due to this release.

[jase]

LOL. Nice one Tony. :)

I'm in the next shipment run so should have it towards the end of the month. Suits me fine. Can't do much with it until I return from O/S in two weeks time anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with it. :)

Enjoy.:thumbsup:

[Gama]

Is the price the special "Class 2" cameras released as a special once off, or the "Class 1" camera thats a few thousand more. As i cant see how the newer sensor will be brought out at the same low cost...

I was (Still am) tossing buying this camera for some time, but i dont like the QE. Its not good at only 50%, and worse still at H.a at only 32%. Plus a full well capacity of only 50,000.These are the only hindereances i have with this model.
Explains why so many images i seen with this camera all have huge exposure times, like 2 hours 3 hours 5 hours etc.
I find 10 minutes is too long !, imagine 2 hours.
Still, if it autoguides, then why fret...

Good news is QHY is also making a camera with the newer sensor (KAI11002ME) and cost will be around USD $3,000. But of course no autoguiding etc etc.

[jase]

Indeed the KAI11002M chip sets are not very sensitive compared to that of the ME's. It actually peaks in the green wavelength which is kind of useless. The chip is already microlensed so there is no possible way of boosting sensitivity further. If you’re serious about sensitivity, get a back illuminated or NABG chip. For taking pretty pictures an ABG is a safer option.

The STL11K-C2 (class2) is approx A$9k. The Kodak 16.8mp sensor has similar characteristics to the 11mp in the STL11K. The class 1 sensor is about A$4k more.

Interestingly the STL version of the 6.3mp using the KAF-6303E has a QE of 68%, marginally better than the 11k, however will cost you A$14k for the class 2 chip or A$17k for the class 1 chip. Considering the STL11k-C2 is nearly double the amount of pixels for A$9k, this is still a bargain for a cooled 35mm astro CCD sensor regardless of the lower sensitivity.:)

Camera manufacturers have secured a very limited supply of the 11k class 2 chip, so get in quick if you’re interested. I suspect prices will change back to class 1 spec soon as supplies diminish.

[Striker]

Yep what Jase said.

The STL11000 is not the top of the range its far from it.
Plus I dont likee blooming which will increase QE.

Its just very good value for the size of the chip.

ATS have already stopped the special..I dont think there is many left.

[Striker]

Gama.

Andrew was joking about the newer sensor.....

I consider the STL11000 as a larger chiped ST2000....would this be correct.

[Gama]

The ST2000 sensor has a better QE overall, but in all is very similar in performance.
Another thing i wasnt over joyed was the Dark current.
Its noted as 0.5 e per sec at 0deg for 10 hours. The SXV-H9 has 0.02 e per second at +10 deg at over 100 hours. This equates to having to do dark frames as a must, wheras you didnt need to with the SXV, and the specs were at +10 and not 0 deg, which is amazing.

But again, the STL does have everything in one package, and it does autoguide and can be fitted with AO easily.
I'll find out my finacial fate by today which way to bite the bullet.

[Gama]

Kodak discontinued the KAI11000 sensor, and obviously a few manufacturers bought up the last stocks on the cheap.
Kodak has brought out the newer KAI11002 which from what i read, is exactly the bloody same. No difference whats so ever. Noise the same, QE the same, everything the same !. What was the point, maybe i missed something ?..

[Striker]

I too liked the H9 but we are talking about a tiny chip compared to the STL11000.

The sony chips have a much less dark noise but it stops quickly at the H9.

Sony arn't making larger Monochrome chips thats why Starlight are moving onto Kodak chip...the H9 is there largest monochrome chip.....its all color sony chips from then on.

[Striker]

Maybe your looking into QE to highly Gama.

have you seen some of the images produced by the ST2000 and STL11000.

Both of these camera are no suited to narrowband imaging but look at Brad moores images.

http://www.southern-astro.com.au/

Not that I expect to get anywhere near that but I like the results most people are getting with the ST-2000.

[rogerg]

Very interesting info in this thread, and just what I'd been reading and learning over the last few months.

Each camera certainly has it's place, especially the STL11000. It does produce spectacular photo's and that large chip would be so nice.

I recently was considering upgrading my ST7 to a ST2000 but recently decided against it when I realised the dramatic difference in QE between the two. I have found that the astro photography I find most interesting and fun is the really really really faint stuff that few other people bother to image, so the 85% QE of the ST7 made the decision for me to stick with it's smaller chip size. So I've found myself a CFW8 for it now instead of upgrading the camera.

It all comes down to what you want to photograph, and if you don't care, then how pretty the pictures will turn out.

All interesting stuff. Very hard to comprehend as a beginner, I remember tyring to understand it all 3 years ago and just couldn't so went with the ST7 by default of price range. Now I have a much better understanding but gez it takes a bit. Perhaps that's one area where the STL11000 is always a winner - it's a one stop shop for pretty pictures of dark sky objects, if you have the money.

Roger.

[Striker]

Well said Roger.

For someone who is after the faintstuff the STL11000 is not the pick.

I purchased this camera because I originaly was after the ST2000 but when I found that I could get something with 4 times the imaging area for not that much more in comparison to the whole package I jumped at it.

[Bassnut]

Tony. You WW you (Widefield Wooz) :D

Look forward to pics from that monster.

[Phil]

HI there i can tell you the camera is great as i have one i also got my from Peter i think you will get a shock when you see the size of the thing also i have the narrow band filters for it which aer great but cost alot of money . Have fun with you CCD and hope to see your photos soon
Phil

[Striker]

Thank Phil.

I Know I will love it.

Just be prepared for me to ask lots of questions.

[Gama]

The STL11000 can image very faint objects, its just a matter of time (Exposure).
Being up to 50% QE at best and 32% at worst for the H.a, it should still take very faint images. Just takes about twice as long or even 3 times. Thats why i said its good that it has a guider, as you could just let it to its business.
In the end, i ordered one as well. The autoguider and the ability for AO was the clincher for me.

[Striker]

Congrats Gama.

They must be getting to the end of the sale soon.....there wasn't that many left when I ordered mine.

They reckon end of year could be the last of the class 2 chip special.