RunCam Night Eagle 2.- Low cost Vid camera.

[anthony.tony]

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/runcam-night-eagle-2-pro-800tvl-low-illumination-fpv-camera-w-integrated-osd-mic.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwOOwvpCC 2wIVGwQqCh074QcJEAAYASAAEgKMvvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&___store=en_us -- http://occultations.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/RunCam-Night-Eagle-Astro-Camera-Review-Operating-Guidelines-and-Comments-(v6).pdf - http://www.astronomy.com/observing/product-reviews/2018/05/capture-video-with-this-low-cost-camera - Has anyone had anything todo with this camera - Reguard's Tony

[OzEclipse]

It’s ok but there is a special version of this camera called the run cam night eagle 2 Astro that is much more sensitive. It has special firmware allowing frame integration. You should be able to detect or view live magnitude 14 through an 8” scope with the Astro running on the astro integrating high sensitivity mode. Joe

[ChrisV]

Hopefully it's okay. A lot of people have been looking for an analog replacement after the LN300 dropped off the face of the earth. They gave up and went cmos for DSOs.

How long do exposures go up to?

[OzEclipse]

Chris

I'm using the TacosBD designed by a team of 4 amateur astronomers for asteroidal occultation timing and recording. Tony Barry, Hristo Pavlov, Dave Gault and Dave Herald.

http://www.kuriwaobservatory.com/TACOS_BD-System.html

It's a board version of the Watec 910HX camera built into a custom housing with a piggybacked Arduino micro processor that allows parameter adjustment from the computer rather than having to use small buttons on the camera.

I've imaged mag 14.2 with an 8" Cass using 5 frame integrations. At 25fps PAL, that's 14 mag in 1/5s refreshes. Not quite live but not bad. The TacosBD does up to 256 integrations ~5s refreshes. For asteroids, we use the fastest rate that detects the occulted star.

My post about the runcam was based on IOTA member test reports that say that the Run cam astro is very close to the 910HX in sensitivity.

See reviews on : -
http://occultations.org/night-eagle-2-pro-astro-edition-ordering-page/

The TacosBD is a really nice piece of kit but the Runcam astro (camera only) is about 1/10 the price.

I'm glad I bought the TacosBD but if you want to save money, you'll get quite good performance from the run cam astro version. Note that these are analogue video cameras not digital like the ZWO's. You need to use a frame grabber ~$80 to record to computer.

Joe