[Joel Warren]

Hi everyone,
Cloudy nights has been down awhile, so I thought I would post this here. As some know, I've had issues with Firewire and frame dropping/freeze ups. TIS sent me a USB version for evauation. I'll copy and paste and e-mail I sent to John at TIS. I have a few questions, like about the gamma you will see in the e-mail, and if anyone can answer that for me or give me any other input, I would appreicate it.

Hi John,
I took the DBK AU out tonight even though seeing was awful. I'm happy to report for now, no dropped frames at all, ran smooth. The codec we discussed seemed to be the one I was looking for. One thing I don't understand is that with the DBK AF, planetary imagers like myself always kept the gamma at 10, or zero, the lowest setting. This is impossible with the DBK AU. You will have a black screen if you you keep the gamma at zero. So, now I'm trying to find out what the optimum setting for the gamma is with the USB version. Also, there is one thing I was very disappointed with. I don't know if you sent me a used camera or what, but the CCD chip was filthy. It was as if someone dumped a load of dirt on it. It was totally and completely unusable due to the amount of debris on the chip. If this was a new camera, you guys have a quality control issue over in Germany. I have a feeling this camera must have been used by others for evaulation, because I have no idea how it could have gotten so dirty. In all my years of imaging, I've never seen a chip or filter that bad before and I had to spend a good hour cleaning it. If I do end up buying this camera, we will have to discuss that, because either like I said, this is a used camera, or there is a real quality control problem during manufacturing. I have a good relationship with you guys and your cameras have given me hundreds of great images and I always promote your product, so I want you to realize I'm telling you the truth in regards to the condition of the ccd chip. Someone really dropped the ball on that. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have enough nights to decide if USB will be the way to go for me, but someone needs to look into how that could happen to the ccd chip.

Best wishes,
Joel