Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthernLight
Hi Chris,
I just found this via search and wonder: did you ever get a response?
Would be interested to see a review on the Celestron Nightscape 8300.
Cheers,
|
Hi Northernlight.
I bought a Celestron Nightscape (the model with the KAI-10100 sensor, not the 8300), and I am very happy with it so far. It suits my mix of OTAs with the longest being an 8 inch SCT. The colour binning of that version of the Nightscape camera (which is a very rare feature in a one shot colour camera) is great for the SCT using the 2x2 binning, and unbinned for shorter focal length OTAs. It suited me because the price was very reasonable for a large sensor CCD, and so far it has worked faultlessly for me. I also like the AstroFX capture software it comes with. People criticise the camera for what they say is poor sensitivity/QE, not much better than a DSLR, but with no DSLR IR filter in the way it is a lot better in the Ha region, has the 2x2 binning which shortens exposure times significantly, and has -20 C below ambient cooling, so it still has big advantages over my Canon 60D DSLR.
For me it has been a great answer at a sensible price. I haven't done mucb imaging with it in recent months as I have been exploring near real time video astronomy with an Astro-Video systems Advanced MkIV camera, and doing a lot of volunteer firmware beta testing for Celestron which has taken up most of my astro time, but the images I have got with the Nightscape i am happy with, especially as I am still a beginner in many ways.
Below is a link to an online album of a few images I have taken with the Nightscape so far.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1119242...eat=directlink
Cheers,
Chris M