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Old 06-11-2011, 01:30 PM
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gregbradley
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Sydney
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassnut View Post
It's funny, thinking of a new cam, I read adds/specs, customer feed back, agonize over hot new features, mega cooling,mega pixels, back thinned hi qe, fast downloads,support, RBI, brand difference, it's a head spin.

So I take a step back and look at my rather limited (sbig only) brand experience,compare it to other brand user posts, what I really want in features in practical terms,and, although it's not a priority ,value for money.

I see peters experience with the u47 and very few image posts generally with back thinned CCDs, they seem very attractive qe wise, but I've also read there are many difficultys with them and are very expensive, so I keep coming back to a 6303 chip, which despite it age is still the chip of choice for NF NB

So brand. Yes FLI has better cooling and faster downloads, but at what cost, and does it really, really matter (for me).

I don't give rats if download is 2 or 4 secs, or whatever the diff between usb1 and 2 is, and from experience, with accurate darks, I don't much care about the max cooling temp either, I don't have to battle RBI so -10 or 15 Or 20 is fine by me.

So, value for money. Well, I need a 7 pos filter wheel so:

Fli 6303 proline with 7 pos filter wheel total us$10490' SBIG STL 6303 with 8 pos filter wheel $6795 total. (OPT as reference). Mmm, big diff.

Ok, fli has better cooling and faster download, not that I care much, but SBIG has internal guide, AO interface, plug for a very sensitive cooled guide cam.

Support. I don't know about FLI , but when I sent an st10 for an upgrade, it was a smooth reasonably priced experience, and a guide cam in for repair got, I kid you not, a daily report on progress by the repair tech and a full explanation of the problem and what was done.

So, I'm thinking, do I go with what I know is a bullet proof , tried and tested product, albeit a bit behind in unessential specs, but with excellent support and oddly much cheaper with a wider range of interfaces and accessories ( eg AO). or another newer very attractive more expensive brand that may well give the same image result for far more money and less options?

Good post Fred. Yes you raise an interesting point.

SBIG does represent good value at the moment and they definitely do have the accessories and integration.

I thought about a 6303 chip for my CDK17 for a while. A number of posts complained about the blooming. I then realised that basically its more pixel size I needed to match to the optics and the best QE. The 16803 chip is not that different in QE to the 6303 and they are both 9 micron plus it has the advantage of antiblooming. If I crop my 16803 I can get the same image scale of the 6303 (which is what I was mostly looking at).

Your needs are a bit different as you are predominantly narrowband and I am predominantly LRGB with Ha occassionally and NB occassionally.

You should grab that STL6303 before the sale ends - $2000 off is a huge saving.

By the way a fairer comparison would be Microline 6303 to STL6303 (FLI is still more expensive though).

I like my Proline but when I get another FLI Camera I would be choosing Microline as the weight difference is significant yet the difference with the Proline boils down only really to an extra 3 or 4C cooling power and a USB and Power hub built in in the Proline (plus a better shutter which you can also specify in the Microline).

The difference between the FLI and the SBIG in my opinion is that the FLI is the absolute best in all areas but the SBIG gets the job done too. The FLI makes almost everything easier (except for AO units) and foolproof like imaging with a good Tak or AP scope and it all just works everytime. You also tend to get used to whatever brand you have been using. I am now used to FLI. I was used to my STL and it served me well for some time.

Greg.
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