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Old 25-02-2009, 06:43 PM
Mighty_oz (Marcus)
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DMK 21AF04.AS, QHY-5 or GSTAR-EX for guiding and planet/moon

Hi, what would be best overall out of these for guiding and mostly moon with some planetary imaging, with ED80 and maybe a 8" f9 or 10 mak type ?
Need to upgrade my toucam with these light polluted skyies.

Thanks for the input.
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  #2  
Old 25-02-2009, 08:09 PM
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[1ponders] (Paul)
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If you are going to do luna and planetary imaging as well and you don't want to get into filters then I'd suggest the DBK rather than the DMK. But if you are happy to stick with mono then I'm suggesting the DMK as that's the only one I've used.
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Old 25-02-2009, 08:30 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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My honest opinion...
The DMK21 for imaging and the QHY5 for guiding!!
I have both and find the DMK is ideal for imaging ( solar) and the QHY5 does a great job ( with PHD) guiding.
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Old 25-02-2009, 08:40 PM
Mighty_oz (Marcus)
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Will be getting into using filters later, not sure i want to fork out for both
Maybe get 1 then the other later on ?
Thanks for the input so far
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  #5  
Old 25-02-2009, 08:47 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Then I'd recommend starting with the DMK21. Gives great images!
Get the USB version. the 'AF' firewire version is really for Mac computers.
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Old 25-02-2009, 09:19 PM
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[1ponders] (Paul)
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Yep, the firewire is a bit of a pita when it comes to PC and the need for adapter cards.
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Old 25-02-2009, 09:30 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Paul,
Not really. On both my laptops (ACER, DELL) I have the small firewire socket. This seems to be pretty common.
I then use a powered firewire cable which connects from the small socket to the larger connector on the DMK. It also gives a power in connection for the 12V battery I use.
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Old 26-02-2009, 04:39 AM
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[1ponders] (Paul)
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I guess different setups respond differently. I never managed to get my DMK working through my 4 pin FW on one of my laptops. The only way I could make sure it worked on all machines was to use an adapter and the Imaging Source FireWire Performance Manager Software. I would have given anything for a USB camera at that stage.
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Old 27-02-2009, 08:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mighty_oz View Post
Hi, what would be best overall out of these for guiding and mostly moon with some planetary imaging, with ED80 and maybe a 8" f9 or 10 mak type ?
Need to upgrade my toucam with these light polluted skyies.

Thanks for the input.

Cant really look at it this way.

Like saying buying an overall car.
Speed, off road, comfort, reliability, economy, handling etc.

But if you want a car for speed, then get it for speed. You want a car for economy, get it for economy, etc.

Same goes for the cameras.
You want guiding, get a guider.
You want planetary get a planetary camera.

Overall, will give you an overall disapointment !.
Get one that will do what you want it to, and if it can do something else on top of that, then be happy.

Theo.
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  #10  
Old 28-02-2009, 08:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin66 View Post
Then I'd recommend starting with the DMK21. Gives great images!
Get the USB version. the 'AF' firewire version is really for Mac computers.
Not true, I have a HP Pavillion desktop in my observatory which I picked up cheap from an online auction place. It has onboard firewire and has never caused a problem.

If you really need a laptop to image with then buy a used MacBook and run XP on it, then you've got the best of both worlds.

Has anyone done a side-by-side test of the DMK cameras, USB v Firewire? I'd like to know if the both produce the same image at the same framerate.

Cheers
Stuart
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  #11  
Old 28-02-2009, 05:33 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Point taken.
There's a full review of the DMK cameras in the October 2007 (I think) Sky & Telescope. Can't remember if there were any major differences??!
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  #12  
Old 03-03-2009, 11:50 AM
mbaddah (Mo)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin66 View Post
My honest opinion...
The DMK21 for imaging and the QHY5 for guiding!!
I have both and find the DMK is ideal for imaging ( solar) and the QHY5 does a great job ( with PHD) guiding.
Why can't the DMK21 be used as a guider?
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  #13  
Old 03-03-2009, 12:02 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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Quote:
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Why can't the DMK21 be used as a guider?
thats what i use
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  #14  
Old 03-03-2009, 05:32 PM
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It can. Any webcam type is OK for guiding, but at over twice the cost of the QHY5 it's a very expensive way of doing it. If you have a variety of camera available ie DSLR, CCD's, webcams etc etc then you use whichever is the most convenient at the time.
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  #15  
Old 03-03-2009, 05:40 PM
Dennis
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Does the QHY5 have a larger chip too? That's generally always useful, especially when searching for that maddeningly elusive guide star!

Cheers

Dennis
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  #16  
Old 03-03-2009, 06:03 PM
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The DMK uses the ICX098BL chip which is 3.6mm x 2.7mm; The QHY5 has the Cmos MT9M001 chip which is 6.7mm x 5.3mm - over four times the area ie four times the FOV for the same telescope set-up.
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  #17  
Old 04-03-2009, 08:00 AM
mbaddah (Mo)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin66 View Post
It can. Any webcam type is OK for guiding, but at over twice the cost of the QHY5 it's a very expensive way of doing it. If you have a variety of camera available ie DSLR, CCD's, webcams etc etc then you use whichever is the most convenient at the time.
Ah cool thanks for thanks
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