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Old 11-04-2008, 08:12 PM
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looking at a GSTAR-EX CCD Camera. anything i should be wary of?

hey... After having taken a fair few afocal shots of a few objects, i've decided that i need a camera more suited to this kind of task... Does anyone have a gstar-ex cam and feel like singing praises or grumbling gripes???
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Old 11-04-2008, 08:54 PM
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The G-star camera is a video obsevational system. I have not used one but have the Mallincam which is a similar concept. These cameras are mainly aimed at real time viewing by taking many frames and intergrating them into a video output to be displayed on a monitor in a live broardcast situation,rather than conventional single exposure cameras such as DSLR's and didicated CCD cameras such as DSI's, S-bigs, star-light express etc. If you want to get into single imaging then the other cameras would be a better option as you will get more resolution than a video camera. The video cameras work very well in low light situations like astronomy as the g-star is a highly modified security type camera and the Mallincam is even more modified. You can take very successfull still images using the g-star by running the video signal through a video converter then onto you laptop display, here you can 'grab' what frames you want to keep using software and if you want colour with the g-star you will need a filter set.

The beauty of these cameras as a visual observation tool is the can cut through light pollution better than your eyes and they can usually increase your scopes limmiting magnitude by upto 4-5 higher. You can really go deep and chase faint fuzzies that you would have no hope of seeing in the eyepiece. The other good thing is that you can usually notneed to do any polar alignment as the exposures are very short so no rotation is evident unless you are pointed right at the zenith.

For visual aid, star gatherings or parties and the odd capture of image then these cameras can't be beat. If you want to start taking nice clean crisp images with higher resolution then there are better options. I have seen these cameras in action and they do impress for semi-live situations thats why I got the Mallincam hyper colour system, but I am sure a G-star user will give you positive feed back on this.

Matt.
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Old 12-04-2008, 12:13 PM
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Thanks matt.

My computer already has video in capabilities, however taking photos with my DSLR's would be a painful experience i think, since I'm using a dob. I also think that the images grabbed from the live feed would far surpass the images i've currently taken with my 5mp camera (integrated in my phone) using a focal techniques...

when im at home though, viewing through the 52" HD LCD would be pretty cool!
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Old 13-04-2008, 06:56 PM
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Well... once again, after much reading of these, ever so helpful forums, I have ordered a ToUcam pro III, and a 1.25" adapter.... Seems to be everyones number 1 recommendation for a first camera...

Can't wait till it gets here
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