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Old 10-10-2012, 10:05 PM
E_ri_k (Erik)
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Bining Guide Cameras

Hey guys. I'm using an SSAG at the moment, however I'm after a guider which will support bining. Any good recommendations?

Erik
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Old 10-10-2012, 11:17 PM
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Nico13 (Ken)
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Hi Erik,
I have just recently puchased an SX Superstar and although I haven't used the binning option it will do it as I was sent some example shots from the manufacturer showing the difference between binned and non binned as a comparo with the Lodestar. The Superstar has a higher pixel count you see and is less sensitive than the Lodestar.

Cheers
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Old 10-10-2012, 11:19 PM
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ourkind (Carlos)
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Can someone point me in the right direction so that I can read and understand what binning is?
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Old 10-10-2012, 11:31 PM
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Nico13 (Ken)
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A short version is that to make a camera more sensitive binning is set to allow it to use four pixels as one eg 2x2 binning or even more so 3x3 nine pixels as one pixel.

Cheers
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Old 10-10-2012, 11:36 PM
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Right! Thanks for that Ken, makes more sense now. Cheers
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Old 11-10-2012, 09:45 AM
E_ri_k (Erik)
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Thanks Ken. I'll have a look at the SX website.
Erik.
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Old 11-10-2012, 10:07 AM
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Hi Eric

The SBIG STi supports 2x binning.

Cheers
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Old 11-10-2012, 10:41 AM
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Lodestar permits 2x2 binning.
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Old 11-10-2012, 03:58 PM
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Binning is where software uses a mathematical routine to average or other calculations, the surrounding pixels to one value. So 2x2 binning means 2 pixels across and 2 pixels vertically are averaged (or whatever algorithim is used) to form one value so it acts like one giant pixel.

3 x3 uses 9 pixels, 4x4 16.

2x2 binning is often used with guiding as it increases the sensitivity of the camera by a factor. That factor would vary with chips but is something like 2X or more.

I often use 2x2 binning on narrowband where there is not a lot of fine detail and I want maximum details on a faint object. You usually would shoot luminance filters 1x1 as you want maximum resolution and colour can be done 2x2 as colour does not have sharp transitions ordinarily and you mainly want the colour to show through and it speeds up acquisition.

Some shoot everything LRGB 1x1 and this is a good approach when you want max resolution like a galaxy shot. Just expose for longer and you can also add the RGB component to the luminance by desaturating the RGB combine and adding it to the luminance to increase the signal.
I have done this and really did not see much of an improvement but every little bit can help.

Greg.
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Old 11-10-2012, 05:14 PM
E_ri_k (Erik)
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I was thinking when guiding at 2000mm say, and the pixel size on my guide chip are smaller than my imaging camera, bining the guide camera would avoid false corrections due to the long focal length. Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?
Erik
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Old 11-10-2012, 05:44 PM
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Guiding (aka PHD) uses the centroid not just the pixel/ size to get more accurate guiding.
The real benefit of binning (for guiding) is you get a larger, more sensitive "pixel"
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Old 11-10-2012, 09:01 PM
E_ri_k (Erik)
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Ok Ken, thanks. So would there be any benefit in binning the guider to reduce its effective resolution, hence help a little with chasing the seeing? Or am I way off the mark here?

Is there any general relationship between guider pixel size and imager pixel size to go by, or isn't it too important for general imaging stuff?

Erik
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Old 11-10-2012, 10:27 PM
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You should be able to bin the QHY5/SSAG at 2x2 so why not try it and find out.
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Old 11-10-2012, 11:13 PM
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I think maxim does software binning on the qhy5 Mark.
I think the camera needs to have in camera binning for phd to use it.
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Old 12-10-2012, 12:20 AM
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Yeah probably, only ever used maxim when I had the SSAG, never bothered with PHD.
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