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  #21  
Old 06-02-2008, 12:27 PM
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pvelez (Pete)
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Originally Posted by ghsmith45 View Post
There is a review of this guider in the August/September 2007 edition of AstroPhoto Insight by Craig Stark (the PHD man). He makes the point that the function of the device is to guide, not to image and that it fulfils its design function very well.
Geoff
The download page is down at the moment - any chance of posting some excerpts?

Pete
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  #22  
Old 07-02-2008, 07:25 AM
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i could not find that on their site.
if you do not mind saying, how much was the Q-Guider?

Happy Chinese New Year for tomorrow!

cheers,
DJDD
People are right. It's vanished from the Bintel site. It was the first item under ccd imaging and accessories. The price they were quoting was $299.
I'll ring them later today to check it out.
Geoff
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  #23  
Old 07-02-2008, 07:36 AM
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Originally Posted by pvelez View Post
The download page is down at the moment - any chance of posting some excerpts?

Pete
Here is Craig's summary (He reviewed the starfish and the Q guide in the same article)
"
Conclusions
I have used both cameras for several months now, with each getting a number of nights of guide-duty. Both have functioned as advertised and guided my mount well. The relatively large monochrome sensor used has made finding and locking onto guide stars a painless process using my 66 mm guide scope. Despite both using the same sensor and being both being designed as guiders, comparing them for the purpose of choosing between the two is an apples-andoranges situation. The Starfish is cleaner and more versatile. Even when guiding, the effect of
cooling and the onboard noise reduction show through to provide a cleaner image of the star field and to guide on slightly fainter stars. The Starfish also works perfectly on my Mac. While I've not tried DSO or planetary imaging with it, I've seen a number of very nice images in both categories. It's also nearly four times as expensive as the QGuide. If you're looking for a basic guider that is nicely up to the task of guiding your mount, the QGuide is hard to beat. It's compact, inexpensive, sensitive, has onboard guider outputs, and just plain works. It's an order of magnitude better as a
guide camera than even long-exposure modified webcams or cameras like a Meade LPI or Celestron NexImage. The nice thing is, we've now got two more excellent choices when shopping around for cameras"
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  #24  
Old 07-02-2008, 08:11 AM
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This appears to be the same camera
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  #25  
Old 07-02-2008, 10:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghsmith45 View Post
Here is Craig's summary (He reviewed the starfish and the Q guide in the same article)
"
Conclusions
I have used both cameras for several months now, with each getting a number of nights of guide-duty. Both have functioned as advertised and guided my mount well. The relatively large monochrome sensor used has made finding and locking onto guide stars a painless process using my 66 mm guide scope. Despite both using the same sensor and being both being designed as guiders, comparing them for the purpose of choosing between the two is an apples-andoranges situation. The Starfish is cleaner and more versatile. Even when guiding, the effect of
cooling and the onboard noise reduction show through to provide a cleaner image of the star field and to guide on slightly fainter stars. The Starfish also works perfectly on my Mac. While I've not tried DSO or planetary imaging with it, I've seen a number of very nice images in both categories. It's also nearly four times as expensive as the QGuide. If you're looking for a basic guider that is nicely up to the task of guiding your mount, the QGuide is hard to beat. It's compact, inexpensive, sensitive, has onboard guider outputs, and just plain works. It's an order of magnitude better as a
guide camera than even long-exposure modified webcams or cameras like a Meade LPI or Celestron NexImage. The nice thing is, we've now got two more excellent choices when shopping around for cameras"
Thanks very much

Pete
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  #26  
Old 07-02-2008, 06:50 PM
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The story to now is Bintel unknowingly, bypassed the Australian distributer (Me, Gama Electronics http://web.aanet.com.au/gama/index.html), plus there was also an issue with Tom Van den Eede from http://www.astrosoft.be/ who writes up the third party drivers and software for QHY. Bintel are in negotiations with QHY, but has not been finalised.
QHY is trying to improve the way the products are bought, distributed and returned for repair/waranty. This way products are traceable to date of purchase for accurate warranty, plus any modification or upgrade needed.
If you have a specific question about the camera products, please let me know by email.
I have sold so many of these cameras (Use them myself too), and answered many users questions by phone or email. So let me know if i can help.

Theo

Last edited by Gama; 07-02-2008 at 07:07 PM.
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  #27  
Old 07-02-2008, 06:59 PM
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The QHY5 camera is available from many places around the world.
They are just renamed into specific dealers models.
Some names are PL1.3C/M, MZ-5, QHY5, Luna13, QCam-5, POG, QGUIDER, ALccd5.
All the same camera. Plus now also the Orion Starshoot Autoguider.

Theres bound to be more names popping up.

Theo.
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  #28  
Old 07-02-2008, 08:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghsmith45 View Post
People are right. It's vanished from the Bintel site. It was the first item under ccd imaging and accessories. The price they were quoting was $299.
I'll ring them later today to check it out.
Geoff
I received this from Don Whiteman today:

"In regards to your order for the QHY Q-Guider, at this point in time we are unable to source these cameras direct from the factory in China."

Bintel are going to supply the Orion Starshoot Autoguider from the 3rd week in February - the price in the email I received is $369.

Last edited by asterisk; 07-02-2008 at 08:09 PM. Reason: Formatting problems
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  #29  
Old 08-03-2008, 02:29 PM
ozstockman (Mike)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gama View Post

But for Guiding they are excellent, its just some use them as imagers because they could, but of course with its limitations.

Theo.
Hi Theo,

Are talking about a color version of Q Guider, right?

I want to buy one and I need it only for guiding. $32 extra for mono version is not a big problem for me but if color one will work for guiding too there is no point to spend these money.

At this point I have got an offer for qhy5 for $215 USD but it seems that the guy who's offered it for this great price won't be able to supply it until the end of March. If I am too impatient to wait so long I will buy one from you.


cheers,

Michael
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  #30  
Old 09-03-2008, 12:54 AM
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Hi Michael, i've sent you a PM.
But just quickly, make sure you are getting Tom's (Astrosoft) drivers and software. This is why cameras are cheap most times, so be carefull and ask. If it doesnt have it, then add another $50.00 odd on top for it.

Theo.
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