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  #21  
Old 05-12-2014, 04:20 PM
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John K
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Originally Posted by Andy01 View Post
Just going to throw a wild card out there - have you considered the new Sony A7s?

Fritz Helmut Hemmerich took this shot Very cloudy night. In a gap in the clouds of less than 10 minutes length with some constant faint clouds in the upper atmosphere.

A less than suboptimal sky: 10 shots of 40 sec. H-Alpha 7 nm. Sony A7s uncooled. ISO 3200. Calibration (flats and darks, no bias). Hyperstar 1400. F1.9. EQ8 unguided. PixInsight processing. Date: 2014-12-03 21h. Tenerife south at 1200 m altitude.m altitude.

It's a helluvan amazing performing camera and it's in your budget. There are at least 2 IIS member who have either just received or ordered one.

Just a thought...

Andy
Thanks Andy. Have been watching developments of the A7s. It's being offered modified by JTW for 2,000 euros.

http://www.jtwastronomy.com/products..._sony_a7s.html

Test reports are putting it together or better than a Canon 6D which Central is also looking to offer cooled and modified.

If I was going to stay with OSC DSLR for sure worth considering - interesting to see the shots people take over the coming few months with the Sony.
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  #22  
Old 05-12-2014, 04:28 PM
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Amaranthus (Barry)
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I recently bought an upgraded mono CCD John. I ended up getting a QHY22 with a Sony ICX694 chip. It comes in over your budget, but not by a huge amount. A good sensor size (not the same real estate as the KAF-8300, but much lower noise), great cooling (2-stage peltier to -45C) and fast downloads. From specs and reviews it looks to be a great camera (I took ages to choose), but I've not yet had a chance to try it out in anger!
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  #23  
Old 05-12-2014, 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Slawomir View Post
Hi John,

To my limited knowledge, you won't be able to find a new astro camera with this size CCD sensor for 2000 AUD; I will be extremely happy if someone proves me wrong...

The dimensions of a common KAF-8300 sensor are 17.96mm x 13.52mm, which is bit smaller than what you already have, but at F5 you will probably get some vignetting with this CCD anyway when using 1.25 filters and external filter wheel. Anything larger will cause more severe vignetting in combination with 1.25 filter.

Perhaps you could consider a smaller sensor or a second hand camera with 8300 sensor could be a reasonable option?

I am sure more knowledgable and experienced imagers will soon provide you with a thorough answer.

Good luck
yep, thanks, could be looking that way. But that's part of the research journey I guess.

Looks like for the QHY9 mono @ $2,500 AUD means that then have to get 36mm LRGB filters and a new coma corrector due to spacing issues so more like $3200 all up.

A second hand unit could be the way to go, so lets see, as I won't rush into this.
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  #24  
Old 05-12-2014, 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Amaranthus View Post
I recently bought an upgraded mono CCD John. I ended up getting a QHY22 with a Sony ICX694 chip. It comes in over your budget, but not by a huge amount. A good sensor size (not the same real estate as the KAF-8300, but much lower noise), great cooling (2-stage peltier to -45C) and fast downloads. From specs and reviews it looks to be a great camera (I took ages to choose), but I've not yet had a chance to try it out in anger!
Thanks Barry - will look into it.
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  #25  
Old 05-12-2014, 05:33 PM
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I see the QHY22 is the same price as the Starlight Express Trius 694.
The QHY has slightly better cooling of -45C compared to -40C. The Trius has argon filled chamber and 3 usb ports for autoguider,filter wheel and camera.-15C is clean enough for this camera - its very low noise. The argon has advantages making the camera frost proof plus thermal insulation properties. Usually seen on more expensive cameras like FLI and Apogee.

The SX also has a good range of filter wheels, AO units. Not sure about QHY perhaps they do.

Any reason you picked the QHY over the SX Trius? I don't know how the surrounding electronics from S and QHY compare but that would come into it as well. The QHY looks nicely made. The SX Trius has a slightly tacked on appearance with the extra cooling fan being an attachement but it works well. Both are USD$2795 from OPTcorp.com.

Greg.
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  #26  
Old 05-12-2014, 05:51 PM
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Greg, price was the major consideration. Bought from Australian distributors at least (and so keeping the Oz warranty), the QHY22 is $1050 cheaper than the Trius SX-694! It's amazing compared to the equal price on OPTcorp.com.

The QHY22 has filter wheels, but can readily support those of other manufacturers.
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