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Old 04-01-2010, 01:01 PM
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ST8300M arrived.

Well, My ST8300 Arrived today at 11 am.. I've had some fun getting it all fitted up to the CFW etc.. To my surprise, the FLI CFW and SBIG Camera did not burst into flames when I touched them together!

Driver install is done, and I've had a quick play with it, in a 28.7 degree room the camera cooled to -10c in less than a minute and is sitting at -10c now on 81% cooler load... within spec..

Its running a 5 minute dark now at -10c, and I will post that up soon..

The camera is a lot smaller than I'd imagined it to be.. and actually looks very nice indeed..

There will be pics of the setup and a dark frame image or two later today...

I dare say first light is not going to be today.... The clouds are thicker today than they've been all week..

Excitement rating: 13^10/10
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:09 PM
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Octane (Humayun)
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Congratulations!

H
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:13 PM
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mill (Martin)
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5 minutes are long gone :p
Wish i had my cam now, it is going to be clear for the rest of the week here.
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:18 PM
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300s dark frame.

Heres the 300s dark, resized down to fit on the forums, and stretched fairly heavily..

There is a slight gradient, this is likely my fault, as the camera is sitting face down on a coffee table, and not exactly what I'd call "Dark"

The fan is quite a lot quieter than some of my previous cameras... Its slightly louder than my QHY8 which was silent, but much quieter than the Starshoot Pro, ST-9 or ST-10
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:26 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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Hmmm.. congrats Alex

My next camera too I think.
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:32 PM
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telemarker (Keith)
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Well that's torn it. Nothing but cloud for a month I'll bet.
Seriously, congrats on the new toy and look forward to some outstanding shots.

Regards
Keith
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:37 PM
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telecasterguru (Frank)
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Alex,

Congratulations on the imager now get out there and image.

Frank
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:42 PM
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Octane (Humayun)
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Chris, I've just sent Peter Ward an email.

I'm a bad boy.

H
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:43 PM
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mill (Martin)
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That is a good looking dark frame there Alex
I did read that the 8300 chips had a lot of hot pixels but i don't see many at all.
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Old 04-01-2010, 01:58 PM
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multiweb (Marc)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
Well, My ST8300 Arrived today at 11 am.. I've had some fun getting it all fitted up to the CFW etc.. To my surprise, the FLI CFW and SBIG Camera did not burst into flames when I touched them together!
I dare say first light is not going to be today.... The clouds are thicker today than they've been all week..

Excitement rating: 13^10/10
Whoohoo!...does this mean the clouds are going to part now? ... apparently YES! Saturday looks good. Not in QLD though. I see no other choice for you than to post the camera down to Sydney and I'll happily test it for you
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Old 04-01-2010, 02:04 PM
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Thanks Everyone,

Chris - Cant go wrong mate.. Its small, relatively light, quiet, cheap and from what I'm seeing in these dark frames, fairly clean at -10c. I cant wait to try it out at night when its cooler and I can drop that to -15 ~ -20c

Kieth - Yes, Im keen to get out and do some imaging.. As this will be my first foray into LRGB imaging, or narrowband with a mono camera, I don't expect fantastic results straight up... It will take some getting used to. But I'll definitely be giving it my all..

Humayun - Sometimes being bad is being very very good!

Martin - looking at the darks at full size, there is a few... maybe 30 spread across the image in random locations... Nothing in the grand scheme of things.. It does look very very clean even at -10c.. It can only get better from there... one would imagine


As an Aside, Just plugged it all into MaximDL 5, ST8300/FLI 2-7/QHY5 - Everything connects up fine, filterwheel does its thing, guider will run looping exposures while the CFW is changing filters, and while the camera is taking exposures...

All ready for first light..
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Old 04-01-2010, 02:56 PM
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Terry B
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You are a bad man.
It will rain for another month.
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Old 04-01-2010, 02:56 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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"Alex and his new camera"

might make a good childrens story..?

You "may" regain "some" of your sanity now

Mike
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Old 04-01-2010, 03:04 PM
gbeal
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Well done mate, get cracking and post some images, it deserves it.
Gary
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Old 04-01-2010, 03:16 PM
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mill (Martin)
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If you send it over to my place now, i can BURN it in for ya.
It is crystal clear here for the rest of the week according to the weather bureau.
(Bugger it has changed already :p ).
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Old 04-01-2010, 03:41 PM
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A few pics to get the juices flowing...

now, in the first pic, I'd already screwed on the rather large FLI AD-2 adapter for attaching the camera to the CFW... so it looks a little strange front on, but you get the idea.. I've also fitted the handles to the camera so I can attach it to the scope somehow.. the imaging train from the focuser back is about 2.4kgs and about $7k worth... A few dollars more than I'd like to see hitting the floor should something go pair shaped...

Anyway.. its ready to rock! And look... It was meant to be... My QHY5 and ST8300 are practically the same colour (in real life they appear much closer in colour than in the pics) Oh and excuse the low image quality, Mobile phone camera used... MMMM Tasty Toys!!
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Old 04-01-2010, 04:31 PM
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Great looking imaging set up you have there now Alex, how long until it goes into IceTrade

Michael
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Old 04-01-2010, 04:45 PM
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Depends on how soon I can afford a STX-16803, a filter wheel and a set of 50mm square filters... Not any time soon i'd imagine.. I'm giving this setup a lifespan of 3 years in my service... The camera is heaps more than I can handle, it will probably take me 3 months to get to a point where I can use it to even a quarter of its potential... and many years before I grow out of it...
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Old 04-01-2010, 05:12 PM
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Thanks Alex,

More rain and cloud for SEQ!

Anyway I think you will like your ST-8300, the Kodak sensor has plenty of sensitivity and when cooled has very little dark noise.

Terry
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Old 04-01-2010, 05:26 PM
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nice camera! congrats
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