Review: QHY8 One Shot Colour Cooled Camera

iceman (Mike) · #1 12-06-2008, 08:26 AM

Clive (Alchemy) has written a review of the QHY8 One Shot Colour Cooled Camera.

You can read the review from the IceInSpace Equipment Reviews page, or directly by clicking on the link below:

QHY8 One Shot Colour Cooled Camera

Thanks to Clive for taking the time to write the review and submit it to IceInSpace. If you'd like to submit an article or review to IceInSpace, please Contact Me.

iceman (Mike) · #2 12-06-2008, 02:38 PM

Review uploaded.

jase (Jason) · #3 12-06-2008, 03:37 PM

Excellent review Clive. Always handy to hear firsthand experience. I feel certain this will provide the necessary insight to those who are interested in getting in CCD imaging from DSLR. Well done.

Hagar (Doug) · #4 12-06-2008, 05:46 PM

Well done Clive, and spot on the money.

Lester · #5 12-06-2008, 05:50 PM

Thanks Clive for the time you put into the review.

I found it very interesting.

netwolf · #6 12-06-2008, 09:16 PM

Great review Clive.

Gama · #7 12-06-2008, 10:45 PM

Very good review, didnt hide anything, and told it as it is. Clive put together what i believe is totally correct, and true.

Except, all the QHY-8 cameras have the newer Sony CCD ICX453 which is the Progressive scan sensor of the Sony Superhad family.
From memory the ICX413AQ is a interlaced (Frame readout), and can cause problems when it downloads its odd or even fields. Which is why QHY went with the progressive version. Everything else is exactly the same with the sensors.

Theo

netwolf · #8 13-06-2008, 01:13 AM

Yes and I also wondered about the 413 mention, but was not sure enough to comment on it. The M25C also uses the 453 chip. I think in the prototype stage Qui used the 413 but opted to go with the 453 for final version. The new Orion has the 413 chip in it.

snowyskiesau · #9 13-06-2008, 02:50 AM

Great review.

FWIW: the link to the documentation (Operators manual) on gama's website does not work.

iceman (Mike) · #10 13-06-2008, 04:57 AM

Thanks Geoff. Theo - what's the link?

Alchemy (Clive) · #11 13-06-2008, 06:18 AM

http://web.aanet.com.au/gama/files/O...structions.doc

hopefully this works

sorry about the 413 vs 453 thing it was what i found hunting around on the net for technical information to add to the review it apears it was old info. I dont have enough technical background to know the difference.... just goes to show you cant believe everything you read

cheers clive

ozstockman (Mike) · #12 13-06-2008, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

FWIW: the link to the documentation (Operators manual) on gama's website does not work.

It works but in IE only. The extention Theo used for the document isn't supported in Firefox.

Gama · #13 13-06-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozstockman

It works but in IE only. The extention Theo used for the document isn't supported in Firefox.

OOPS, sory guys, i didnt know it wasnt supported by firefox.

Just a further mention.

I did some digging around, and the manual for the SXV-M25C did in fact have the 413 as the sensor. This may have been an error in the printing, or the first models did have the 413 sensor.

For those not techo geeko, the 413 uses an interlace method to read the data from the sensor.
It does this by reading all the odd colums first and sending off the data to get processed. BUT while it is reading from the sensor and sending off the data, the EVEN field is still being exposed to light, so you have an uneven exposure between the odd and even fields of the sensor. This is OK if you have large exposure times, but is bad if your exposures are short, as it changes your darks and also causes uneveness (Banding exposure) in the image as one the odd field has a longer exposure. Plus its imposible to do very short exposures, as if you tried to do a 3 second exposure, and it takes 10 seconds to download the data, then the odd field is exposued for 3 seconds, but the even field is exposed for 13 seconds. Of course theres a few more little oddities as well like noise generated while downloading and thus the even side is prone to more noise during the download cycle, which i assume, is why the 453 is used today by Starlight and QHY. Price may also be why the 413 is used on some other manufacturers.

Progressive, stops exposures all together, and reads the data one colum at a time.

Theo

zipdrive (Dave) · #14 14-06-2008, 01:26 AM

Great review thanks!!

bennettb64 (Bennett) · #15 20-06-2008, 06:19 AM

I live in Florida, USA, joined the club simply to thank Clive for the review of the camera. Very helpful. I haven't recieved mine yet, but it helped to feel at ease and optimistic about the use.

iceman (Mike) · #16 20-06-2008, 06:38 AM

Hi Bennett,

to IceInSpace.

Make sure you come back and post some images, too!

Geoff45 (Geoff) · #17 20-06-2008, 06:03 PM

So where does one buy this camera and for how much? Tried googling qhy8 and couldn't find it.
Geoff

snowyskiesau · #18 20-06-2008, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

So where does one buy this camera and for how much? Tried googling qhy8 and couldn't find it.
Geoff

Local distributor (gama in this forum)

Main website and forum

Geoff45 (Geoff) · #19 20-06-2008, 06:24 PM

Thanks Geoff

Gama · #20 12-10-2008, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alchemy

http://web.aanet.com.au/gama/files/O...structions.doc

hopefully this works

...............
cheers clive

UPDATE:

Due to customers having issues with Doc formats, i have changed the format to mht and can be read by any browser (I hope), so here is the link http://web.aanet.com.au/gama/files/O...structions.mht , but for specific Users manual please email me as the file is very large (4 Mbytes) and some email systems dont like it. The manual is however on the supplied CD in the package.

Theo