Similar CCD's to the Atik 314L+ ?

[photosinferno]

Hi Peeps,
I'm thinking of investing in a Mono Atik 314L+ in the near future.
I just wanted to know if there was any other cameras of that Price/Chip Size/ Pixel Size that I should be considering. I'm not really familiar with QHY or SBIG stuff for instance.
The Field of View of the Atik seems to hit the 'sweet' spot for me and my gear so i'm cool with that.

Thoughts/advice?

John :)

[SamD]

Here's a list of some cameras/CCDs (not exhaustive !) I looked at before picking a mono 314L+.

[Amaranthus]

Do you have a budget in mind, John? There might be some other options, slightly more expensive but better performance, out there. Have you considered the 460EX?

[photosinferno]

Yes the budget is sub $2K -hence why I think the 314L+ is a front runner, the 460ex is a nice bit of kit but alas out of my league :sadeyes:

John

[DJT]

Hi John

mono or colour?

[photosinferno]

Hi David - Mono. ;)
John

[photosinferno]

Sam,
Thankyou for your response,
However i'm unable to open the File :( i'm running on a mac, I can however open Excel files just not ones with old supported formats, can you save as a 2011 onwards format?

John

[SamD]

Sorry, Excel versions are a nuisance.

As text instead ...

[Shiraz]

starlight express SX9 is also worth a look. The 285 is probably a good choice for your scopes.

[photosinferno]

Excellent rescource :thumbsup: :thanx:

John

[Logieberra]

John

I looked around for cameras with the Sony 285 chip, and arrived at the Atik. The SX is expensive, and the QHY Image2Pro not easy to source. So far so good. Very clean and -27/-28deg cooling. Atik makes quality stuff :)

[photosinferno]

Logieberra,
Thanks for the 'heads up' , I was thinking long and hard about the 314L+ however some info has come to light about the QE and image scale which is making me lean more towards the Sony ICX674 on the Atik 428EX Mono.
However trying to get some good recent reviews of this ccd is proving to be difficult.

john:sadeyes:

[Logieberra]

Pop 'Atik 428EX' in Flickr. Plenty to see. Good luck :)

[Slawomir]

I had Atik 428ex mono for a year and it is a great, reliable, light weight camera, sensitive and clean CCD, sufficient cooling even for South-East Queensland; however, for extra $800 you get the same great parameters but twice the size of the CCD with Atik 460ex... That's probably why there seem to more people using cameras with ICX 694 comparing to iCX674.

[photosinferno]

Thanks ..had a wander across Flickr….. :thumbsup:

[photosinferno]

I have to say I'm leaning towards the Atik 428Ex at the moment - the 314L+ doesn't seem to have the QE numbers the 428 has - probably because its an old chip tbh.
The 460 is very interesting but alas well outside my budget - as i'm going to go mono filter wheels/filters etc are needed.

John

[Slawomir]

314L has about 20% lower QE but pixels have twice the surface area comparing to 428/460, so I suspect 314L will overall be a bit more sensitive, although that is just a speculation since I do not have experience with Atik 314 camera.

I just think with Atik 460ex you get more out of your setup, since is works fine with 1.25 filters and the weight is the same as for the smaller Atik 428ex and it costs extra to move up if you one day decide that ICX 674 is too small (speaking from my experience).

Anyway, Atik 428 and 460 are both fine cameras and it takes skills and experience to make the most of out them.

Good luck!

[photosinferno]

Slawomir,
Thanks for your words of advice - much appreciated :)
The QE of the 428EX is way up there compared to the 314L+ and the Pixel ratio suits my scopes more. I know what you mean about the FOV and that is a consideration however it's a lot more ontop of my original budget for something that I would like but is a'nice' to have as opposed to 'required'.
All I've got to do is source a 428EX and some imaging filters/wheel now :D

John

[Slawomir]

You may also consider new Atik 414ex :-)

[photosinferno]

I'd considered it, but evidently they wont be available till mid to late jan , and the pixel scale doesn't match my Megrez 72 :(
So the Atik 428EX is probably going to be my weapon of choice.
Thanks for the heads up though - much appreciated

John