SBIG & QHY Comparison.

[Neil]

G'day everyone all the best for the season and a very merry new year hopefully with clear skies..

I'm currently looking at two CCD's which I plan to buy one of in the near future. I'm seeking opinions on both of these reputable CCD's, I would be keen to hear from any users of or past owners to express their knowledge and experience of these camera's.
I will be imaging at F10 focally reduced to 6.3, so the suitability of either for this FL is of great interest to me as well as any other relevant info, thanks very much in advance and have a great new year, clear sky's, Neil.
:):D:):D

[Atmos]

Which cameras are you looking at?
I am assuming it may be the KAF-8300 sensor... ST-8300 and QHY9?

[Neil]

Sorry Colin that info would be useful!They are the SBIG STF-8300C and the QHY10 colour CCD, I was interrupted during posting this info by visitors and alcohol.😏

[Atmos]

Having not used either of them I can make some global comments. SBIG has better native driver support being a much older company than QHY but I have had no issues with my two QHY cameras and their ASCOM drivers. The QHY10 has a larger sensor and larger pixels. Read noise in comparable but the QHY10 has a larger dynamic range, near twice the well depth but similar read noise. The SBIG will likely download significantly faster than the QHY10, partially due to electronics but also smaller file sizes.

The SBIG is probably far more expensive than the QHY10. I'd personally got the QHY as it is a bigger chip, larger pixels (although not sure if that is relevant on your FL), better dynamic range, similar cooling, cheaper but requires ASCOM where as the SBIG will work natively.

[Neil]

Thanks Colin, that was very interesting and useful.

[billdan]

Hi Neil,

Another advantage of the QHY10 is its round shape, this allows hyperstar imaging at F2 (I'm assuming you have a SCT).

Both of these cameras were introduced to the market 6 or more years ago so are proven technology but I feel that the new CMOS cameras will eventually replace CCD cameras. If you want the latest technology both QHY and ZWO offer CMOS colour cameras in the same size sensors as you have been considering.

Cheers
Bill

[Neil]

G'day Bill, what is the advantage of CMOS over CCD? And what is Hyperstar? Sorry to show my ignorance, is it a driver or some other software, thank you.

[Atmos]

The newer CMOS sensors typically have significantly lower read noise but also have smaller pixels.

Hyper star is a lens system that can replace the secondary mirror on Celesteon SCTs allowing imaging at ~F/2.2 as opposed to F/10 at native focal length.

[Slawomir]

One thing worth keeping in mind is that precise focusing with Hyperstar, due to its very fast f ratio, is not a trivial task.