M42 with a QHY8 and 14 minutes

[Gama]

I have been testing this camera now for a few weeks, but mainly testing conditions and glitches, as i will be the distributer for the QHY cameras here in Australia. Just finalizing some details, but nevertherless, these cameras are certainly up there with the big boys, and produce great images.

This was imaged during a gibbous moon, and was imaged at only 14 minutes total, with no flats or darks. I over done the processing (Black halo around some stars) but its only a test.
Scope was a 14" RCX at f5 (Giant Lumicon reducer) in suburban skies. Camera QHY8 6 Mpixel Oneshot Colour, Clear filter.
If anyone wants to know about these cameras just pm me and i'll help as best i can.
Ive binned the image 3x3 to fit within the filesize limits.

[2020BC]

How much will these retail for?

[Gama]

All querries by PM. But quickly, im trying to get the best price that also includes Warranty in Australia, spare part etc.. There are varies options and acessories as well. But i'll have firmer info within a week.

[Ric]

Hi Gama, thats a great looking image for a test.

Cheers

[Ken]

Hi nice image . Been using the QHY8 for a few months now seems like a good thing, only problem I have had is the S video plug dropping out of its socket quite often. Clear skies Ken

[Lester]

Top image there Gama,

looks very 3-D

[Gama]

Yeah, is a little annoying, but you need to get the ones that are molded without the 2 mould plastic where it uses a huge glump of plastic around the connector.
Or do what i did, use a razor blade or something like it and shave away the rubber coat over the cable.

[Gama]

I had finished doing some other tests on it, and i had a little time to spare, so i decided not to spend too long on it, as most people dont have the time to take 1, 2 or more hours exposure.
This gives people an ability to see just what can be done with only a short time on exposures.

[seeker372011]

looks good..how about a test shot one of these days with the kind of scope mere mortals can aspire to -say an ED80?

also what software do you use for capture?
and is there a way to autoguide with the same camera ala SBIG?

cheers
narayan

[Gama]

Well, you know that SBIG have another ccd inside the camera. NO ONE else does this, for the simple fact, it is Patented by SBIG. You can if you like build and sell them, then get sued by SBIG for Patent infringment.
I prefer guiding with a seperate sensor and scope, as do most people.

I will be using a 105mm f5 Achromatic refractor as soon as the weather clears.
Plus on my newtonian as well.
But this is not what you should be looking at in the scheme of things. The important thing is how well and clear the image is produced by the sensor.
Any sensor, be it a DSI or a Trifid with the EV2 sensor, is going to give a bad result if the optics are bad, and a good result if the optics are good.

The optics is half your solution, the sensor is the other half. Plus 10% for processing !!!!!!!. I leaving out mounts and guiding etc, thats another ball game.

No dark frames needed, no bias frames etc. Just setup, and image away.

The software i used was Astrowin, which is what comes with it. It does have MaximDL drivers, but i like the easy use of Astrowin. Plus it converts the Bayer color matrix better than MaximDL's color convert command. I also wanted to see how the original QHY software captures images, as it has a very simple menu system. Once you have the RAW's, you can then use MaximDL or what ever to process the images, as i did. I used MaximDL and then Photoshop to process the final image.

[ballaratdragons]

Gama,

I couldn't help myself.

It was painful to see such an excellent image being spoiled by Black-eyes around the stars, so I ran your Pic thru Loreal and got rid of the Black-eyes. :thumbsup:

Hope you don't mind.

[Gama]

Looks better, which program or plugin did you use.

[Gama]

I also reprocessed it a little to bring out a little extra color.