Camera choice

[muletopia]

Hello Folks,

[muletopia]

Hello Folks
Using an uncooled Canon EOS60Da with an ambient temperature of 25-30 degrees
is a frustrating exercise.
So I have been looking for a cooled OSC camera with large pixels.
I control capture with nebulosity and always et 2*2 binning as the 'scope focal length is 2415 mm.


The camera which seems to me to be the best suited, at a reasonable price, is the QHY8l with its 7.8 micron square pixels. This camera offers 2*2 & 3*3 binning.


Unbninned I would have .67 arc seconds/pixel.


Thoughts,alternative suggestions.


Chris

[multiweb]

Imaged with a QHY8 since 2007. Great little camera. Just remember if you bin you loose colour.

[that_guy]

Can you tell us what scope you intend to use the camera for?

[muletopia]

Tony , a Tak Mewlon 210 hence the 2415 mm focal length.


Chris

[multiweb]

That gives you an image scale of 0.67asp and a fov of 0.6x0.4 degrees.
Here's a pic taken (https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21ACnUIS%5FstUVCu%2Ds&cid=6930D3AD12D5044C&id=6930D3AD12D5044C%211556&parId=6930D3AD12D5044C%211054&o=OneUp) with the same rig to give you an idea of the fov with a QHY8.

[Xeteth]

I recently purchased a QHY8-Pro second hand off a user on here and have loved imaging with it (what little I can, bloody clouds!). I'm not sure on what the difference between the L and Pro versions are, but could be worth looking into.

[muletopia]

Marc, is using it as scary as reading the manual implies?


David, I will do that

[multiweb]

The camera or the scope? The scope is long FL so guiding and seeing can become an issue. As far as the camera goes you just use it like a DSLR. It has a bayer matrix. Only differene is it's cooled and you can do long exposures with minimal noise. Very easy to use.

Get into the habit of doing light and dark flats along with bias frames and you'll be alright. Have fun. :thumbsup:

[muletopia]

My new QHL8Y arrived yesterday an today I fitted the cables, connected it to my telescope, duct taped the two power units to the telescope and balanced the mount.


Started Nebulosity on my laptop and plugged in the usb. All good,Nebulosity saw the camera and connected to it. So I shot a pseudo dark. It worked.


Despite the usual new gear curse tonight will be clear, albeit full moon.
So far two questions:-
1) How do you adjust the cooling power?
2)
My Canon connected to the laptop via a 5 metre USB extension cable. This cable is folded up to the required length. A two metre cable would suffice.


The QHY fails to connect via this long extension cable ( it worked,as above when the camera was connected to the laptop).
Would a shorter replacing the 5 metre cable with a 1.8 metre cable allow the QHY to connect or is a 12 volt powered USB hub required?


It would be a neater installation (and cheaper) with the shorter cable.
Either way a delay in supply will have to be tolerated.



Peoples experience? May be Marc can shed some light as he has used this camera on his Mewlon.


Chris

[muletopia]

The cable problem, solved move the laptop closer to the camera.:rolleyes:
Some experimentation and coloured pictures are emerging.
I capture with Nebulosity and the images are stored raw.


I have debayered them one by one in Nebulosity and then stacked them, but there must be some way of passing the debayer requirements to Neb so that they are debayered on the fly.
This is the next thing to learn then I will worry about temperature control.


Good so far


Chris

[Xeteth]

What program are you using for stacking? Most stacking programs will be able to debayer the images for you before stacking.

[The_bluester]

The only capture program I have seen so far for Astro cams that debayers on the fly for images as they are captured was Astro Photography Tool (APT)



I was using that for a time but focus runs were an issue with my SCT so I had to move to another program (Sequence Generator Pro, and I have since moved again to Voyager which I am now getting my head around)



APT was the simplest to use and also has some plate solve and framing functionality that I wish SGP or Voyager did.

[muletopia]

Folks,


I did look at APT as the specs say on the fly debayer. I did not like it so it was removed.




David , stacking my preference is Siril but sometimes Nebulosity is used.
Today's progress was to find that batch demosaic in Nebulosity 4 works, I can't get it to work in Nebulosity 3. So i guess I will have to fork out for Neb 4 eventually.
For now capture control in Neb3, debayer ,in Neb 4 (demo version) shift the debayered images from laptop to desktop for processing.


If I get some sky tonight more experimentation.


Chris

[muletopia]

I can not get the temperature of the sensor to come down. I have tried in the program more or less supplied with the camer Ezcap and with Nebulosity.


Attached are screen grabs from both programs. They show the camera sitting stuburnly at the ambient temperature. The link below shows an Ezcap temperature screen that I would expect




https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/168197-can-someone-explain-to-me-these-settings/

So my question is, what am I missing?


Chris

[Xeteth]

Chris, a few questions -
1) Have you downloaded and installed the latest ASCOM drivers for the camera (can be found on the QHY website)
2) Are all the lights on the DC adapter on?
3) Can you hear the fans in the camera running?

I use Astrophotography Tool to control camera cooling, so I'm not sure how it's done in nebulosity etc. But either way, if the ASCOM drivers are installed then each different program should have no issue controlling the TEC.

Could you take a shot of the cabling/setup you have coming off the camera?

[muletopia]

David,
Thanks for your post.
Yes the latest ASCOM drivers for the camera are installed.
The TEC light is not on but all the others are

yes I can hear the fan running, quite loud.


The photo does not show the USB cable which is plugged int the laptop, my previous post shows Nebulosity being connected to the camera..


The lack of TEC light bothers me.
Chris

[Sayfog]

NINA should debayer on the fly - at least it has consistently for my Canon 200D. It even has options for linked vs unlinked stretch if you're shooting through heavy filters.

[Xeteth]

Chris,

The TEC light is also off when my QHY8-Pro is running so that's not a worry. I'm honestly a bit baffled as to why the cooling isn't working to be honest. I'd suggest contacting the QHY Facebook page for help - they usually reply within a day and I've had them help with a few questions I've had.

[muletopia]

Thanks David & Alistair,
I would have replied yesterday but NBN satellite service was down all day.
I am encouraged by your observation David.

Theo at Gama Electronics has a few suggestions he can examine. So the camera is packed up and will start traveling back to Victoria this afternoon.


Chris

[muletopia]

Theo found the problem and attributed it to me,ah well.


I wanted to ask a question on the qhyccd forum but I could not register
so I will ask here.


What is the maximum storage temperature for the QHY8L?
May be not a worry but it reached 46 degrees here today.
Chris