For the serious one shot colour imager!

[gregbradley]

Well you'd know if you were serious about one shot colour CCDs if you got this baby.

39 megapixels in a FLI Proline body with super cooling.

http://www.flicamera.com/fli/proline.html

Greg.

[bluescope]

Oh and how serious do you have to be in dollars Greg ?

:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

US$12,495 + Shipping plus GST.

In AUD that would be about $21,000.

Or you could slum it and get the 31 megapixel one for about $20,000 hehe.

Greg.

[bluescope]

I'll just stick 15 or 20 of my 2 megapixel images together for now :lol:

:thumbsup:

[marki]

But then you would have to by a scope to do justice to the camera. Hmmmm perhaps all these 2m observatory scopes will become redundant after the big 30m + start getting built. Could be a fire sale :P

Mark

[jase]

With a peak QE of 23%, you might as well go back to film.

[gregbradley]

Party pooper. ;)

Just think its 23% of 39 megapixels though!

Greg.

[jase]

Its all good Greg. Its an easy trap to fall into...having mega pixels isn't always the answer. Another exhibit is Fairchild's 85megapixel monster - http://www.fairchildimaging.com/products/fpa/ccd/area/ccd_595.htm but at a peak QE of 35%, it gets a little "ho..hum". Big chips are great for wide field vistas assuming you've got the right sampling. With CCD cameras, the array size is only a small contribution to the price when you compare it against sensitivity - thats what you are really paying for. This is evident with back illuminated chips etc that cost a small fortune. i.e. Apogee's U42. Its only a 4 megapixel camera, but has a QE of 95%...alas costs US$38.5k (http://www.bigbangastro.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=1 9&products_id=2812) for a grade 1 chip (if you want a grade 0 (no defects) add another 15k on top). Note, this is a camera that can be purchased by an amateur. Its not a special government agency order. How times have changed...

[telecasterguru]

Could you buy two of them and take the chips out, stick them next to each other in a used margarine tub (painted black inside of course) and get 46% of 78 megapixels?

[AlexN]

I'd prefer a ST4000XCM.. sure its only 4mp, but its QE is higher, My scope wont cause extreme vignetting with it and its nowhere near 21k... :)

Sensitivity is pretty important.. for me, anything that peaks around the 50% mark is acceptable... I'd love a STL11000XCM, however at 32~33% QE in Ha it would be a camera that would require you to do megadata images to get good detail...

I must say, I like OSC imaging... Sure you lose some resolution, but its just easy... Easy - Easy - Easy, and im Lazy - Lazy - Lazy.. :)

[AlexN]

Frank - no, it would still be 23% of 78mp. :P Nice try though...

[marki]

Come on Alex, buy one and hook it on the GSO :D
Mark

[AlexN]

uuuummmm... No. :P Fund me and I'll test the GSO with an ST4000XCM or an STL11000XCM

[marki]

Wouldn't you rather have FLI like Mikes? Seriously though I think the QHY9 might be a good match and its reasonably priced to.

[marki]

Yeah Jase, don't be a party pooper :P. Imagine the bragging rights you would have as a proud owner of one of these camera's. You would probably never have to plug it in to show the horrible images it would take :D.

Mark

[KenGee]

So Greg with those deep pockets of yours, have you ordered one?

[h0ughy]

boys and their future toys

[gregbradley]

Sensitivity is pretty important.. for me, anything that peaks around the 50% mark is acceptable... I'd love a STL11000XCM, however at 32~33% QE in Ha it would be a camera that would require you to do megadata images to get good detail...

I used an STL11000XCM for about a year and a half. I loved it. Lots of fun. One shot colour has its advantages for sure.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/79670650

Yes the ST4000XCM is getting great results but the king of the one shot colour game still seems to be the MX25C in my opinion.

The STL didn't really require super long exposures. Depends what you wanted to image. If you were trying to get dust areas you'd get colour noise being a problem. If it were a bright object (like 80% of all images posted) then it worked really well.

Main problem with these large chipped cameras is a scope that has a large enough (read that as 45mm -50mm minimum) corrected field.

That limits it a lot to FSQ106, AP, TEC, Taks with 4 inch focusers, some Newts with 3 inch correctors etc etc. Not a lot of choice really.

Greg.

[bluescope]

WO FLT110 with 4" focuser and TMB Field Flattener ;)

:thumbsup: