Gstar EX colour CCD camera

[rob288]

Anybody used this camera for outreach, any feedback would be helpful, looking to use for small public star parties, have read good reports about its perfomance.

[renormalised]

Haven't got that model (yet), but I have the monochrome model. Will probably use it for public viewing at a later stage, but it would be great for that sort of viewing. You'll find that you'll be able to see things using the camera that you'll never find looking through an eyepiece and with bright objects, the colour version will show the colours of the objects... things like M42, M8, M27 etc. All you'll need is a LCD TV with a video in jack because you can send video signals straight to TV. Also, you can simultaneously have it connected to a computer as well.

[mickqueensland]

Hi all,

I am also very interested in the Gstar EX Colour IVC. I was also looking at the MallinCam but of course that is 2-3 times the price and from overseas.

I would be interested in results you get if you get one rob.

I am now having doubts about using a video cam connected to a laptop. It makes more sense to use something that is digital all the way. Ho Hum, I foresee more research in my near future.

Cheers
Mick

[entity62]

Hi all, this is a 200 frame picture from last night. I have used photoshop too bring a bit more colour into it, but the live screen view was pretty damn good. The colour Gstar is a good cheap colour video camera.

cheers Darrell

[erick]

I have this on my birthday present wish list :D

I have the scope, a suitable LCD TV, power, light polluted skies that are itching to have nebulae and galaxies drawn out of them....... :)

Would love to see more reports, please.

[erick]

Any more reports?? Please. :sadeyes:

[jjjnettie]

Nip over to the Gstar users group Erick.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/gstar-users/

[erick]

:thumbsup: Sounds good JJJ!

[erick]

Hmmmm - can I remember my Yahoo login?? So I can get to the goodies!

[erick]

OK, I'm in and have been reading.

I contacted Steve M and he told me he is out of stock and there may be a delay on new stock. However, Steve felt that the best impact for live viewing would be with the monochrome Gstar-EX - going deeper and more low light sensitive.

Now I don't know. I like the lower price of the colour version. I like the idea of having colour display for public viewing. ???

Does anyone in Melbourne have a colour version in operation that i could come and observe - perhaps bring my TV monitor to test it out?

Confused :confused2:

[erick]

Update - I should have one next week. New shipment is in!

Now, I just want to look with the camera connected to a TV monitor.

Would a focal reducer be useful? I was thinking of a GSO 1.25" which would be about 0.7x, apparently, if screwed directly onto the camera. 0.5x if I add in the 25mm extension.

I'm poking it into an 8" f5 reflector which has a fairly standard JMI focusser attached (not low profile).

Or I could poke it into an 8" SCT?

I'm planning to get an s-video cable to connect camera to the TV.

[Robert9]

Eric, I'll be very interested in your reports. I'm tossing up between the G-star and the Meade DSI III. I am leaning toward the latter in spite of the higher price tag, but am willing to be convinced to spend less. (my wife I know would like this - more materials for her quilting.)
Robert

[5ash]

If you want to use a focal reducer with an 8" newt i'd recommend the 0.6x vixen c mount reducer, you may be disappointed with the one you mentioned. For a schmidt cassegrain lumican do a x2.4? focal reducer that works exceptionally well with the g star. I have both .
regards philip

[chris1964]

Hi guys. I am thinking of the Gstar colour. Would it be ok on a 5 inch SCT? What sort of detail could I expect?:thanx:

[erick]

It arrived. Managed to get stars in focus and an image on the TV screen!

(anyone want an s-video cable? The CLR does not have an s-video out socket! :sadeyes: I used the supplied RCA lead.)

Saw no colour at all on the first night so set it up during the day for testing on terrestrial objects. All B&W - hmmmm? Changed option from "Night" to "Day" and now there is colour. Huh?

OK, tried once more at night and I had saw colour images of Orion nebula, Carina nebula, 47 Tuc globular and the Jewel Box cluster. Interesting colours, but I have to get the settings right yet.

A good start - I'll persist! ps. thanks Bird for the helpful advice as I played with it.

Couldn't resist - just ordered a USB video capture dongle from Ebay. :screwy:

Cheers
Eric

[lacad01]

Sounds good Eric, look forward to hearing how you get on with tweaking, etc.

[jjjnettie]

yep, looking forward to seeing how you go Eric.
learning curves are fun!!

[dhein]

Hi Eric,

My 2 cents on the GSTAR Ex Colour



Using it with 8" SCT
I've never been able to get decent colours with Live view
Using DSS to stack images I've been able to extract a bit more colour, but still not quite what I was hoping for
Have experimented with every setting I can find and 3 x different capture cards


Mind you I'm in a typical suburban light polluted suburb, so maybe I need to try it out under darker skies

Either way I'd be interested to see what results you get.

Cheers
David

Typical Live view

http://dhein.no-ip.org/public/DSS/GSTAR-Ex-Clr/M42%20Live%20View.jpg


500x frames stacked, Post processed image

http://dhein.no-ip.org/public/DSS/GSTAR-Ex-Clr/M42%20stack%20of%20500.jpg

[chris1964]

G'Day David.

From what I've reade on various forums I think for deep sky you need to stack around 1000 images for best results, the colour camera not being as sensitive as the monochrome

Chris