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Old 11-05-2006, 08:34 AM
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Hitchhiker
knows where his towel is

Hitchhiker is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW
Posts: 371
My 2 cents as an LPI user.

Pros: You can do up to 15 sec exposures 'straight out of the box', so if you want to do some (limited) deep sky stuff, you can.

Comes with software (though, as Mike says you can get other free software to use)

Is ready to use straight away - don't have to get any adapters or filters.

No compression is done on the image - you get a full 900k bmp file, so no compression artifacts.

Cons: Pixel size - the LPI has 8 micron pixels vs the ToUCam/NextImage 5.6 microns. What this means in practice is the ToUcam will give a 40% bigger image for the same focal length.

Sensitivity - the LPI is not as sensitive as the ToUCam/NexImage - this lets you use a shorter exposure time to 'freeze' the seeing.

Frame rate - the maximum frame rate I have ever managed is slightly over 2 fps. This means, at best, you are going to get half the frames of the ToUCam brigade. More frames means more chance you will get good frames.


I've had a great time using the LPI (note that I got mine for free with my telescope) but if I had to choose between the LPI and ToUCam/Neximage for planetary/lunar imaging I would go with the ToUCam. The LPI has some great features but, where it counts for planetary imaging (pixel size, sensitivity, and frame rate), the ToUCam comes out ahead.

I have no knowledge of the Orion Starshoot so can't offer an opinion.

Just my opinion
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