Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassnut
Oh, OK, sorry, you DID use an AOL, sweet.
Yes, if you mean new SBIG toys, report back on what you think after a play
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Happy to oblige Fred
Well the first thing I can say is I'm totally shagged after having risen at 1.30am Sydney time, then faced 3 hours up, then 3 back of LA freeways to get to/from Santa Barbara....
The first STX series cameras are all KAF16803 based, there are several units in production now, with the first commercial units expected to ship in August. There is now a good deal of information on the net about these CCD's so I'll keep it down to my personal impressions.
These suckers are *BIG*, and will prove to be a challenge to mount as even AP 2.7" fittings will be barely adequate. The CCD focal plane position is not common with STL units, and will require custom adapters for some (eg AP) field flateners
2" fittings are simply too small (!!) as they severely vignette the guide sensor. They are fast, full res downloads in about 4 seconds. Other features I thought to be very cool were the low profile "equi-illumination" shutter (no iris shaped flats!) plus being able to assign an IP address to the camera and download images via a web browser.
Alan Holmes (SBIG's CEO) showed me some sample data taken with a TeleVue 127is. Images were *very* clean. The KAF16803 looked to have excellent sensitivity and the field was amazingly wide, with hints of galactic cirrus visible even with 5 minute exposures.
There will be two types of filter wheel, the standard 5 position unit will be nearly 1kg lighter than a similarly sized Optec unit. Development options for an 8 filter unit are still being looked at...I can say no more other than the filter positioning will likely be the most accurate on the market, bar none, with less back focus required than the 5 position wheel. The AO will be as fast as current units, just a little larger
Initial SG-4 production was quite limited, the package is a tad larger than I expected, with size being on a par with a ST402 casing. Initial setup is with a PC, but once completed, no PC required for plug and play guiding.
Needing a beer now.....