Over Christmas & New Year I thought I'd start a spreadsheet comparing various CCD specs, advantages/disadvantages, price, size, weight, pixel count, FOV, etc. Just in case I ever seriously considered going to the "dark side" from my trusty 450D.....
WARNING! - starting such a spreadsheet can be hazardous to your bank account!
It wasn't until I did the exercise that I realised how close the KAF8300 chips are to APS-C chips in pixel size and FOV, and why there is such interest in the newer SBIGS, QHYs, etc. After seeing some the very competitive prices on offer at the moment an idea started to form in my mind - just how much could I afford, and how important to me was my imaging?....
Anyway, the QHY9 + filterwheel and LRGB filters for $3000 before March 2010 was too nice to pass up. I was lucky enough to snare a camera in Theo's last delivery, so a week later I found myself the owner of a new QHY9 and trying to figure out what the heck "Gain and offset" are.
With help from Robin and Alex (and faultless and rapid support from Theo) I had learned enough to attempt my first shots on Saturday at Peter's (10 Chain Hill observatory outside Brisbane).
I'm still in the process of collecting suitable bias and dark frames, let alone figuring out what software to use for stacking etc, so I haven't processed much of the 4 or 5 objects I attempted. However, I did want to share my "first light" rite-of-passage on M42 and a more serious attempt on the Leo triplet, so here they are.
I'm looking forward to everything I'll need to figure out now to climb the LRGB mountain, but very happy with the initial sensitivity and resolution these pics offer.
1. M42/Running man (first pic taken) 1 x 30 secs, no cal, Gain 50, offset 100
2. Leo triplet, 3 x 5mins, no cal, Gain 40, offset 100
All pics mono (no filters), QHY9 + MPCC on 8 inch newt:
QHY9 pics
Also for comparison, a 30min stack of calibrated 3min images of the Leo triplet taken with 450D March last year - albeit with moderate noise reduction to help wash out light polution (no pollution filter used) and much less processing knowledge at the time:
http://picasaweb.google.com/UserRobF...41677845469922