[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

Great imagery Ray.

Thank you lewis

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great looking galaxy photo Ray.

Detailed and sharp.

Very nice composition.


Ross.

thanks Ross

Originally Posted by RickS

That's great for the short exposure, Ray! I needed eight hours at f/8 with a KAF-8300 to get a half decent image.

Thanks Rick. would have liked a lot more data, but this camera has high enough QE and low enough noise to produce usable results (just..) from relatively short exposures.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Excellent result Ray, given the described seeing

These Starlightxpress cameras are pretty good huh? Real alternatives to the popular 8300 based cameras I recon?

Mike

Thanks Mike. Yep, I like the SX camera a lot - to the point where I do not think about it much anymore - It just seems to work very well regardless and results will be determined by other factors (eg seeing). As for it being an alternative to the 8300, I think it is different enough to have its own niche. Where you want high resolution imaging from short focal length scopes and in conditions where long exposures may not be possible or desirable (particularly using Ha), the icx694 is in a league of its own. It costs a bit more than an 8300, but I think that the extra performance could be worth it in many cases.

FYI, have been trying a range of pre-processing techniques and have got the best possible SNR by doing an initial hot pixel removal from darks and lights - before the normal calibration process. The read noise of the chip is so low low that it doesn't mask the minor noise that results from dark subtraction where the thermal noise is significant (hot pix). Getting rid of a few hundred warm/hot pixels first is worthwhile. Of course, this extra effort is only beneficial if you are digging around in the depths of the data for tiny signals - on most targets it wouldn't matter at all.

Originally Posted by Lee

A great image Ray... I might stalk you and try it myself next new moon!

thanks Lee. looking forward to seeing your results.

Regards ray