QHY8 - Bad columns

[srhasan]

I been reading few threads about QHY8 where they produce a bad columns (no data) ..... can anyone shed some light on this please?

thx in advance

[gbeal]

Nope, I can't, never seen this effect with mine. Nor have I heard any other QHY8 owners mention it here.
Gary

[Alchemy (Clive)]

not on mine, and theo ( the local rep) has a very good repuation for service , so even if you got one i wouldnt see a problem in having it fixed.

clive

[Hagar (Doug)]

There was some discussion about the QHY8 giving results with bad colums but it was a load of guff. I have seen the results this was directed at and it was in fact an artifact caused by the download speed of the camera and the reduced USB buffer size found in all versions of windows after win98. This was fixed easily by installing a new set of drivers with a built in USB buffer wich prevented the pause in the USB download which caused this artifact. Theo has both the standard drivers and the Beta version of the lib USB drivers in his downloadable drivers on his site.
The results from this camera are very very good. Up there with much more expensive cameras.

[marki]

Yep, I have certainly had no problems with mine and Theo has been great to deal with.

[gbeal]

LOL, 4-0 so far.
Gary

[srhasan]

thx for the input guys. This makes me more confident to make up my mind

[marki]

My only initial concern was that the camera may ice up as the nose piece with filter just screwed in and the ccd chamber was not sealed in an inert gas. This turned out to be a non-event as I also bought the case and desicator. All you do is plug the desicator into the wall for about an hour then place it in the box with the camera minus the nose piece for about 30 minutes and you are ready to go. There are no noticable column defects or even hot and cold pixels on mine. Noise is low even at 10 + minutes exposure and the camera works well with maxim dl. I liked it so much I also bought the QHY5 guider as well. I haven't tried with a H alpha filter yet but will do that in the near future, perhaps after I get some pocket money from kev . They are good value for money.

Ciao Mark