I am looking to get a CCD camera shortly to go with my LX90. Has anyone had any experience with the Orion Starshoot camera yet? Things seemed to go quiet after all the build up last December.
Isn't it about the same as an Meade LPI...small 1/3" CMOS chip...it's not going to be that good for DSO's...maybe ok for planets.
The Orion deepspace at $399USD looks a lot better but if it was me I would save for a second hand digital SLR or even new....you will get way better results if DSO's are your target.
I recently acquired an Orion StarShoot Deep Space Colour CCD Imaging Camera. I also own an SBIG ST7E CCD camera.
In this case, you get what you pay for. I have only had the chance to use the Orion DSS once and have found that it is a budget camera compared to the more "scientific" ST7E.
I cannot provide any quantifiable data as I was only playing around with the Orion DSS on that one, partially cloudy night.
I have found that there is a steep learning curve with deep sky ccd imaging but don't let that put you off. It really tests your mount, your optics, your polar aligment, your set up, your patience and your bank account.
Thanks for the comments, Dennis. I will be interested to hear more about your experience with the Orion CCD as you get more time with it. As you say you get what you pay for, but how would you contrast it with your SBIG camera?
In any case, it seems wise to wait for the DSI 2 to be released, along with some user feedback, before jumping into the Orion camera. I am generally pretty happy with the Meade stuff that I have already, and the DSI 2 seems pretty competitive with the Orion Deepspace camera on paper. i guess I will just keep practicing the basics with the LPI until a clear choice emerges.
I purchased the OSSDS to use as an auto-guider for auto guiding with my DSLR. The ST7E is quite a bit heavier that the OSSDS so I wanted a much lighter CCD so there is less strain on the guide scope assembly.
So far, and as expected, I have found that the OSSDS user interface is not as nice as SBIG's CCDSoft, because I am comparing apples with oranges; the MaximDL Essential software that is provided with the OSSDS is a light version of the full MaximDL, which I do not have.
Since I acquired the OSSDS, we have been clouded out in Brisbane so no results yet, other than it does require a USB2 interface. It runs slowly and very badly on USB1, with line and colour artifacts appearing on the display.
Dassar, Have you considered the Philips ToUcam. Cost is $145.00 + About another $100 for filters and adapters. A good friend and fellow member has just gone from film to this camera in the last couple of months.
These are the results from his first try. Cheers, John
Thanks for the note and the nice images. However I believe that the LPI that I have would have similar resolution and sensitivity to the Toucam. I was wanting to do some deepspace imaging (fascinated by galaxies!).
By the way, here is a similar shot of Jupiter that I took some months ago:
