I know--another Tarantula, but first time out you don't want to go for the hard stuff
Details:
Object: NGC 2070
Scope: William Optics ZS110 APO refractor
Mount: Losmandy GM8
Camera: QSI 540 wsg
Guide camera: Orion Starshoot.
Exposure: RGBL 3 x 5min each for a total of one hour
QSI....Quantum Scientific Imaging.....the 540 series is a good camera.
Geoff, you've got the one with the autoguider interface??. Bintel are now stocking them, or will be shortly.
Yes. it has a pick-off prism just in front of the filter wheel. Since the whole thing (off axis guider, filter wheel) is integrated into the camera body, the prism is quite big, so there shoulldn't be any problem finding guidestars. I have only had it out on two nights so I don't know if there will ever be a problem, but when I tried it there were always suitable guidestars in the field of my Orion Starshoot autoguider.
I didn't want to wait for Bintel to get their stuff in, but the price they were quoting was pretty much the same as I paid by getting it direct, so I would have bought it from them if they had something on the shelf.
Geoff
The actual camera is US$3995 which is pretty reasonable in the CCD world especially if it has a built in off axis guider.
Greg.
Yes, I know. But it looks like Bintel are possibly asking $9000...given import duty, GST and everything else. Even if you had to pay $5000, I would think that was OK, but $9000 is stretching things a bit too far. They are very good cameras, though.
Yes, I know. But it looks like Bintel are possibly asking $9000...given import duty, GST and everything else. Even if you had to pay $5000, I would think that was OK, but $9000 is stretching things a bit too far. They are very good cameras, though.
You have to realise the $4000 price is the base price and it is $US.
So multiply the US price by 1.5 to bring it to AU$ = $6000 add a reasonable set of filters at $1000AU makes it $7000 then add customs and freight and GST about 20% Makes it $8500 and then count on the fact a shop like Bintel does not get the quantity discounts a shop like Opt Corp gets and suddenly $9k is not an unreasonable price.
There is always other options available in the imaging game but as usual we all only work to our own budgets. I for one looked hard at an SBIG mono CCD because it included on camera guiding but my budget wouldn't allow it and I looked at what else was available and ended up going with a QHY9 for several reasons but be sure budget constraints was one of them. I will continue to guide with a separate guide scope, and am more than happy with the QHY9 results and the service Gama Electronics gives with these cameras.
We all do the best we can with what we can afford.
You have to realise the $4000 price is the base price and it is $US.
So multiply the US price by 1.5 to bring it to AU$ = $6000 add a reasonable set of filters at $1000AU makes it $7000 then add customs and freight and GST about 20% Makes it $8500 and then count on the fact a shop like Bintel does not get the quantity discounts a shop like Opt Corp gets and suddenly $9k is not an unreasonable price.
There is always other options available in the imaging game but as usual we all only work to our own budgets. I for one looked hard at an SBIG mono CCD because it included on camera guiding but my budget wouldn't allow it and I looked at what else was available and ended up going with a QHY9 for several reasons but be sure budget constraints was one of them. I will continue to guide with a separate guide scope, and am more than happy with the QHY9 results and the service Gama Electronics gives with these cameras.
We all do the best we can with what we can afford.
You are right there...we can only get what we can afford. What we need is a strong Oz dollar to help things out
Although, I'd get the QHY9 before I got the QSI, simply because it's cheaper, has plenty of Mpix and has good performance.
The actual camera is US$3995 which is pretty reasonable in the CCD world especially if it has a built in off axis guider.
Greg.
Actually the camera with the built in autoguider has base price of $US5290. But hey, I was posting a pic, not trying to initiate a thread about camera costs, which belongs in the equipment section. How about some comments (good and critical both welcome) on the pic?
Geoff
The Picture, I did forget to comment. Nice clean image. Seems to be lacking a little on colour depth (Saturation) The OIII of the core has come through quite well but the Ha regions seem to be lacking a little. I am not sure how all this LRGB stuff works but perhaps you need a little more expoosure on the red. Only guessing.
I have included a repo (hope you don't mind) I have increased the red channel using curves and also reduced the blue a little and increased the red in colour balance.
I am sorry the thread was highjacked. There was no intention to do so. Just everyone is interested in something new, particularly when it is a one of , new to our market item. I doubt the intention was to dissmiss your image.
The pic.....not bad at all, but looks a little out of focus to me (although that's probably my eyes)
That may be right. I was using new software (Maxim) and assumed that the default for focussing was the luminosity filter, but it turns outMaxim just uses whatever filter is in front of the camera. You have to set the one you want. I probably ended up focussing through a coloured filter--not a good idea with a refractor, even an APO.
