Gee baz that dose not look good, now I have dismantled a Canon DSLR before but not the Orion Starshoot, you would have to wonder how it all got under there in the first place.
No mate, not mould. It has been exactly the same since brand new. I originally thought it was on the outside, but after weeks of owning it and finally deciding to clean it, i found it was under. Mold changes shape and size over time. Plus it tends to multiply. This has not.
It looks like the Sony ICX413AQ CCD has a plain glass window from the factory (good) and the Orion folks put their own IR cut window over that. So it looks like your JPEG indeed shows a very closely spaced IR filter that is not sealed. There is no other way for dust to get in this space, I would have to have it infront of me to see how the IR filter bonding is done.
If it's under warranty send it back.
It looks like the Sony ICX413AQ CCD has a plain glass window from the factory (good) and the Orion folks put their own IR cut window over that. So it looks like your JPEG indeed shows a very closely spaced IR filter that is not sealed. There is no other way for dust to get in this space, I would have to have it infront of me to see how the IR filter bonding is done.
If it's under warranty send it back.
Thanks mate. I think it's out of warranty now. Not sure what to do. I think when I have finished imaging in this beautiful weather, I might pull it apart and at least investigate. If it looks too hard to do, I will leave it alone. If it is reasonably simple I will seek more advice, maybe give it a go and post a tutorial on it if appropriate.
from what I can tell with my StarShoot Pro, it should be easy enough to open the camera up, although the CCD Chamber will be sealed, and I dont know how they come apart from there.. so you'll be flying blind so to speak..
If you manage to get it open, use a lens cleaning cloth to give it a quick wipe, then using a magnifying glass to get a better look at it, inspect it for dust or other odd looking spots, wipe clean using a micro fibre cloth over a Q-tip with a drop or two of 99% isopropyl alcohol on it.. this will clean it up nicely... When re-sealing it up, make sure to do so in a very low humidity area.. there are many issues that can come from moisture getting inside the camera.. Another option here is to tape a small bag of silica gel somewhere inside the camera to dry out any moisture / humidity that gets into the camera while you have it open...
Calibration with flats seems to remove it just fine.
That being said, it seems is quite normal for most camera's to have some degree of this stuck in their optical train. Within reason, that is why even the camera manufacturers recommend flats calibration. If it was particularly bad, I am sure they would be reasonable.
In a similar case, I believe it is expected in most television manufacturers QA checks to have an acceptable number of dead pixels in a brand new TV screen. They expect it and even disclose this fact in their fine-print prior to sale.
As I said, taking flats works fine in this case. If, however, the big blob in the top left was smack in the middle of my sensor, i think I would request a replacement or at least a service to remove it.
The image above is a crop of the top left third of my entire sensor, so the percentage of image it interferes with is very small indeed. (I will post a processed JPG of the full sensor tonight when I get home).
My very helpful and knowledgeable supplier is still going to send said processed image to Orion anyway, to see what they say. I will let you all know the outcome when the time comes.
It is my hope that this experience like all others can be shared with the wider astrophotographer community to help them along in similar situations. It is a good thing to be able to see this from the supplier/manufacturers perspective as well as the consumer, that we can all determine what is fair, reasonable and to be expected or not.
That big blob Baz, is, believe it or not, a tiny, tiny piece of dust or similar spec on the filter window of the camera. Its just that big due to the distance the shadow is cast.
Problem is it may have been clean at the time of testing, but shipping causes many bumps, etc. This can dislodge a speck from somewhere else to fall on somewhere where a shadow is caused on the sensor.
That big blob Baz, is, believe it or not, a tiny, tiny piece of dust or similar spec on the filter window of the camera. Its just that big due to the distance the shadow is cast.
Problem is it may have been clean at the time of testing, but shipping causes many bumps, etc. This can dislodge a speck from somewhere else to fall on somewhere where a shadow is caused on the sensor.
Even camera lenses get dust in between them.
Theo
The smaller ones are, yes, Theo, but the large one appears to be a tiny inclusion in the glass. When light is shone on the chip, this tiny fault reflects back.
If a bright star is in or near this inclusion, a curved diffraction spike emanates from the point source.
As promised, here is a full frame JPG of a flat from the chip, followed by an unprocessed JPG single-sub light frame.
The Sony CCD has no coatings or anything on the glass surface.
Unless its in the debayer film (I doubt), it may just be on the glass surface, or on the back of the filter glass.
Too bad it doesnt have a simple opening somewhere to clean the CCD surface easily.