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Old 23-02-2010, 03:19 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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New camera has arrived - a QHY-9 :)

Hey all

Thanks to all those people who I spoke to about upgrading to a KAF-8300 based camera. I cycled though wanting the ST-8300 from SBIG, an ML8300 from FLI and an Atik 383L+.... until I decided on the QHY-9. I ordered and paid for it Friday and it was here on my doorstep at 8:00am Monday morning. Thanks Theo!

None of the other camera manufacturers could supply an 8300-based camera in good time, and I've been watching the QHY-9 with interest on several websites and forums and decided that the performance was very much in league with the others.

What really topped it off was the value. Until the end of February, the QHY-9 is being offered (no affiliation or any of that!!) bundled with the 5-position 2" stepper-driven CFW and a set of pretty reasonable (from what I've been able to gather) parfocal LRGB filters. They're not Astronomics, but should be fine for the learning process and beyond. The fifth slot is now taken up with my 7nm Ha filter - not parfocal with the others, but will be used separately anyway.

All in all - I can't wait to try it out... hopefully tonight. Lots to learn! At the moment, I have it mounted on the Sky-90, with the FS60-C/QHY-5 performing guiding duties. The QHY-5 and QHY-9 both behave together on adjacent USB ports on my netbook. It has plenty of power to run both acquisition and guiding duties simultaneously and without conflict.

I'm also keen to swap these two scopes and attach all my Nikkor lenses as well for ultra-widefield.

It was so hard without a camera for a few weeks.... I feel revived again!

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  #2  
Old 23-02-2010, 03:25 PM
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toryglen-boy (Duncan)
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Nice one Chris, enjoy the new toy!!

once i get a few images with my QHY8 under my belt, i might go the same route.


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Old 23-02-2010, 03:43 PM
TheDecepticon
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Congrats, Chris! I paid for mine Thursday and it arrived yesterday, too. I went through the list just as you did and nearly bought the SBIG, but the better cooling and the filter deal is what brought me back to the QHY9.
Can't wait to learn to use it properly. Are you going to use darks? At -20*C, its pretty noise free, but a few hot pixels. I'm just experimenting now. It certainly is a good package.
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Old 23-02-2010, 03:52 PM
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Chris, enjoy the new camera and I hope its all you expect. I still can't make my mind up but by the time I do it may be the STX8300 but the QHY9 is exceptional value at the moment.
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Old 23-02-2010, 03:58 PM
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jjjnettie (Jeanette)
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Nice.
Hope you do get first light tonight.
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Old 23-02-2010, 04:03 PM
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DavidU (Dave)
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That's fantastic news Chris, can't wait to see some images !
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Old 23-02-2010, 04:10 PM
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Octane (Humayun)
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Chris,

Congratulations, my friend. I'm envious!

It looks like poo in Sydney tonight thus far. I'm over a mate's house in Macquarie Park. Grey, grey and more grey.

H

Last edited by Octane; 24-02-2010 at 12:42 AM. Reason: Macquarie Park, not Centre!
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Old 23-02-2010, 04:32 PM
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zipdrive (Dave)
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Looking good
Hope you can get some clear skies for 1st light!
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Old 23-02-2010, 04:36 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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Thanks Duncan, Decepti, Allan, Nettie, David, Humayun and David

Sorry for the cloud, it may clear!

Decepti - congrats on your delivery too. I'll be taking bog-standard images without filters or darks for a while to get used to the software. I've run a 30-minute test dark, and I have to say that it nearly devoid of nasties at -20 deg. Promising indeed.

"I'm siiiiiing'in in the rain... Just siiiiing'in in the raaaaaain!!!!....."

Last edited by Omaroo; 23-02-2010 at 04:50 PM.
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Old 23-02-2010, 05:08 PM
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Bassnut (Fred)
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With filter wheel and filters its a good deal, good choice.

Ive been stung with 6 mths waiting (and longer) with several purchases with quotes of "2 weeks, tops". Delivery now has real value.
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Old 23-02-2010, 05:31 PM
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multiweb (Marc)
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Sweet set-up you've got there. Can't wait to see first light now.
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Old 23-02-2010, 06:18 PM
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spacezebra (Petra)
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Excellent Chris

Looking forward to the results

Cheers Petra d.
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  #13  
Old 23-02-2010, 06:30 PM
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mill (Martin)
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Ay she is a sweet camera for sure.
Better set the gain and offset first -->> http://www.stark-labs.com/blog/files/GainAndOffset.php
Just in case you didn't do this already
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  #14  
Old 23-02-2010, 06:36 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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Thanks guys - appreciate your thoughts!

Fred - spot on. I could have a million dollar mini computer delivered before I could get hold of some of these cameras. Ridiculous.

Martin - gee thanks Gulp... time to work through it, so thanks for the heads up! What do you have yours set to out of curiosity?
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Old 23-02-2010, 06:38 PM
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sheeny (Al)
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Ah... a change of plans since I spoke to you last... still an excellent choice no doubt.

After a blindingly brilliant day here, it has now clouded over. I was stressing I'd have to rush through getting my EQDIR going again to give the SBIG first light, but looks like I can take my time to get the mount going again.

Al.
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Old 23-02-2010, 06:47 PM
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mill (Martin)
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Chris mine is set at 12 gain and 112 offset.
Yours could be slightly different.
What i like and also dislike about the QHY9 is that you can set all the settings yourself (this is good if you want to get the very best out of your camera) but if you are not technically apt then you can get bad results and give up imaging with an QHY9 camera.
So it is up to the user what they do (just the gain and offset is easy).
All the rest is magic
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Old 23-02-2010, 07:01 PM
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lacad01 (Adam)
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Nice gear Chris, look forward to seeing some great shots
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  #18  
Old 23-02-2010, 07:11 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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Thanks Al, and drat eh? I can;t wait to see what you get from the ST-8i

Martin - thanks for that too. Similar settings to mine. I'll certainly go though that documentation and get my head around it.

Thanks too Adam
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  #19  
Old 23-02-2010, 08:25 PM
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RobF (Rob)
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Congrats on your new baby Chris!
It really is hard to go past that deal along with Theo's great support. I suspect the QHY9 may well be edging into pricing territory that lures a decent chunk of DSLR users this year. I don't know what the heck inspired me to buy a new camera during the wet season though....
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  #20  
Old 23-02-2010, 09:46 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
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LOL! Wet season...hmm.... it was 32 deg last night here in southern Sydney at 9:00pm. RH was only 36% but it felt like 90. Darn weather!!!!

I suspect that you may be right Rob - the price point is coming down each time I look. It's hellishly good value, I agree.
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