Mono DSLRs wow

[gregbradley]

Check out the quality of this image and then look at what camera was used.

Its not a $15,000 16803 chipped astro cam but a mono cooled Canon 450D DSLR!

http://www.pampaskies.com/gallery3/D...cts/NGC6188_Ha

Greg.

[MrB (Simon)]

Yup, nice huh?
If only the microlenses weren't destroyed in the debayering process
If only the 1100D was as easy to debayer as the earlier bodies
If only all of the Canons were as easy as Kodak sensors (solvent works). The Canon matrix is impervious to alcohols and solvents etc and must be scratched/polished off.

Someone on Stargazers Lounge mentioned that Canon had been approached about removing a small run of sensors from the manufacturing line before the bayer filters were printed, but put back on the line for the microlenses and subsequent processes... I think unit prices, for the sensor only, was around the $10k mark. (Dodgy memory, could be very wrong)

[John K]

Looks like that there are a few people setting up little businesses doing this with great results.

I just sent Brent an email actually asking to find out about any cooling mod's he does as that could be the next improvement to my modded Canon.

If anyone knows anyone that can do a really good Peltier type cooling mod to a Canon can you please let me know.


John K.

[g__day (Matthew)]

I wonder how many users World wide Canon would wish to see before they would consider an new Da model? I would guess hearing they can compete against a > 10K$ imaging camera might be seriously good marketing for them. Let's hope the read this and think it through; although the 20Da and 60Da were great - a cooled, mono DSLR direct from Canon would be mind blowing.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Hang on, what the hell does "mono" 450d mean, bayer striped off?. What does that cost done commercially?.

[LewisM]

Hmmm, can they remover the bayer matrix on my Atik 4000 OSC?

[MrB (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Hang on, what the hell does "mono" 450d mean, bayer striped off? What does that cost done commercially?.

Yes. JTW used to offer a mod service, but they only sell completed cams now.
http://www.jtwastronomy.com/products/monochrome.html

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

central ds are investigating it . .. would like to know what they come up with
http://www.centralds.net/cam/?p=6562

[RobF (Rob)]

Hmm, I've still got my 450D that could be modified. Is there any way to convert my Zenithstar 80mm into an AP130 though?

[blink138 (Pat)]

hmmm..... i am sure one of our members had de bayered his canon to mono very recently, i was reading the threads last week
pat

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by RobF

Hmm, I've still got my 450D that could be modified. Is there any way to convert my Zenithstar 80mm into an AP130 though?

Yes, just send me $9900 I'll send you my Ap130 f6 (feather touch Focuser)

[blink138 (Pat)]

Originally Posted by blink138

hmmm..... i am sure one of our members had de bayered his canon to mono very recently, i was reading the threads last week
pat

yes our member alistairsam is selling a debayered 350d at the moment on iis, it does sound very exciting
pat

[alistairsam]

Hi guys,

Yep I'll be putting up a few mono 350 and 450d's, not as a sales thing but cause I enjoy the challenge and love to see what others can do with it.
The 450D is the overall winner in terms of ease of removal of the cover glass, removing the cfa, pixel size, noise, and 14 bit format.

The 1100d would have been ideal but the cover glass is so hard to remove, it's not worth the effort. I ruined two 600d sensors purely due to the blue areas in the sides, but the small pixel size may not provide sufficient gain in sensitivity.

Yep the microlenses have to be removed but the overall increase in sensitivity with all pixels being exposed sort of offset that. The guys in SGL have done some measurements with partially debayered sensors.

The 1000d is very easy to debayer but not ideal due to its inherent noise and 12 bit format. So I'll stick to the 350 and 450d and would be great if Jo or someone can come up with a sealed chamber mod for cooling.

I will hook it up to my filter wheel for a pure NB image once these darn clouds clear.

Cheers
Alistair

[MrB (Simon)]

I wonder how the 400D would fare? Got one here gathering dust. The lack of liveview tho.....
I bought two 1100D's to debayer but ditched that idea when I read about all the drama's Gina on SGL was having.
When Paula advertised all her 1100D parts for sale here, including three sensors I could have experimented with, I got excited but missed out by only a few minutes
Might have to follow your lead Alistair and get a 450D.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Alistair,

I might have to engage your services after I find a 450D! If you don't mind?

H

[MrB (Simon)]

Just remembered I've also got a 40D gathering dust. Except for a brief post on the centralDS blog, I can't find any info on anyone removing the CFA from a 40D sensor. I hope the cover glass is reasonably easy to remove.