Astrovid Voyager - planetary camera

[iceman (Mike)]

Found out about this camera that appears to have come onto the market recently.

Astrovid Voyager

It's a monochrome, USB2 1024x768 resolution camera - apparently specifically marketed to planetary imagers.

The technical information shows that it's an 8-bit camera with the Sony 1/3" ICX204AL chip. It can do up to 30fps at 1024x768 resolution, it seems.

The pixel size is quite small (4.65 microns), which would give a large image scale, but we'll see what that means for faint details on planets etc.

I think it would make a great lunar/solar imaging camera, and we'll see for planets.

I've arranged to get a trial of it, so when I get it I'll let you know how it goes and post some images.

[matt]

Interesting, Mike.

Looking forward to you giving it a thorough appraisal.

It's not too cheap, though.

Be interesting to see how it stacks up against the DMK. For the extra price I'd probably jump straight to the SkyNyx 2.0

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

I don't need another camera. I can't afford another camera. I don't want to know about it









Dammit, hurry up with that review

[matt]

[davidpretorius]

Originally Posted by iceman

It can do up to 30fps at 1024x768 resolution, it seems.

but will the computer handle it? ie laptops in the field?

sound good mike

[iceman (Mike)]

yeh that's my concern too. My laptop ain't exactly top of the range.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Wonder what sort of compression will be used to get that frame rate down the pipe?

[iceman (Mike)]

I don't know what codecs will be available, but it'd have to be a lossless compression codec. There are some around - we'll see.

[iceman (Mike)]

Well the camera arrived yesterday. Gave it its first indoor test last night.

It works fine, though I think my laptop will have some trouble downloading the data fast enough while capturing. 1024x768, uncompressed RGB32 bitmap avi's.

Will hopefully give it a first light under the stars this week.

[matt]

Interesting.

Looking forward to reading your report.

What are the specs of your lappy, Mike?