Altair Hypercam 26C Preview

[AstroStace]

Also wanted to pose the question, do we think CCD on the whole is on limited time in Astrophotography? I know a lot of the CCD chip manufacturers have ceased production.

 

 

[MarkAR]

Must remember to Subscribe on YT. ? 

It seems like CCD is less popular due to cheaper CMOS offerings but when you take in the cost of the top end "no Amp Glow" offerings with all the latest tech, they seem to be just as expensive.

[TerryMcK]

I have not used a CCD astro camera so cannot really comment. I do find amp glow a bit of a pain with all of my dedicated CMOS astro cameras but easily calibrated out with my workflow. The old DSLR I have, an astro modded Canon 400D from 2008, however has zero amp glow. I don't use a battery in it favouring an external power supply and I believe that helps. From what you say on your vid Stace some makers are no longer going to be making CCDs so that was an eye opener for me.

I do have a question to ask you about your professional position in medical imaging; are the makers for medical using CCDs or some other technology and are they too looking at something like CMOS for the future?

 

[Jkulin]

Hi Stace, just wondered how are you managing to grab NB images with Ha, OIII and SII filters or is that one of the difficulties with OSC

[ApophisAstros]

Posted by: @AstroStace

Also wanted to pose the question, do we think CCD on the whole is on limited time in Astrophotography? I know a lot of the CCD chip manufacturers have ceased production.

 

 

I hada CMOS zwo and always suffered with Ampglow , and had problems producing good images , never looked back since i got an Atik460EX CCD and images have bourne that out , also dithering is enough so no darks or bias needed just Flats!

Roger

[DaveS]

May well consider one for my 80mm astrograph, though my instinct is to go for the QHY 268 Mono when it comes out in Feb.

I have ASI1600 and 183 cameras and the amp-glow is pretty horrible (183 worse than the 1600), a CMOS without amp-glow is very attractive, especially if it has pixels that are a nice match for my 130, and 16 bit ADC.

[RPK_Astro]

Hi - my 'modern' AP journey has only just started a few months ago (prior to that we're talking film in the 1980s...). I found your YT channel a few months ago and have been enjoying following it. 

My day job is IT designing big systems. Technology is always evolving, some things persist much longer than you'd expect, some arrive, you blink, and they've gone (digital tape anyone?).

The main issue with CCD cameras - ignoring all of the technical issues - is economics. My understanding is that CMOS sensors are easier to make and that usually means cheaper. The market for CCD sensors is limited and the amateur astronomy market is not large enough to have a significant impact on economic decisions about product viability. Much as aficionados might object, the quality of the end product is unlikely to be a determiner in CCD's viability.

My guess is that CCD will be around for a while yet, but its days are numbered.   

[AstroStace]

Lots of interesting replies here, thank you all! CCD is here for the moment i feel. I wonder how long it will take current manufacturers to go through the 'last crop' so to speak

[AstroStace]

Here's a dark from the 26C  :)

 

[Jkulin]

@AstroStace Stace what was your focus point on this from the back of OTA to the Sensor.

I know my Esprit Flatteners are 55mm back focus, but wanted to get roughly there with the focus point?

[Feock]

I think we are seeing a fundamental shift in technology, we saw it with the shift from film to digital, in audio with analog to digital and in many other fields the technology evolves and the knowledge and skills we have developed and prized are superseded.

I have recently purchased a 26c and compared to my ZWO 294 the advance in technology is amazing. I have little doubt that by the end of 2021  my 26c will be 'old' technology. 

Many years ago I met one of the Kodak film gurus who explained that we had seen nothing yet and that advances in film technology would blow my socks off by the year 2000. However, consumer preference and the money moved towards digital and while film clearly had lots of potential it never happened. I suspect CCD may be facing the same fate, still lots of potential but consumer preference and the flow of investment are currently going towards CMOS. ( nb Kodak failed to evolve fast enough and went bankrupt)

Clearly, astronomy is not even a consideration for designers of imaging technology; we are just too small a niche. We piggyback on the technological advances targeted at mobile devices, digital cameras, medical devices, and industrial imaging and these are overwhelmingly shifting towards CMOS. Follow the money - it is going towards CMOS and that is where the rapid technological advances will occur.

In the interim existing CCD systems will perform admirably but while it is arguable which technology has the edge now it is inevitable that CMOS will overtake CCD. Just follow the money!

I was late to make the switch from 35mm and 2 1/4 film formats to digital and I can still remember making all the arguments about why film was better. The bottom line is that it took me many years to make the inevitable transition to digital and it held my development back by many years. (nb Nikon have made their last film cameras)

Against this background and as a relatively new Astro imager I am going to follow the technology and the money and invest in CMOS.

 

Ross

 

PS I just love my new 26c.

 

[Carastro]

Impressive video Stace.  However I am a bit set in my ways, and have been using CCD cameras since before CMOS AP cameras came out for DS imaging.

I do like the idea of the short subs, but the number of subs would be a problem for my laptops and PC as I know from having offered to process Roger's CMOS image a while ago when he sent me the data.  My desktop where I do the processing nearly had a nervous breakdown until I finished and deleted them all.

I have seen a number of problems that imagers have encountered with the CMOS cameras and I tend to stay with what I know works rather than making problems for myself.  Hopefully there will be enough CCD cameras around (albeit maybe second hand) for some time yet.  

Carole 

 

 

  

[Astroarg]

Posted by: @Jkulin

Hi Stace, just wondered how are you managing to grab NB images with Ha, OIII and SII filters or is that one of the difficulties with OSC

Triband, Quadband, Duo, L-Extreme filters...