After several years using a Philips webcam I decided it was time to move to the next level. I did hum and har for some time because these cameras are not cheap. On the face of it they seem little more than a glorified webcam. I opted for the mono version for the higher sensitivity, I also chose USB2 over fire-wire. The camera feels very solid and oozes quality. The USB cable could do with being a little longer though it does suffice. Although the cameras top speed of 60fps is widely quoted you will read in specialist forums that it is not advisable to use it (image quality issues). The biggest bugbear however is the ease of which dust bunnies find their way onto the CCD (or the glass that protects it). The first time I used the camera there must have been 5 of the little blighters. They are not easy to remove either! Cotton swabs, pure ethanol (hard to get hold of) and a lot of patience are the order of the day. That said it does produce an excellent image. The added sensitivity combined with 30fps (when the target is bright enough) come together to produce excellent results. Now the financial hit has faded into overdraft history I’m glad I own this cracking bit of tech.
DMK 21AU04.AS Mono
Legendary camera - Piotr
Rating (max 5):
5
Used it a long time, and got a lot of good results with it. It is simple to use, and supported by various 3rd party software (+ the default IC Capture). DMK21 for planets, and 31/41 for Moon/Sun. They don't have ROI so you can't make DMK41 faster when catching small planet with it. They also can handle DS imaging a bit - in the planetary style – catching a lot of frames on few-sec exposures (if you can limit the gain by 1/3-1/4 and increase the exposure time to make the target bright enough).
Using 60 FPS shutter will usually create circular artifacts on stacked planet image (the same for 31 and 41 models and their max. shutter speeds). The upcoming after summer version should have this fixed (and the super sensitive ICX618 CCD).
