Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 10/24/2017 - 14:57
A friend of mine wants to change his old SBIG ST-9 camera (on a C-14 at F/11). He is considering the KAF 3200ME or the KAF 1603ME … but he is also open to suggestions if there is something better out there. Any thoughts based on your experiences?
Thank you in advance for your consideration!
Best wishes – clear skies,
Stella.
Stella,
Based on his telescope specs, a 6303 or the St-1001e would work well. I have the 1001e and it is still a good current camera if you can find one.
I would go for a focal reducer and keep the CCD if it is still OK.
Much cheaper. The choice for a 3200ME of 1603ME does not give a much larger field of view. Also there would be a need to bin as the pixel scale is too fine for typical seeing.
I am using a FL of 2700 mm and an 16803 based CCD most of the time in 3x3 binning mode.
Josch
Agree with Josch. I run C14 Edge + Celestron's focal reducer + SBIG 6303E, giving 2710 mm focal length and an agreeable pixel scale (no binning for me). Quite sharp corner-to-corner, especially if you follow Celestron's backfocus length recommendations.
Just be sure to use heavy duty power cables directly to the camera--no Paramount extension cables etc. These new cameras can pull incredible amperage, and low voltage will eventually burn out shutter motors, etc. SBIG's supplied cables are fine.
Cheers.
Like John (hjw) I now use a camera with the KAF 1001E (1K X 1K, 24 micron) chip with my (original) C14. It is an STL-1001E which is no longer available from SBIG, but they come up used on Astromart and Cloudy Nights occaisionaIly. I've been told that the chip is still in production and that some camera manufacturers are using it.
I think this is a very good CCD to use with a C14 at sites with mediocre seeing. No focal reducers or binning are required for good sampling of my 2.5 to 4 arcsec seeing. With my setup the focal length is 3690mm (F10.4). Image scale is 1.34 arcsec/pixel. A surprise bonus for me was that, using Astrodon interference filters (B,V,I), the transforms are very close to the standard system.
Phil