CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: Mallicam

Bill....yes the Dob is on a platform. With any video camera that is using integration periods, you have to be tracking and and reasonably polar aligned if you have a Dob. My 12.5 Dob is on a Tom O. compact platform. Tom, by the way, recently purchased a MallinCAM HC as a result of what several of us were telling him. He is using it on a MONSTER scope. You can ask him, but I think he has permanently changed his approach to observing because of it.

Mike....Jack estimates that you can see the equivalent of two and half times your aperture if it is a decent night, your scope is tracking well, and the settings are correct. For my own experience, if you look at my gallery and notice one of my earlier sketches of M42 with a 5 inch SCT. As near as I can tell, I am seeing what a 12 inch scope sees...with the addition of balanced color. I have done this on terrible nights when the moon was high. To me, giving you an exact figure of how much it improves your aperture would be misleading, because the entrance of color as well as the detail adds another dimension to my studying an object. I will say this, however: I have abandoned my pursuit of a large aperture scope in favor of a smaller scope that is portable...but rigged with the MCHC and a monitor (you do need a power tank or two).

At nearly 60, I will not exhaust my study of sky objects with this type of observing tool before the Lord takes me home. Furthermore, I have a 102ED on order...specifically so I can see a bit wider field of view and go to very out-there places and show people detail on objects that would have previously never been seen by them. In those locations, you cannot take big scope. Big scopes don't travel well where I am going.

Last observation...I have a few friends with Naglers that bought MallinCAMs just recently. Don't get me wrong: these EPs are wonderful. But the Naglers my friends (with astro video cameras) have are gathering more dust than use. These decisions are not made out of whim; they are made because the results on the monitor with the video astro tool/telescope combo speak for themselves.

ONE CAUTION: video astro tools are electronic devices and the technology is still in the "teething" stage--in my opinion. The perfecting of the soft Peltier cooler integrated in the MalllinCAM Hyper Color, for instance, was recent (less than two years I think). Other changes that are just as significant have occurred during the same time period. For my wife (who loves these tools) and me, this means that we expect the video astro camera to have a finite life--it has a chip that is sensitive while we are wringing this little baby out in widely varying thermal conditions. We use it thoroughly. I might say that it is a tough design. Nevertheless, because things are still changinig pretty fast, I estimate we will change the video astro camera or get it upgraded at least every five years. You may be shocked at this estimate and the associated expense and you should make an estimate for yourself. However, we use it 50 times per year and at least 1-2 hours at each setting. 1/2 of those settings include friends and the public. You can do the math. For us...it is the cheapest way to see the most the best with a given scope--Live and In Color!!

Roland

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Roland
Blog: www.rolandlinda3.wordpress.com
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