asaint
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/25/03
Posts: 2021
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Meade Deep Sky Imager
Edited by Mike Loffland (10/21/05 11:18 AM)
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Strgazr27
Scope Junkie
Reged: 10/04/04
Posts: 6023
Loc: StonyHill Observatory
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Is it me or is the link on the review page not working? Every other one is. Just thought I would let you guys know.
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Bobby
StonyHill Observatory
Atlas w EQMOD
Vixen R200SS
Orion ED-80
AT-111
AT66-ED
QHY-8
SSAG
YAHOO TMB 130SS Group
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microbes
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/12/04
Posts: 1192
Loc: Romulus, Sector 12
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Link worked for me. Nice article BTW.
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Dirt Cheap Astronomy
Voyager 114X900 Newt EQ2 * Sky Chief 60X700 EQ1 * Cometron 62X300 EQ1
Sears Ultra Wide 7X50 Binos * Vintage 16X50 Binos EQ1
Books, Barlows, Eyepieces, Camera Adaptors & Other Esoteric Junk.
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22470
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
Link worked for me. Nice article BTW.
Allister has a tendency to put the announcement up before the links are hot; a few minutes wait is sufficient to find them working.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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Strgazr27
Scope Junkie
Reged: 10/04/04
Posts: 6023
Loc: StonyHill Observatory
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Thanks John ! Thought I was losing my mind there for a bit 
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Bobby
StonyHill Observatory
Atlas w EQMOD
Vixen R200SS
Orion ED-80
AT-111
AT66-ED
QHY-8
SSAG
YAHOO TMB 130SS Group
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Very nice review, Suk Lee. I've only had two occasions to try my DSI because of the weather. I'm a complete newbie to CCD so my first night was spent learning to focus (with Hartman mask). I thought the instruction manual was rushed and at time inconsistant. One section states the auto expouse works in conjunction with the object you select such as deep sky, terr., planet, etc. But in another section the steps are click autoexpousure, then click object type. I would think it would be the reverse.
Likewise I found the magic eye nearly useless.
I've quickly discovered I'll have to have a focal reducer for my 8" SCT. I was trying to image M31 only to find I couldn't find a suitable star that I could use for tracking. Since my mount tracks well I thought I'd take a series of exposures but selected "save all uncombined" pictures. Thought being that I'd try their software to align-stack the individual pics.... but my luck turned worse when my battery went too low for my PC and had to call it a night (sigh).
Last thing, It seems in almost all the pics of the DSI I've seen, the stars all seem to bloom easily. I'm not sure if reducing the gain would aid or not. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.
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Skymaxi
sage
Reged: 11/01/04
Posts: 228
Loc: Lincoln,UK
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Hmm interesting, so when doing astrophotography, stacking images is when you put one on top of each other to get a better picture, is that right, like ou was saying the bright objects make burns, so when you stack different pictures of the same object together, it gives you a better picture. I think i hear echoes, wow, so if this would to be used on a meade ETX-90EC, would anything show up half decent on it, its just that i am interested, when the right time comes.
Lawrence
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Lawrence from England,
Lincoln.
Scope: LX-90GPS 8",
Meade DSI, stand IR Filter.
Dell XPS M170
Member of the BAA http://www.britastro.org
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4315
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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Quote:
Last thing, It seems in almost all the pics of the DSI I've seen, the stars all seem to bloom easily. I'm not sure if reducing the gain would aid or not. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.
That's intereesting, I didn't have any such problem, and I overdrove the camera quite hard, as you can see in the pictures of M42. On the other hand, I had the gain set to about the middle of the range so that I didn't get "empty" gain that was just introducing noise. The chip itself is an ABG chip, so it should be very bloom resistant.
Cheers,
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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Skymaxi
sage
Reged: 11/01/04
Posts: 228
Loc: Lincoln,UK
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Is astrophotgraphy complcated with a Meade DSI
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Lawrence from England,
Lincoln.
Scope: LX-90GPS 8",
Meade DSI, stand IR Filter.
Dell XPS M170
Member of the BAA http://www.britastro.org
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4315
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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Astrophotography is complicated in general. The DSI isn't much harder to use than a webcam, but if you've never done any astrophotography at all, you're going to be surprised at how hard it is just to get into focus.
But I find it rewarding precisely because it's hard to do - once you know how much effort and expertise (and equipment!) it takes, you really appreciate the shots you see in the mags.
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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Hi Suk
Great review!
I'm interested in this unit primarily for use in my PST. Have you tried this combination? Is the Meade DSI perhaps not to be used for imaging the Sun?
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4315
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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Hi Jim:
 Don't have a PST. Wanna send me yours? 
Can't think of any reason why you couldn't image the sun with the DSI, other than it has a low frame rate (if you want to do average stacking).
Cheers,
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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Don W
Postmaster
Reged: 05/19/03
Posts: 13240
Loc: Wisconsin, USA
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You would need about a .001 second exposure for solar use unless you use a neutral density filter.
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Don Wyman
Obsession 18" f/4.5 #1166
W/Argo Navis DSC and Torus Primary
William Optics Megrez 90
Coronado PST
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rustynpp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/27/04
Posts: 1011
Loc: Rye, NY
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Great article, I was expecting a DSI bashing (on account of their ambitious ads) but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd love to see the DSI from a novice's or inexperienced imager's point of view with something like an LX90 as a follow up article.
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Nick P
N8i
Nikon 10x50
PST-SM40
Rye, NY
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Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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Hi Suk
I might as well send you my PST, I'm not getting much use out of it lately considering the weather. I had one good day with it and spent about 6 hours viewing the Sun. I watched a prominence change its shape throughout the day - amazing! I love this thing!
I had read somewhere a science teacher invested in a PST and imaging device (device not known) to allow his class to view the Sun on a computer - that way everyone got to look at the Sun at the same time. Apparently, the veiws were pretty good and of course everyone could view the image with both eyes.
It would be great to stick my PST on my Starguide mount out side and sit comfortably inside viewing the Sun on my laptop. But since I know nothing about astrophotography and am not really interested to go that direction, I would still like a device to view the Sun. I would think the Meade DSI would be most suitable but I would want to know how well it works before purchasing.
I hope you get the chance to beg, borrow or steal a PST and give it a try.
No pressure though... 
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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Hi Don,
I have an Antares polarizing filter - would that work as well?
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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Don W
Postmaster
Reged: 05/19/03
Posts: 13240
Loc: Wisconsin, USA
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A polarizing filter is a variable neutral density system. Yes, it would. You just need to attenuate the sun's brightness to a point where you don't need a 1/1000 second exposure.
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Don Wyman
Obsession 18" f/4.5 #1166
W/Argo Navis DSC and Torus Primary
William Optics Megrez 90
Coronado PST
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Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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Thanks Don, thats good news!
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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rustynpp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/27/04
Posts: 1011
Loc: Rye, NY
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Quote:
I had read somewhere a science teacher invested in a PST and imaging device (device not known) to allow his class to view the Sun on a computer - that way everyone got to look at the Sun at the same time. Apparently, the veiws were pretty good and of course everyone could view the image with both eyes.
Astromart article
http://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=196
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Nick P
N8i
Nikon 10x50
PST-SM40
Rye, NY
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Jim Svetlikov
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/06/03
Posts: 2033
Loc: Crescent Beach
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Thanks Nick!
That's the article. I made a mistake - he used a TV/VCR to monitor a "digital eyepiece." Perhaps it was one of the Orion or Meade electronic eyepieces.
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It is better to build a boy than try to mend a man.
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