I have had the CCD Labs Q453 for a couple of months now. The main reason I purchased it was because of the cooling versus my Canon 20Da. I agree completely with Curt in that the price points of the Q8s and the potential Orion will force many to consider switching from DSLRs to cooled DSLRs.
It seems from images posted here that the Q8s can produce remarkable images by themselves and, in comparison, to their equivalent cousins (the SXVF M25C). There may be some reason to support one camera over another, but I would guess that it will be hard for the dedicated CCD guys to maintain price points of their similar cameras at the current levels. It may be that the SBIG ST 2000XCM is a better camera in some respects to the Q8s or the clones, but not for thousands more, at least in my opinion.
And certainly the market competition is not going to stop at DSLR-sized chips or just one-shot color. The price umbrella is just too large given electronic component costs (CCDs, TECs, fans, etc).
I think it will be interesting to see how the dedicated astro-CCD companies respond. I would be willing to pay a decent premium for features and/or support that may be cost justifiable. But $4100 for a Starlight Xpress M25C versus $1300 for the Orion seems a tad unreasonable in this market.
It seems to me that Orion, from a strategic view, is looking at the overall package and trying to grow the AP market. They are trying to sell someone the camera, mount, and scope at a reasonable price and trying to earn a decent margin on the overall package.
Certainly there will be those that don't have the money or they don't want to dedicate their personal resources such that they will take an occasional shot with a non-modded DSLR. I believe that there are many who will go the astro CCD route at the right price. And there will always be a niche market for premium, expensive equipment.
Overall, it looks like we are going to get a heck of a lot of choice at reasonable prices going forward!
Previous
Index
Next
Flat
Re: Another large color CCD for $1300???
Edit
Reply
Quote
