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Retiring an old friend...

CCD Equipment Off-topic
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Dave Erickson avatar
Dave Erickson avatar
Its like a funeral for an old friend…After 16 years I am finally retiring my first CCD astro camera a STL11000XM SN: 0097 out of the first 100 SBIG camera production run! A class 1 sensor and a great performer. I cracked the CCD window at 2-opposing corners some 7 years ago cooling it to fast in a thermal chamber while testing another system over temperature it was never an issue.

All of the images I have posted here for the NC1204 astrograph were taken with this camera and most with the folded Schmidt OC2226 used this camera.

SBIG made a great product that provided 10's of thousands of imags over the years. Hats off to Alan Holmes and the team at SBIG for a great product. I hate to see it go but I'll be replacing it with aa ASI 6200 with a Sony back illuminated 61megapixel sensor. Looking forward to fielding the system in the next couple of months.

Dave
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Kevin Morefield avatar
Kevin Morefield avatar
Dave,

I think you are going to really enjoy imaging with IMX455.  I've really enjoyed working with mine.  Unfortunately, Bill Snyder won't be able to work on it!

Kevin
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Dave Erickson avatar
Dave Erickson avatar
Hi Kevin,
Thanks, feeling a bit nostalgic… Agreed Bill has done a fantastic job keeping things tuned-up over the years. Thanks for the encouragement!!

Best,
Dave
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Nadir Astro avatar
Nadir Astro avatar
You made a right decision, Dave. You're going to love IMX455 camera, it has many advantages over 11002.

Nadir
Dave Erickson avatar
Dave Erickson avatar
Hi Nadir,
Thanks! Agreed I am getting new column defects with the 11000m every couple of months so its just a matter of time before it dies of natural causes.

Kevin, Nadir,
What gain and offsets  seem to work best with the IMX455??

Regards,
Dave
Nadir Astro avatar
Nadir Astro avatar
That is a very good question, Dave. It took me careful review of sensor graphs and images of others to understand the settings at least for my setup with FSQ-106:

Broadband: I will most probably stick with default gain 26, offset 10 settings and readout mode 1. Although I will definitely try gain 0 as well.
Narrowband: I'm currently using gain 56, offset 50 settings and readout mode 2 (High Gain mode). Reason is that at this gain settings and readout mode QHY graphs show Readout Noise drop from 3.5e to 1.6e while FullWell is still quite high at 22k and Dynamic Range is the highest at 13.6 stops.
High dynamic range targets: For this I might use gain 0 and readout mode 3 (Extend Fullwell mode), but need experimenting.
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Kevin Morefield avatar
Kevin Morefield avatar
Hi Nadir,
Thanks! Agreed I am getting new column defects with the 11000m every couple of months so its just a matter of time before it dies of natural causes.

Kevin, Nadir,
What gain and offsets  seem to work best with the IMX455??

Regards,
Dave

Dave, I have the QHY version and it was a pretty easy call for me to use their high gain read mode 1 and gain 56.   This was the highest dynamic range point and yet still has a better full well per square micron than my 16803.  I shoot Luminance  up to 15 min @ F7.

The ZWO doesn’t have read mode choices but the prevailing thought seems to be that ZWOs read is the same as high gain mode with QHY.  And I think gain 100 for ZWO= 56 with QHY.

I suspect ZWO publishes read noise, full well, and dynamic range charts at various gains.  Have a look.
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Nadir Astro avatar
Nadir Astro avatar
Nadir Astro:
That is a very good question, Dave. It took me careful review of sensor graphs and images of others to understand the settings at least for my setup with FSQ-106:

Broadband: I will most probably stick with default gain 26, offset 10 settings and readout mode 0. Although I will definitely try gain 0 as well.
Narrowband: I'm currently using gain 56, offset 50 settings and readout mode 1 (High Gain mode). Reason is that at this gain settings and readout mode QHY graphs show Readout Noise drop from 3.5e to 1.6e while FullWell is still quite high at 22k and Dynamic Range is the highest at 13.6 stops.
High dynamic range targets: For this I might use gain 0 and readout mode 3 (Extend Fullwell mode), but need experimenting.

Apologies for little mistake: it's actually Readout Mode #0 (Photographic Mode) and Readout Mode #1 (High Gain Mode) because QHY starts counting from 0.
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Dave Erickson avatar
Dave Erickson avatar
Kevin, Nadir,
Thanks for the input, seems like a good running start from your suggestions…

Best regards,
Dave