Gain setting for a QHY 533C camera - Forums

Topic starter

IOTD Staff

Sep 17, 2022

Hi folks. I just purchased my first One Shot Color (OSC) camera - A QHY 533C camera. I am looking for guidance on what value to set for the gain for the camera. Thank you in advance for any advice that you can offer.

Clear skies,
Kevin

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andrea tasselli

Frequent contributor

Sep 17, 2022

Long exposures (>=300s), unity gain. Short exposures (<=180s), 60. In between, your choice, depending on the subject.

Kevin Dixon

Topic starter

IOTD Staff

Sep 17, 2022

Thank you Andrea. I am using The SkyX Professional for image acquisition and it does not have a setting of unity gain. It has gain values that range from 0 to 170. Which value would most closely mirror the unity gain setting for deep sky objects?

Clear skies,
Kevin

Well Written

andrea tasselli

Frequent contributor

Sep 17, 2022

Unfortunately I don't have the SkyX so I can't tell. The best thing is to get a proper analysis of the performance using SharpCap, the result of which would tell you what gain value will be unity gain and what gain would given the drop off in readout noise (60 gain units refers to that condition). Remember that offset and gain correlate in inverse manner and for NB imaging (assuming you would use dual-band filters) you might want to push more on gain if you're after the faintest stuff.

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kuechlew

Sep 17, 2022

Unity Gain is 68 according to the manufacturer: QHY533M & QHY533C Astronomy Cooled Camera | QHYCCD

Clear skies
Wolfgang

Kevin Dixon

Topic starter

IOTD Staff

Sep 17, 2022

Thank you Wolfgang and Andrea.

Clear skies,
Kevin