| review: Cooled CCD Camera Starlight Xpress MX516 (Star 2000 compatible) (appr. € 1200,-) |
The MX516 is just the size and weight of an average 2 inch eye piece.
With the suplied 1 1/4 inch nose it can be used in every focuser.
Or you can use the M42x1 (Pentax Thread) to directly screw it to telephoto lenses (old ones or the ones they still produce in eastern Europe).
Technical specification
- 500 x 280 pixel in normal mode
- 500 x 560 pixel in high resolution mode (interlaced)
- Pixel size: 9.8 x 12.6 uM
- Chip size: 4.9 x 3.6 mm
- Readout noise: appr. 25 e RMS.
- Full-well capacity: appr. 120000 e-.
- AD-converter: 16 bit
- Self-guide-compatible (Star 2000)
The standard version comes with a parallel interface (printer port).
It takes something like 12 seconds to download a picture in normal mode and 24 in high resolution mode.
Now there is an additional USB interface which increases download speed by factor 8 or so (with AstroArt plug-in).
This camera is a reliable work horse.
It has very low dark current so you can use exposure times up to 1 hour without a problem.
This is achieved with only one peltier element for cooling.
This cooler is not regulated for a constant temperature of the chip.
This means you have to take a dark frame for each specific outdoor temperature.
I achieved a nice library of them over the months.
Reusing them works without problems so I have to take another one only from time to time.
There is no special element to prevent the chip from moistured air and therfore ice crystals inside the housing which degrade the image.
The good thing: this camera doesn't need it!
I work a lot in really moistered air so that sooner or later the water is dropping out of the tube of the Newton.
But I never was faced to ice crystals (at least in the camera ;).
The camera was one of the first with good sensivity in blue.
Important for three colour work.
This detector made by SONY is very robust against blooming.
You can hardly achieve it in practice.
Star 2000 self-guiding
This camera can be used for self-guiding.
This means the same chip can be used for exposing AND for guiding.
This is possible because of the interlaced design meaning 1 row is exposing and the other row is guiding.
The big advantage (despite of costs): You can use ANY of the stars show on the whole area of the chip for guiding.
You loose one half of the sensivity but when the camera is guiding itself this is not a porblem.
Another thing I really should not forget about: The support of Terry Platt from Starlight Express is really fine.
There is quickest response for every question on his message board. Very often by himself.
Conclusion
The MX516 is a perfect choice for the serious beginner.
I am using it now for more than two years without any noticable problem - but a lot of fun.
Sooner or later I will upgrade to the HX916 with bigger chip and more pixels.
Search photos taken with the MX516
Actually thats what I did meanwhile.
The MX516 is still in use: as a very sensitive guide cam going down to mag 14 easily.
|
|
|
