FireCapture and GPCams

[MarkS]

Whilst preparing my talk for AAS on Planetary Imaging I made the very pleasant discovery that the latest version of FireCapture now supports my Altair GPCam.  Last time I looked, the Altair cameras were still not supported.

Using Firecapture is a complete no brainer because:
1) It saves AVI in raw format as standard (though you can save debayered colour video if you really must)
2) It autoguides - i.e. it sends signals to the mount to keep the planet centred.  Which means the planet won't disappear when you go in to make a cup of tea.
3) The AVI files are compatible with AutoStakkert.   No more need to convert using PIPP.

Lots of other really good features as well - watch the FireCapture official tutorials on YouTube - with an engaging German accent! 

I'm also going to upgrade to the GPCAM IMX224 (colour) which has really low read noise - right down in Sony A7S territory.  With my new atmospheric dispersion corrector I'll be ready for the new Jupiter season!

Mark

[The Thing]

Firecapture rocks! It takes a while to explore all the options and settings, particularly useful are the keyboard shortcuts.

[MarkS]

Firecapture rocks! It takes a while to explore all the options and settings, particularly useful are the keyboard shortcuts.

I certainly can't imagine using anything else now for planetary acquisition.

Mark

[MarkS]

Here's some more interesting information - again part of the preparation for this Friday's AAS talk.  I've finally got round to measuring the read noise of my planetary cameras and the results are quite shocking.

QHY5 read noise - somewhere between 15-20 electrons.  Why on earth do I still use this as a guide camera?  It not much different to the ancient Philips Toucam webcam read noise.

GPCam AR0130C:  4.5 electrons (this is my current planetary imaging camera)

Reliable estimates of the IMX224 (in the ZWO ASI224 and Altair GPCam2) put it at 0.75-1.5 electrons - this is my next planetary camera.  This is definitely the state of art planetary sensor - Damian Peach uses it.  It's under £200 now in the USB 2.0 version, even after the EU referendum collapse in the value of Sterling.   If you want the full USB 3.0 frame rates you need to pay about £300.

In the last 18 months a silent revolution in planetary imaging has taken place.  There's only one further generation left - the generation of sensors with zero read noise i.e. sensors that literally count the electrons - these sensors are already in the laboratories.  We are now living the Golden Age of planetary imaging   Just a shame that Jupiter and Saturn are so low in the sky for the next few years

Mark

[JohnP]

Good information Mark I still have my old Toucam...

[MarkS]

I received my GPCam2 IMX224 Colour camera yesterday.  I've already calculated the read noise:  0.68 electrons
This is an extraordinarily low figure.

Compare this with my existing GPCam AR0130C camera which gave me a read noise of 4.5electrons.

Given the price difference of £30 the decision is a complete no-brainer!  The GPCam2 IMX224 at under £200 is the cheapest way to get your hands on this state of the art sensor.  But it has a USB 2.0 port, so if you really think you need USB3.0 then you'll need to pay a bit more for a different model - over £300 at current prices.