Advice on good guide camera

[Fay]

I have tried the DMK, but it does not seem to work with PHD, i updated the drivers as well. also whenever i plug it into the "hub", the computer screen goes blue. if i plug it directly into the laptop it is ok.

i have to stop using the SX because of the brick, too cumbersome & too many cables. Would like a camera that works with PHD and is powered by just USB.

Thanks

[Mike]

Lodestar X2 Autoguider

Personally I've got the Superstar and it works very well even using a finder scope as a guide scope.

[Carole]

My DMK works OK with PHD Fay.

However that is my 2nd guide camera which I only use if using 2 rigs at the same time (which is not often), my primary one is the QHY5 which which is powered by USB and works well, it's very sensitive so finding a guide star will be no problem.  I think they are not available new now, but there is a newer version of it available.

Carole

[MarkS]

Unlike Mike's Superstar, the original Lodestar has huge pixels - 9microns.  It's not well matched to a finderscope (which have short focal lengths).  I think this is part of Ivor's problem.
 
Mark

Good point. The Superstar has quite small pixels and I find it gives a good FOV even using my 6omm finder. I also have the QHY5 but find it isn't a good match for a finderscope and really needs at least 80mm of aperture on a shortish focal length to work properly .

[Fay]

thanks for your replies. well wonder why my DMK will not work properly? will have to investigate further, as dont want to get another if it starts to work ok. I usually use it with the ZXS66.

PHD was jumping about & after i had selected the guidstar and the boxz is around the star, it starts to calibrate before the vertical and horizontal broken lines appear, which are not coming up straight away. then when they appear, the box is in a daft position, and does not right itsself.

[The Thing]

Hi Fay,

Which version of PHD are you using? PHD2 has the camera code reworked and more stable by all accounts. If you can see guidestars it's not the camera but your PHD settings.
It sounds like you have too long a calibration step set and the scope is moving a long way across the guider FoV in one step so that the search box can't keep track of the guidestar. You need to make sure that the Calibration Step size is right for your camera pixel size and guide scope focal length. PHD2 has a built in calulator for this. You should aim for each axis to calibrate in 8-12 steps. Generally a shorter focal length scope needs longer calibration steps - when I use my QHY5 (5.6um pixels) and finder scope (190mm) I use 3000 and when I use my QHY5L-II (3.47um pixels) and OAG on my LX90 (2000mm) I use 350.

I have tried the DMK, but it does not seem to work with PHD, i updated the drivers as well. also whenever i plug it into the "hub", the computer screen goes blue. if i plug it directly into the laptop it is ok.
Thanks

Sounds like a dodgy hub or cable to the hub to me. Also I bet you have loads of entries for this camera in Device Manager. That has been know to cause conflicts, I think Windows gets confused which driver entry it's using. It may help if you clean them all out. You will need to use Show Hidden Devices etc same as you you would to clean out COM ports.

Hope that helps.

[Fay]

thanks a lot Duncan i will digest what you have said & act upon it

[MarkS]

This is odd ...

How come this message of mine was edited by Mike?
http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=9660.msg69375#msg69375

[Mike]

Whoh that's weird. That was my post and ended up as Marks !!!   

[Rick]

Mouse pointer caught "Modify" rather than "Quote", perhaps? The quote block's got an "inserted via editor" rather than the usual automatic quote block look to it...

[MarkS]

In any case, what I think I said was the following:

I've used the DMK quite successfully with PHD.
I currently use the (old style) QHY5 on both mounts.
The old Lodestar is very sensitive but has large pixels so it may not be well suited to the short focal length of finderscopes.

[Fay]

i have found that i cant see any guidestars on PHD with the DMK unless i have opened the DMK in IC Capture, first.

also, when PHD was dancing about and doing a lightening speed calibration before going straight into guiding, i think the star i chose was too saturated, on reading up on it, but have never had that before when using  SX.