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IKI

IKI 3 Metre 12v Cigarette Lighter Socket Power Cable for QSI, Starlight SXVR and ATIK CCD Cameras

IKI 3 Metre 12v  Cigarette Lighter Socket  Power Cable for QSI, Starlight SXVR and ATIK CCD Cameras

3 Metre 12 Volt Power cable with Cigarette Lighter Socket for QSI, ATIK and Starlight SXVR Series cameras



£25.90 inc. VAT and delivery

Technical specs:



IKI

IKI 3m Power Cable Extension for QSI, ATIK and Starlight SXVR Series Cameras

IKI 3m Power Cable Extension for QSI, ATIK and Starlight SXVR Series Cameras

3 Metre power extension cable for QSI, ATIK and Starlight SXVR Series CCD Cameras



£13.90 inc. VAT and delivery

Technical specs:



QSIMAGING

QSI 583 Large Format CCD Camera

QSI 583 Large Format CCD Camera

The QSI 583 CCD Camera is a breakthrough in CCD Camera performance and versatility.

Intruductory pricing starts at £3095 (Feb 2009)

For the first time a camera that excells at both widefield deep sky imaging and high resolution imaging is available with very high Quantum Efficiency (sensitivity) ultra low noise, high Ha
sensitivity and with the internal filter wheel able to accept 1.25” filters with optical systems as fast as F4.

This camera will give outstanding results with optics ranging from short focal length camera lenses through to sub 2m focal length telescopes. Furthermore with it's high pixel count it can also be used as a 4.15mp camera binned 2x2 with instruments of 2m plus focal length.

The increased field of view, high quantum efficiency, wide dynamic range and low noise performance make the QSI 583 ideally suited to a broad range of astronomical imaging applications.



see variations

Technical specs:

8.3mo 3326x2504 Kodak KAF-8300 Sensor
Peak QE - 60%
Ha QE - 50%
5.4 micron pixels
Low Noise Wide Dynamic Range
Up to 45 degrees Celsius CCD Cooling
Cooling Regulated to .1 degree
Built in mechanical shutter
Available 5 position motorised colour filter wheel
Intergrated Guider Port
Comprehensive Software Support
Maxim DL and CCD Soft Drivers
ASCOM-compatible windows COM API
Linux Drivers and API


QSIMAGING

QSI 31mm Colour Filter Wheel

QSI 31mm Colour Filter Wheel

This new filter wheel accepts 31mm unmounted filters from Astrodon/Hutech and shortly other manufacturers.

this will allow unvignetted imaging with the QSI 583 camera at focal ratios as fast as F2.8



£224.78 inc. VAT and delivery

Technical specs:



QSIMAGING

QSI 5000 Series WSG Camera with Intergral Off Axis Guider

QSI 5000 Series WSG Camera with Intergral Off Axis Guider

The 500 Series "wsg" model is an innovative new addition to the QSI 500 Series family of cooled CCD cameras. The "wsg" has an internal mechanical shutter and filter wheel like the 500 Series "ws" models, plus it adds an integral precision off-axis guider. This allows guiding using the light from your main telescope while picking off the light from the guide star in front of the filters. The "wsg" option is available on all 500 Series models.

Selecting the best guiding solution has always required a compromise. The available, integral off-axis guider (OAG) solves many of the problems associated with existing guiding solutions.

The Right Guiding Solution

Guiding with a separate guide scope provides the most flexibility, but differential flexure can be an issue, especially with long focal length scopes. With an internal guide chip, you're forced to guide with light through your filters and you can't guide at all while the shutter is closed or an image is being downloaded. This is especially problematic for narrowband imagers. To get around those issues, you could add an external off-axis guider, but a traditional OAG can add an inch or more of back focus plus more weight and two new mounting surfaces that need to be held rigidly.

Guide with Light From
in Front of the Filter Wheel

The QSI 500 Series "wsg" models solves the problems with other guiding solutions by integrating a precision off-axis guider directly into the camera body with the pick-off prism positioned in front of the integrated color filter wheel – right where it belongs.

Flexible Guide Camera Options

The off-axis guider (OAG) built into 500 Series "wsg" models is designed to support any camera with 12.5mm of back focus or less that can be attached using C-mount or T-mount threads. The photo above shows a 532wsg with a Meade DSI Pro attached as the guide camera. Many cameras are designed with 12.5mm of back focus to be compatible with CS-mount lenses which use the same thread as C-mount (1" x 32tpi) but with 12.5mm of back focus instead of 17.5mm for C-mount.

The following Guide Cameras are known to be compatible.

Meade DSI Pro I, II (requires low profile mounting adapter*)

Fishcamp Starfish
Starlight Express Lodestar
Orion Starshoot Autoguider
Orion Starshoot Imager II

Upgrade Your Existing 500 Series Camera

Upgrade your existing QSI 500 Series camera with an integrated Off-Axis Guider. The "wsg" upgrade replaces your existing camera cover.

Never Struggle With Finding a Guide Star

One of the main challenges when using a camera with an internal guide chip is to find a star bright enough to guide by within the limited field of view of the internal guide sensor. When shooting through red, green or blue filters, ⅔ of the available light is blocked by the filter and not transmitted to the internal guider chip, guaranteeing lower signal-to-noise stars for guiding. This problem is compounded with narrowband filters where as little as 1% of the total light from a star reaches the guide chip. By positioning the pick-off prism in front of the filters, you always have all the star's light available for guiding.

Integrated OAG Supports Fast Optical Systems

By integrating the off-axis guider into the camera, we're able to position the pick-off prism very close to the internal filter wheel adding minimal backfocus and eliminating any possibility of flexure or rotation compared to a traditional OAG. The large ½" square pick-off prism is optimally positioned close to the internal filter wheel, supporting the use of guide cameras with large sensors, while preventing any vignetting of the main sensor even with very fast optical systems.

Price is for supplying OAG as an upgrade.

For pricing when supplied with a new camera see individual product pricing.



See Individual Series 5000 Cameras

Technical specs:

Integral precision Off-Axis Guider
Guide using light from in front of the filters

Low noise, wide dynamic range
Up to 45°C CCD cooling
Built-in mechanical shutter
Internal 5-position color filter wheel
Available MaxIm LE camera control and
image processing software
Available CCDSoft and MaxIm DL Drivers
ASCOM-compatible Windows API
Linux drivers and API
Patent pending


QSIMAGING

QSI 5mm WSG Spacer

QSI 5mm WSG Spacer

QSI 5mm WSG Spacer - allows any C mount camera/guider to come to focus with the WSG range of cameras.



£151.22 inc. VAT and delivery

Technical specs:



Starlight Xpress

Starlight Xpress A/O Unit for use with QSI WSG CCD Cameras

Starlight Xpress A/O Unit for use with QSI WSG CCD Cameras

This combination can be used with a Starlight Xpress Lodestar Guider and QSI WSG Series 500 CCD Camera.

Provides highly accurate positional feedback to the control software. Unlike cameras with an integrated guider chip, the QSI Integrated OAG puts the guide camera ahead of any filters and so its sensitivity is always at maximum.

The Lodestar guide camera is designed to be parfocal with the QSI 500 WSG Camera. It screws into the OAG via a male C thread.

Fine focus adjustment is provided if necessary but most units are parfocal out of the box.

In tests with a QSI 500 WSG camera and Lodestar we have found this the easiest system for guide star aquisition.

Due in part to the phenomenal sensitivity of the Lodestar and in part the parfocal integrated Off Axis Guider incorporated into the QSI WSG camera, this system provides the ultimate in guiding accuracy combined with ease of use.



See variations

Technical specs:

The A/O simply bolts to the front of the QSI 500 WSG CCD Camera.

Image tracking and stabilisation using a high speed tip-tilt optical window

Fast tracking speed of 5mS per increment

Overcomes rapid gear errors to stabilise even difficult mounts

Mount control output for correcting large drive errors while maintaining AO stabilisation

Image shift factor independent of optical system or camera back-focus spacing

Clear aperture of 37mm for up to APS size chips

Short optical length - only 38mm - very lightweight.

Very low light loss (~2%) from the multicoated optics


QSIMAGING

QSIMAGING CCD CAMERAS AN OVERVIEW

QSIMAGING CCD CAMERAS AN OVERVIEW

The QSI 500 Series is a family of medium format, thermo-electrically cooled CCD cameras designed to produce high quality images with extremely wide dynamic range, excellent linearity and very low noise. Five different models are available employing a comprehensive range of scientific grade CCDs. A variety of options and accessories are available to meet your specific astronomical, medical or industrial imaging objectives.

Click here to read some of the excellent reviews QSI cameras are attracting

Click here to see the QSI Image Gallery

The superb imaging performance of 500 Series cameras is wrapped in an attractive, compact design with outstanding power efficiency and investment protecting upgradeability. The refined engineering and impressive fit, finish and attention to detail will surpass your highest expectations.

The 500 series sets a new benchmark for compact design and power efficiency in a high performance, full-featured scientific CCD camera. With optional features and upgradeability, the 500 series can be tailored to fit your needs today and in the future.

The 500 camera system is supported by industry leading image acquisition software and development tools are available for creating custom Windows or Linux imaging applications.

Small enough to practically hide behind a CD-ROM, the medium format QSI 500 Series family sets new standards for full-featured, high performance scientific CCD cameras. The striking appearance, refined design and superior fit and finish only hint at the advanced technical performance lurking inside. Some have described it as a work of art.

A defining feature of the 500 Series is the flexible design that permits three progressively configured body styles with a minimal impact on overall size. The relative sizes of the three body configurations, Slim, Medium, and Full, can be seen in the image to the right. A camera's body size depends on the internal features installed. The Slim body is the thinnest version and can be used with CCDs incorporating an electronic shutter. The Medium body provides addition space for an internal mechanical shutter. The Full body allows the installation of both the shutter and a five position filter wheel with interchangeable filters.

Engineered with extensive use of sophisticated CAD-CAM design tools, the 500 Series is CNC machined from aircraft grade aluminum alloy. The finely finished anodized body components are assembled with corrosion resistant stainless steel hardware throughout.

Small, Light-Weight and Thin

The 500 Series is designed to support image sensors with a maximum diagonal measurement of 20mm, characterizing the family as Medium Format cameras. For this class of camera they are surprisingly compact. At just 4.45" square, the Slim body camera is just 1.68" deep, occupying less than 30 cubic inches and weighing in at under 26 ounces. Even a Full body camera with shutter and color filter wheel is only 2.5" deep and a mere 40 ounces. In fact, the small footprint is the practical limit for a camera with a 5 position filter wheel using standard 1.25" interchangeable filters.

Keeping the depth of the camera to a minimum was an early design goal. Not only is backfocus minimized, but the camera moment-arm is reduced resulting in greater stability. Tight spaces, like through the forks of an SCT telescope, are no longer a problem. The shutter and filter wheel were placed inside the body, very close to the image sensor reducing backfocus and overall depth. The motion control electronics are actually buried in the 0.12" thick shutter/filter mounting plate to reduce depth further. Pulling the cooling fans and heatsinks into the body resulted in another significant reduction in depth. Finally, having all electrical cables and the optional liquid heat exchanger recirculation hoses exit the body in the same direction and perpendicular to the optical axis insured an interference-free fit in tight spaces.

Shutter and Filter Subsystem

The 500 Series achieves its compact size and unique configuration flexibility though an innovative shutter/filter subsystem. Both the mechanical shutter and filter wheel can be installed internally while keeping the growth of the camera dimensions at a minimum. This results in minimal loss of backfocus as these features are added. The compact design also reduces vignetting with fast optical systems.

Shutter

The Model 504s camera incorporates the internal mechanical shutter in the 'mid-size' camera body configuration . The shutter is not only used for timing exposures, but can be left closed to produce 'dark frames' for subsequent image processing. Exposures can be as short as 0.03 seconds or as long as 240 minutes.

Filter Wheel

The Model 504ws adds an internal five position filter wheel to the camera in a 'full-size' camera body. The filter wheel accepts any standard 1.25" filter and is normally supplied with a four filter LRGB color filter set. Various other filter configurations are available. Optionally, the camera can be supplied without filters allowing you to use any filters you choose. The filter wheel can easily be removed and replaced to change or clean the glass filters. Additional filter wheels can be purchased allowing quick interchange of different filter set configurations. (Note how the RGB filters reflect the complimentary color in the picture at the right.)

LRGB Filter Set

Astronomik Type IIc LRGB filters are available at special price (filter sets from other manufacturers are available by request and we offer discounts when purchased with the camera.) The Astronomik filters are optimized for astronomical color imaging and the bandpass is designed to accurately match the color sensitivity of the human eye. Infrared cutoff down to 1150nm is integrated into each filer eliminating the need for an extra IR filter. These thickness-matched filters are par-focal with excellent transmission to nearly 100%. The chart below illustrates the bandpass characteristics of each filter.

Comprehensive Software Support

Every 500 Series camera is accompanied by a collection of software applications and tools that allow you to begin imaging immediately or develop custom camera control applications to precisely match your requirements.

MaxIm LE Included

MaxIm LE CCD camera control software is included with all QSI 500 Series cameras. MaxIm LE is based on the award winning MaxIm DL version 4.5 from Diffraction Limited providing the fastest and easiest way to image the night sky. All QSI Series 500 cameras are supported for imaging and auto-guiding, plus most popular guider cameras are supported as well. You can upgrade to MaxIm DL/CCD for an attractive price at the time of purchase. Details >>

Drivers for Software Bisque's CCDSoft

Realizing that one shoe doesn't fit all, QSI also supplies the necessary drivers for CCDSoft, the popular Image Processing and Camera Control Software from Software Bisque.



See Individual Camera Models Below

Technical specs:

Scientific grade imaging performance
Comprehensive range of CCD sensors
Compact, refined design
Excellent power efficiency
Air and liquid cooling
Available internal color filter wheel
MaxIm LE software included
Available CCDSoft and MaxIm DL Drivers
ASCOM-compatible Windows API
Linux drivers and API


IanKingImaging

Nebulosity V2 Image processing and CCD Camera Control Software

Nebulosity V2 Image processing and CCD Camera Control Software

Nebulosity V2 is a powerful Image Processing and CCD Camera Control package ideal for todays range of monochrome and colour CCD Camera's and Digital SLR's.

It represents great value and provides an amazingly wide range of image processing functions as well as an excellent easy to use CCD Camera Control interface.

Some further details are as follows.

(Windows and OS X) is designed to be a powerful, but simple to use capture and processing application for a wide range of astronomy CCD cameras. Many cameras are supported for capture (see below) and images from just about anything can be processed (support for many FITS formats, PNG, TIFF, JPEG, CR2/CRW, etc). Its goal is to suit people ranging from the novice imager who wants to create his or her first images to the advanced imager who wants a convenient, flexible capture application for use in the field. In it, you get a host of purpose-built, powerful tools to make the most out of your images (e.g., Digital Development Processing, traditional alignment/stacking (equatorial and alt-az), Drizzle alignment/stacking, Bad Pixel Mapping, LRGB tools, real-time tricolor histograms for color balancing, star tightening via edge detection, adaptive scaling of stacks, Canon CR2/CRW RAW Bayer matrix loading, 32/96-bit accuracy, etc.)

Nebulosity currently exists in two versions. The original Nebulosity (v 1.8.0) and Nebulosity 2. The price for Nebulosity 1 is $45 and the price for Nebulosity 2 is $60. Users with a valid version 1 license can upgrade to a version 2 license for $15. You can find a brief run-down of the differences here.
Nebulosity 2 supports a wide range of cameras on both Windows and OS X. They are:
* Canon DIGIC II / III DSLRs: EOS 1D/1Ds Mk II/Mk IIN, 1Ds Mk II, 20D/20Da, 350D / Rebel XT, 5D, 30D, 40D, 400D / Rebel XTi, 450D / Rebel XSi, 1000D / Rebel XS)*.
* Fishcamp Starfish
* Meade DSI, DSI Pro, DSI II, DSI II Pro, DSI III and DSI III Pro.
* QSI 500 series (Mac support only on Intel-based Macs running 10.5 - special download)
* SBIG
* Starlight Xpress SXV / SXVF USB cameras

In addition, on Windows, the following cameras are supported
* Atik 314, 16, 16IC, and 16HR / Artemis cameras
* CCD Labs Q8-HR, Q285M / QHY2 Pro
* Orion StarShoot Deep-Space Color Imager**
* OpticStar DS-335 series, DS-145, and PL-130
* QHY8 via Tom van Den Eede’s “libusb” drivers
* QSI 500 series
* SAC10
* SAC7 / SC1 long-exposure modified webcams / Atik 1 and Atik 2 cameras.
* Any camera with a version 5 compatible ASCOM driver (Note: The ASCOM camera driver is still evolving and support in Nebulosity will evolve with it).

* Earlier DIGIC I Canons (e.g. the 300D) are not supported. If you’re looking for a nice focus / capture tool for the Mac and earlier cameras, try iAstroPhoto.
** The Orion StarShoot II is not supported



see variations

Technical specs:



QSIMAGING

QSI 540 Large Format CCD Camera

QSI 540 Large Format CCD Camera

Breakthrough QSI image quality
now with a larger sensor
at a breakthrough price!

The QSI 540 model camera employs a 4.2mp Kodak interline transfer CCD image sensor with microlens technology. The increased Field of View, high quantum efficiency, wide dynamic range and low noise performance make the 540i ideally suited to a broad range of demanding astronomical, scientific, medical and industrial imaging applications.

Because the internal color filter wheel is positioned very close to the focal plane in QSI 500 Series cameras, the 21.4mm diagonal Kodak KAI-04022 sensor experiences no optical vignetting through standard 1¼" filters, even with fast optical systems down below f/4.5. Even below f/4 the very small amount of light drop-off in the extreme corners of the large 2K x 2K sensor is almost undetectable and easily corrected with routine flat field calibration. Without filters, the 540si supports unvignetted imaging to below f/2.3, and the electronic shuttered 540i below f/1.

The compact design of the QSI 500 Series allows the 540 to set a new benchmark for cost and size in a high performance, full-featured scientific CCD camera. With optional features and upgradeability, the QSI 540 can be tailored to fit your needs today and in the future.

The 540 camera system is supported by industry leading image acquisition software and development tools are available for creating custom Windows or Linux imaging applications.

4.2mp 2048x2048 KAI-04022 sensor
Low noise, wide dynamic range
Very fast electronic shutter
Up to 45°C CCD cooling
Optionally available mechanical shutter
Optionally available internal 5-position color filter wheel
MaxIm DL and CCDSoft Drivers
Optionally available MaxIm DL or LE camera control and
image processing software
ASCOM-compatible Windows COM API
Linux drivers and API



see variations

Technical specs:

CCD Manufacturer & Model Kodak KAI-04022
CCD Architecture Interline Transfer
Microlens Yes
Anti-blooming Yes - 300x suppression
Imager Size: (WxH) 15.15mm x 15.15mm
Pixel Array (WxH): 2112x2072 total pixels, 2048x2048 active (visible)
Pixel Size: 7.4µm x 7.4µm
Typical Values
Pixel Full Well Depth 40,000 electrons
Absolute Quantum Efficiency Peak: 55% at 500nm
Pixel Dark Current <0.1 electron per second at 0°C
Intrinsic Read Noise <8 electrons RMS
Dynamic Range 74db
Charge Transfer Efficiency >0.99999

Does NOT Inclide Maxim DL Lite


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