Re: [APML] Going to the Luminance side?

[Chris1011@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/2/2002 10:00:36 PM Pacific Standard Time, flyboy9990@earthlink.net writes:


> It doesn't matter if technically the images are better because most of us can't afford what it takes to acquire those images with CCD anyway. We'll just have to follow Monte's leed and wait for more affordable large chips


If you count the cost of the camera body, the CCD guider and guidescope, and the equipment to hyper the film, etc. you can buy a smaller CCD camera like the HX516 (around $1400), and do very high resolution work with it. I think you can wait till your kids have kids and these larger chips which you are seeking will never come down in price. With the proper technique, the HX516 can take fabulous images of small deep sky objects, and if you have a decent mount with a PE of 5 arc sec or less, you can take unguided images of most of the brighter objects (see the picture of the Ring Nebula on our web site). If you need to do guided shots, the ST7 is a very nice entry level full featured camera that's not too expensive, and I'm betting that many will show up for a song on Astromart as the newer larger cameras gain in popularity.

Roland Christen