Re: ATM Richard Berry's CCD Cookbook.

[Dominic-Luc Webb molmed <Dominic.Luc-Webb@molmed.ki.se>]

On Wed, 28 Apr 1999 Pete1958@aol.com wrote:

> 
> Hello
> 
> What CCD chip do they use in the Richard Berry's CCD Cookbook?
> How does this CCD camera compare to some of the SBIG cameras?
> 

The cookbook CCD was in my opinion careully thought through with 
affordable astro-imaging and photometry in mind. I think for the 
money the cookbook should compete very well with the SBIG. However,
I keep argue that the greatest value in the cookbook is the 
learning which could be applied to many new problems. I do not 
believe the quality of the cookbook provides any hindrance to 
making and using one by comparison to the SBIG cameras. 

The cookbook CCD normally uses one of two chips. The better one 
as I recall is the TC245. Technical specs are available at 
www.ti.com. It has reasonable number/size of pixels, is blue 
sensitive and decent quantum efficiency. There are now a few 
chips better than the TC245 for astrophotometry, but few. If 
you keep in mind that you want blue-sensitivity, the pixel 
dimensions, etc, there are not so many choices. Unfortunately,
there are no good alternatives that I have seen that are also
affordable. I have the Kodak KAF-1600, which is 1200x1200 and 
specially prepared to be sensitive down to the upper UV. I 
cannot imagine an amateur buying such a CCD chip or trying to 
build a camera with it which would require a lot more work 
than a cookbook. If you are going to build one for the first 
time, I would at least start with the cookbook TC245. Keep 
in mind there are plenty of pictures on the Net taken with 
this camera if you want examples, testimonials, etc...


The cookbook design 
includes cooling system and computer interface as well as 
DOS software when you buy the book. I am in the process of writing
my own software for unix. Unless I get some help, this won't be 
done for a while. For now, I am trying to use DOSEMU. This may 
end up working.


Cheers,



Dominic

North 59 37' 30"
East  17 48' 10"

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