>A friend of mine just informed me of a discount warehouse that is selling
>"Miniature CCD cameras" for $169.
>
>Touted as:
>High performance, low light, monochrome, single board, 1/3" CCD camera with
>lens and auto high speed electronic shutter. They have color too for $450.
>
>The specs are as follows:
>Lens: 3.6 mm f1.4 wide angle
>Power req. 12 VDC 10% 125 mA
>Resolution 380 lines
>Sensitivity: .3 lux (face plate)
>Video output: 1.0v composite P/P
>S/N: 46 dB
>Size: 2.76 x 1.73 x 1.04 -or - 1.93 x 1.93 x 1.04
>Sipping weight: 8 oz.
These cameras have turned up in many surplus outlets recently, even in Edmund Scientific. The problem is that they're designed for regular NTSC video, with a 60 frames/second; i.e., a 1/60 second exposure time. They might be usable for the moon and planets, but not for what we normally think of as an astronomical CCD Camera.
- Matt marulla@nhqvax.sanders.lockheed.com