*thinking* I want a cooled 585

[Craigar]

I've really been *thinking* I want a cooled 585 with Starvis2 (or larger when available at a low price,,) - and it doesn't have to be QHY, and I thought I read were "finding problems" and that it's not that much better than Starvis .. but the deep well is what really catches my attention countered by the 12 bit ADC... of course always compromises... what I really need is a CLOUD BUSTER

BTW want to reaffirm that since I discovered the Bin2 on the Qhy 485c produces a monoish image, that I think you told me Bin2 on your Qhy 585c works properly, so I can dither with sequencer Bin2 with proper color?

Thanks
Craig

[admin]

Hi Craig,

yes, the 585 is a capable sensor and worth having for the right circumstances. Things to think about are the relatively small pixel size, ditto the total sensor size and the 16:9 aspect ratio of the sensor.

I just re-checked my QHY585 and it does indeed give colour results at bin2, so I guess that the support for colour binning in the QHY range is model dependent

cheers,

Robin

[Craigar]

and the 485 will do do color in Bin2 - only in Live mode, just not in sequencer (so I can dither) mode. Were you checking Bin2 on your qhy 585 Bin2 in sequencer mode? Just want to make sure

Thanks
Craig

[admin]

Hi Craig,

I was actually testing in live mode, but I just re-tried with the camera in still mode (both by using 'Force Still Mode' and by putting the whole of SharpCap into still mode). The bin2 is still colour with the camera in still mode for the 585... Definitely sounds like an inconsistency from model to model

Just to note that my QHY585 is not cooled, so I'm not sure if you could assume that a cooled 585 would behave the same way based on my results.

cheers,

Robin

[Craigar]

I'm really starting to think uncooled will be fine in Los Angeles, average night temps all year are 50-65F . I don't see or detect much noise at all with my qhy485c uncooled - compared to my passive fan only cooled Mallincam (Touptec) 294 - but that may have been during an unusual hot spell a few years ago.. I also think the smaller sensor may dissipate heat much easier - but the qhy485c never feels warm (even with 150 second exposures) BUT it doesn't have a temperature sensor that I know of, don't see one in Sharpcap?

but when I go to Florida it's average in warmer months is 80 degrees at night, I know "Player ones" 585 cooled can operate without power to the TEC cooler so if I get cooled that's a spec I want (ZWO & Touptek must have 12v external power)

I got this image with all 50 second exposures from the qhy485c



Celestron C9.25 circa 2023 > Celestron f3.3 reducer > Radian Triad Tri band > QHYiii485C 2.9um pixels
about 7 hours and 25 minutes 50second exposures over 5 nights

[admin]

Hi Craig,

you are certainly right that modern CMOS cameras don't need cooling as much as older CCD cameras did - the thermal noise is lower to begin with at room temperatures, although cooling does have a good effect on keeping down the number of hot pixels in longer exposures. Even when you do cool, you don't need to go nearly as far - cooling to 0C or -5C is usually enough - the gains from going colder than that are pretty small and you increase the risk of condensation, the cooldown time, power use, etc.

The 12V requirement is a bit of a mix up - older ZWO and ToupTek cameras did often work with no 12V power, newer ones seem to require it. I think the problem was that the USB power for the sensor itself was marginal in some cases (especially for the larger sensors), so the camera would sometimes fail to work or misbehave without 12V power. For the manufacturers and retailers, that's a problem, because a camera that seems to work without 12V but sometimes fails to is going to be reported by the user as having a problem. If the camera just plain requires 12V power then you no longer have that stream of support cases coming in.

cheers,

Robin