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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 11:47:39 GMT
G'day all I bought the 16mp Panasonic G3cmos from Rising Tech on 20th Dec and it arrived on Jan10. I have passed it on to Ken James who will assess it for the forum. I appear to be the only one so far to have purchased this item . There were concerns about the legitimacy of the company. I can report it is at least not vaporware. I have not tested it and have only loaded the ToupTek software called RisingSky. Ken will put the camera through its paces. The first problem noticed is my i7 laptop only recognizes the camera in usb2 mode even with a powered usb3 hub. My desktop recognizes the camera in usb3 both powered and unpowered. This problem is mentioned in the Skyraider 16ds manual which has the same specs as my Rising Tech camera.
Paul
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Post by ChrisV on Jan 12, 2017 12:31:09 GMT
What sensor is this camera ?
And make sure you get it back from Ken !
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Post by ChrisV on Jan 12, 2017 12:31:44 GMT
And thanks for passing it on to be reviewed !
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Post by Dragon Man on Jan 12, 2017 13:43:44 GMT
Paul left his Rising Tech 16mp Panasonic G3cmos with me today but he was running late to get to an event a long way from here, so he only had a brief chance to explain the camera and software, and then left it with me. Details: The sensor is a 16MP Panasonic V Maicovicon MN34230PLJ 4/3" Colour. SEE HERECooling by internal fan. Well, my first impression is: a very well built little unit. Within 5 minutes of Paul leaving I had the software 'Rising Sky' loaded and installed, the camera connected by USB2 (my laptop only has USB2), the camera inserted into a 120mm f5 Achromat sitting on a chair pointing across my property with a magnificent detailed view of trees and grass about 1 mile away. I was amazed at the simplicity of this setup. Within minutes I had the camera operating, and operating very well. Even at USB2. Unfortunately I didn't fire up the Observatory generator. I was running the laptop on its battery alone which gave out about 3 minutes into starting the camera Who forgot that their laptop battery was flat? Within those few minutes I quickly ran through the settings in 'Rising Sky' and found the software very easy to use, simple, straightforward, and I had a great coloured balanced view on-screen with very little effort. Unfortunately just as I clicked on 'stack' and took a screen shot the battery died, shutting down the laptop. I will start again on Saturday and get sample screen grabs, and hopefully get some trial images of views saturday night. First Impressions (non-sky) - Well built unit, easy intuitive software, very nice resolution. The camera comes with a 1.25" nosepiece as standard, but to reduce Vignetting on this large sensor a 2" nosepiece will be a major improvement. Fortunately I have one, so I will use it for the testing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 15:17:03 GMT
Ken will you be broadcasting?
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Post by Dragon Man on Jan 12, 2017 15:33:33 GMT
Ken will you be broadcasting? Possibly Kenn. After I make sure the camera works ok. I would hate to do a broadcast of me fiddling with settings and not have much on screen. I get annoyed watching other people do that, so I wouldn't do it myself. But if I can get a half decent view of objects I'll start broadcasting immediately.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2017 1:07:41 GMT
That is a serious piece of kit.
Looks like it uses the same Toup Tech control software as the GStar Ex3 and the Altair Hypercam.
Got to say the Chinese are keeping the market very competitive - good for us.
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Post by Dragon Man on Jan 14, 2017 11:18:30 GMT
Yes Robert it is the Touptek software. All the Touptek cameras (Rising Tech, Gstar-Ex3, Mallincam DS16 and other models, etc) use it, no matter what name they call it.
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Post by Dragon Man on Jan 15, 2017 15:43:39 GMT
UPDATEI managed to get a first test done tonight despite the 88% Moon! I didn't read up on how to use the software, I simply plugged in the camera, opened the software, then spent the next 10 minutes trying to work out how to get an image on the screen After the 10 minutes I realised that The scope is probably way out of focus. Yep, I was right Pointed to Sirius, focused the scope and BINGO! From then on the software is easy to work out, It is self explanatory. OK, here's my first attempt with the Rising Tech 16mp Panasonic G3cmos camera. For this test I used my ED80, with no focal reduction and no filters. Just the camera and scope: (I used a 2" nosepiece instead of the 1.25" to reduce vignetting) The obvious place to start, M42 The exposure is set at 45 seconds, single frame, looping. I've left the software visible so anyone can see the settings: (After clicking on the thumbnails also click on the opened images to enlarge them to full size) Then I tried the Moon (88% Waning). Here it is at 33% Zoom: and again at 200% Zoom: By this time the Moon was way up high, brightening up the whole sky, so I tested it on another nebula to see how the camera coped with so much moonglow. Here is a single frame of Carina Nebula at 2 minutes (the Moon totally washed out the Nebula at 1 minute) At this point in time we got fogged out My first impressions -If this is the results I get with 88% Moon and using the little ED80 and not knowing the software settings yet, we should be in for a treat when we get no Moon! So far I am impressed
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 11:12:55 GMT
Had my first tryout with the Rising Tech 1600 on Friday. Used the 8" Lx 90 alt/az with .5 2" gso focal reducer and 20 secs exposures. Used sharpcap as well as Rising Sky. 20 secs is not long enough and results were poor compared to Ken's 2 minutes. Thought it may have been due to very low frame rates with usb 2 but Ken's settings show a frame rate of 0 on Rising Sky.Couldnt get the software to work in usb3 even with a powered targus usb hub.I notice the Mallincam 1600 manual states that you may have trouble with getting the software to recognize usb3. Not sure what all that means for the image result. It appears to be a camera for eq mounts only. The Rising Tech 224 ,however does a great job on my 6" sct with hyperstar. Great little camera I reckon Paul
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Post by Dragon Man on Feb 5, 2017 11:44:27 GMT
Great to read that you got to test the 1600 Paul. Yes, with the 1600, as nice as the FOV is, and as nice as the resolution is, it is too slow for Near-Live observing. It is more of an Imaging camera. I agree, the 224 is faster. I believe the 1600 will need a scope with more aperture to make it faster. I tested it in an ED80.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 12:16:25 GMT
USB3 seems to be pretty fussy about cable length.
I bought a 5m active USB3 cable to extend my Ex3. Didn't work at USB3 but works fine in the USB2 socket.
I can't notice any difference between USB3 or USB2 in terms of processing speed with my set up.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Feb 6, 2017 20:09:59 GMT
I will be ordering the RT224; not sure when I'll get clear skies again but will report results when I do.
I'm familiar with the MallincamSky software since I have a DSM; I'll be curious to see if it works with this camera (since they're all Touptek) because that software has some nice upgrades to it.
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robrj
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home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Feb 13, 2017 21:59:25 GMT
How is the amp glow with the RT224?
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Feb 20, 2017 3:53:47 GMT
Paul, which adapter are you using for the 224 for the Hyperstar? I can't find its sensor depth.
Ken, does the 4/3 camera have bad vignetting with the 1.25" nose? Likewise I am curious about the sensor depth on the 4/3 (for use with Hyperstar).
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Post by Dragon Man on Feb 20, 2017 5:08:16 GMT
Paul, which adapter are you using for the 224 for the Hyperstar? I can't find its sensor depth. Ken, does the 4/3 camera have bad vignetting with the 1.25" nose? Likewise I am curious about the sensor depth on the 4/3 (for use with Hyperstar). I really don't know Rick. I put a 2" nosepiece on it so it wouldn't vignette. With the 2" nosepiece there is absolutely no trace of any. When you look in the front of the 1.25" nosepiece on the 4/3 the nosepiece hole is actually a smidge smaller than the sensor! It cuts the corners off by about 0.25 of a millimetre. That's a microscopic amount but it is still cutting the corners off! 1.25" nosepieces do not belong on 4/3rds cameras. What it needs is an 'M42' (T2) to 2" nosepiece. It's not a 'C' mount. Plenty of them around SEE HEREBut, Rising Tech also mention that their 4/3 camera can be ordered with a T2 to 2" nosepiece included for an extra $15. Even though I haven't tried it with a 1.25" nosepiece I will bet my dangly bits that it does Vignette. It has to, considering the corners are cut off. Rob, just for the heck of it I pushed the little RT224 up to 2 minutes and it started to show Amp Glow. But a Dark Frame would eliminate it, I hope
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 10:46:14 GMT
Rick, I am using the RT 224 on the hyperstar which comes with the C adapter. Because of its slim shape ,it sits a little better than the stumpy ZWO 224 where I used a T connector with a female T to C adapter. Ken has the ZWO at the moment
I am still struggling with the RT1600. I cant get it to work at all in the 4640x3505. (Does that mean I need more gain ?) I have it on a T2 to 2" nosepiece with a 2" GSO focal reducer on my Alt/Az Lx90 8" but so far have had pretty crappy results compared to what Ken has posted,but not a lot of night time viewing.(I need daylight saving to end right now). I have compared that setup with the optec 3.3 focal reducer (where 11mm is max sensor size) but only during the day on a neighbours TV antennae. There is vignetting bigtime on the optec but none on the 2".
Which leads me to a question. Is there a problem with lots of vignetting for viewing if the central image shows a lot of detail? I can understand an imager getting upset with it but should a viewer be too fussed ? Paul
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Feb 20, 2017 14:05:09 GMT
Paul, which adapter are you using for the 224 for the Hyperstar? I can't find its sensor depth. Ken, does the 4/3 camera have bad vignetting with the 1.25" nose? Likewise I am curious about the sensor depth on the 4/3 (for use with Hyperstar). I really don't know Rick. I put a 2" nosepiece on it so it wouldn't vignette. With the 2" nosepiece there is absolutely no trace of any. When you look in the front of the 1.25" nosepiece on the 4/3 the nosepiece hole is actually a smidge smaller than the sensor! It cuts the corners off by about 0.25 of a millimetre. That's a microscopic amount but it is still cutting the corners off! 1.25" nosepieces do not belong on 4/3rds cameras. What it needs is an 'M42' (T2) to 2" nosepiece. It's not a 'C' mount. Plenty of them around SEE HEREBut, Rising Tech also mention that their 4/3 camera can be ordered with a T2 to 2" nosepiece included for an extra $15. Even though I haven't tried it with a 1.25" nosepiece I will bet my dangly bits that it does Vignette. It has to, considering the corners are cut off. Rob, just for the heck of it I pushed the little RT224 up to 2 minutes and it started to show Amp Glow. But a Dark Frame would eliminate it, I hope Thanks, Ken, I assumed so too - just from those pictures. I'm considering this 4/3 camera but still doing some research.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Feb 20, 2017 14:28:32 GMT
Rick, I am using the RT 224 on the hyperstar which comes with the C adapter. Because of its slim shape ,it sits a little better than the stumpy ZWO 224 where I used a T connector with a female T to C adapter. Ken has the ZWO at the moment I am still struggling with the RT1600. I cant get it to work at all in the 4640x3505. (Does that mean I need more gain ?) I have it on a T2 to 2" nosepiece with a 2" GSO focal reducer on my Alt/Az Lx90 8" but so far have had pretty crappy results compared to what Ken has posted,but not a lot of night time viewing.(I need daylight saving to end right now). I have compared that setup with the optec 3.3 focal reducer (where 11mm is max sensor size) but only during the day on a neighbours TV antennae. There is vignetting bigtime on the optec but none on the 2". Which leads me to a question. Is there a problem with lots of vignetting for viewing if the central image shows a lot of detail? I can understand an imager getting upset with it but should a viewer be too fussed ? Paul Paul, Starizona offers multiple "adapters" for their Hyperstar units to pair with different cameras. I am assuming that this has to do with the sensor depth of the chip in the camera. I was curious which one of those adapters you were using and what spacers you were using if any. I probably should just send a note to Dean. I also have a question as to whether they have adapters with a 2" male connector - mine has a connector that seems like it would cause a vignetting problem for larger chips. Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 16:27:04 GMT
Rick I do have both the T and C adapters but just use the C .The 224 cameras are physically small and these are the only ones i now use on the hyperstar. The RT fits straight on without additional spacers and works fine and the ZWO has T to C conversion ring which sits flush inside the T.and thatworks fine as well. I havent had to consider spacers. Maybe I should. My 6"hyperstar appears overburdeoned with the mc xtreme,the infinity and the RT1600 and I dont bother with them.I have 2"systems on the LX90 8' and 10" for bigger cameras and optec focal reducers. That doesnt answer your question on spacers as I havent considered any additional and do not know what sensor to hyperstar distance is required. What I have done works. When it comes to the optec 3.3, I am unable to attach a T to C conversion. This adds an extra 10mm which prevents the 224's coming to focus.I have to make the conversion to the optec C adapter provided Paul
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