Post by Rick in NWArk on Jul 15, 2015 17:35:30 GMT
I’ve finally received my new Mallincam SkyRaider DSm camera! I had ordered it from Jack Huerkamp (mallincamusa@gmail.com), the US distributor of Mallincam products. My order also included the SkyRaider AGc camera – which due to the software issues with processing the color, was delayed. Thankfully, Jack went ahead and sent me my DSm even though the AGc was not ready yet. I admit I was getting impatient seeing several others receive their DSms and were enjoying first-lights and even some NSN broadcasts.
Since I’m throwing around a few acronyms here, I should stop and take time to explain them. For the SkyRaider line of cameras from Mallincam, there are 3 basic models: the AG (AG stands for Auto Guider), the DS (Deep Space), and the SLP (Solar, Lunar, & Planetary). I am not sure if the SLP cameras come this way, but with the AG and the DS you can choose between a color (c) and a monochrome (m) camera. So putting it all together, AGc is the color auto guider camera and DSm is the monochrome deep space camera.
I wont go into all of the technical details about the camera, which you can find here: www.mallincam.net/skyraider-ds.html
(figure 1)
Opening the shipping box (fig. 1), one sees the USB cable and the camera box. The box is labeled showing the model and manufactured date. The QR Code, if scanned with your phone app will open up the link to the Mallincam website (fig. 2).
(figure 2)
The contents of the camera box are the camera, the Mallincam software CD, and the nose piece – C-Mount to 1½”. The packing material is excellent and although my camera box had a crushed corner, there was no evidence that this had any impact to the contents (fig. 3).
(figure 3)
For some reason, I was expecting a puke-green colored camera (maybe this is the DSc?) but this camera is a sleek black. It’s very solid, compact, and very heavy – it surprised me when I hefted it out of the box. The following pictures show the front with the rubber cap (fig. 4), the bottom with the serial number and what appears to be a camera / tripod mount (fig. 5), the top with the nice gold branded tag (fig. 6), and the back with the USB connector.
I was a bit surprised to see the USB connector in the back versus the side, but I don’t foresee any issues with this. If I had a fork mounted SCT, then I might be worried that the USB connector would rob me of precious image train space without resorting to an elbow. I like the rubber camera cap… it fits very securely and seems to go back on easily. I hope that it will not stretch over time or be hardened by cold where it could crack.
Of course, the most shocking aspect of the camera’s arrival is the fact that it was going to be a clear night and I’ll be able to have first light on the night of the camera’s arrival!!
To prepare, I upgraded the firmware to my Celestron AVX mount and the StarSense tool, hoping that some of my GoTo accuracies would be solved. I made some quick plans on what I wanted to observe because I knew I would only have a short time, being a week night.
As dusk settled, I got everything setup ready for my first light with the StarRaider DSm. My equipment was as follows (fig. 7):
- Orion 80 EDT APO
- Celestron AVX
- Celestron Star Sense
- Mallincam SkyRaider DSm
- Mallincam MFR-5 (only the front section and the 10mm spacer)
- Dell Laptop running Windows 7
- Powered 7-Port USB Hub
- and the following software
- - MallincamSky Software (from supplied CD)
- - Stellarium (controlling the mount)
I chose to use the MFR-5 front element and the 10mm spacer for a couple of reasons. First, I had not any pre-calculations on my focal length and chip size to determine what field of view I was going to get. Also, I have been having so many GoTo accuracy issues with my AVX mount and SkySense that I wanted a wide field so I could find objects easier. I wanted to spend more time playing with the settings of my camera than slewing around trying to find my targets.
It was now time to wait for dark to get aligned and start seeing what this camera can do in my relatively inexperienced hands...
(Continued in Part II)
Since I’m throwing around a few acronyms here, I should stop and take time to explain them. For the SkyRaider line of cameras from Mallincam, there are 3 basic models: the AG (AG stands for Auto Guider), the DS (Deep Space), and the SLP (Solar, Lunar, & Planetary). I am not sure if the SLP cameras come this way, but with the AG and the DS you can choose between a color (c) and a monochrome (m) camera. So putting it all together, AGc is the color auto guider camera and DSm is the monochrome deep space camera.
I wont go into all of the technical details about the camera, which you can find here: www.mallincam.net/skyraider-ds.html
(figure 1)
Opening the shipping box (fig. 1), one sees the USB cable and the camera box. The box is labeled showing the model and manufactured date. The QR Code, if scanned with your phone app will open up the link to the Mallincam website (fig. 2).
(figure 2)
The contents of the camera box are the camera, the Mallincam software CD, and the nose piece – C-Mount to 1½”. The packing material is excellent and although my camera box had a crushed corner, there was no evidence that this had any impact to the contents (fig. 3).
(figure 3)
For some reason, I was expecting a puke-green colored camera (maybe this is the DSc?) but this camera is a sleek black. It’s very solid, compact, and very heavy – it surprised me when I hefted it out of the box. The following pictures show the front with the rubber cap (fig. 4), the bottom with the serial number and what appears to be a camera / tripod mount (fig. 5), the top with the nice gold branded tag (fig. 6), and the back with the USB connector.
I was a bit surprised to see the USB connector in the back versus the side, but I don’t foresee any issues with this. If I had a fork mounted SCT, then I might be worried that the USB connector would rob me of precious image train space without resorting to an elbow. I like the rubber camera cap… it fits very securely and seems to go back on easily. I hope that it will not stretch over time or be hardened by cold where it could crack.
Of course, the most shocking aspect of the camera’s arrival is the fact that it was going to be a clear night and I’ll be able to have first light on the night of the camera’s arrival!!
To prepare, I upgraded the firmware to my Celestron AVX mount and the StarSense tool, hoping that some of my GoTo accuracies would be solved. I made some quick plans on what I wanted to observe because I knew I would only have a short time, being a week night.
As dusk settled, I got everything setup ready for my first light with the StarRaider DSm. My equipment was as follows (fig. 7):
- Orion 80 EDT APO
- Celestron AVX
- Celestron Star Sense
- Mallincam SkyRaider DSm
- Mallincam MFR-5 (only the front section and the 10mm spacer)
- Dell Laptop running Windows 7
- Powered 7-Port USB Hub
- and the following software
- - MallincamSky Software (from supplied CD)
- - Stellarium (controlling the mount)
I chose to use the MFR-5 front element and the 10mm spacer for a couple of reasons. First, I had not any pre-calculations on my focal length and chip size to determine what field of view I was going to get. Also, I have been having so many GoTo accuracy issues with my AVX mount and SkySense that I wanted a wide field so I could find objects easier. I wanted to spend more time playing with the settings of my camera than slewing around trying to find my targets.
It was now time to wait for dark to get aligned and start seeing what this camera can do in my relatively inexperienced hands...
(Continued in Part II)