SonotaCo.JP

[Mike Foylan]

Dear SonotaCo and all
I wish to introduce myself as Mike from Ireland. I am in the process of setting up permanent twin camera meteor detection station (one operational) and wish to gain knowledge and advice from the many experienced members on this forum and I also wish to contribute to the forum in time when my knowledge and practical experience grows.

My setup is as follows:
Camera: 2x Watec 902DM2S
Lens available:
Computar 2.6 mm f1.0 ?” CS mount format
Computar 12 mm f0.8 ?” CS mount format
Computar 6 mm f0.8 ?” CS mount format (x2)
Frame Grabbers: (2x) K-world USB 2.0 frame grabbers (I wish to upgrade to Canopus frame grabbers or better, can anyone recommend a particular model or models, I guess I will need two of these units, one for each camera)
Outdoor camera enclosures: Trans-Pac semi cabled (x2)
PC: Hewlett Packard, Duo Core 6400 2.13 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 300 GB HDD, external USB 2.0 500 GB HDD. Windows Vista SP2, 2 x 6 pin FireWire connections, 6 USB ports.

Clear skies
Mike

Longitude: 06 47 40 W
Latitude: 53 33 26 N

[SonotaCo]

Hi Mike
Welcome to this forum.
I am glad to hear that a new station will begin observation in Ireland.
Once The Armagh Observatory in Ireland was using UFOCapture. If they are continuing, might be you can get simultaneous observation data.

Can you get CBC F0.8 series still? I believe they are discontinued a few years ago.
If you cannot, I recommend FUJINON YV2.7x2.9LR4D-SA2 F0.95 2.9-8mm varifocus, instead.
Though it is for 1/3" CCD, it can be used with 1/2" CCD in the range of 5-8mm.

About the grabber, I am recommending CANOPUS ADVC55. It can be used two sets in one PC.

Cheers,
SonotaCo

[Mike Foylan]

Dear SonotaCo

Thank you so much for warm welcome, I have sent email to Armagh Observatory offering my two cameras where I am located as support for their work. I am looking forward to having permanent setup for monitoring particular regions of sky.

I will then try and learn UFO analyzer software; I think your UFO Capture software program is very good indeed, I am glad that I have purchased such excellent software. I am looking forward to future work in this area. Thank you for the lens recommendations.

I have seen other models of Canopus frame grabber units such as; ADVC110, 300, 700, 1000 etc on the market. Is it overkill for what I am trying to do to purchase Canopus 110 or Canopus 300 model units for example? Would it make any difference in picture quality and reducing risk of dropped frames etc?

Clear skies
Mike

Ireland

[SonotaCo]

Hi Mike

I think image quality is almost same in all Canopus models.
I have ADVC 55, and ADVC 200, I cannot recognize the difference of image quality between them.
ADVC 55 is simple (without TV tuner), bus-powered, small and lowcost.
The models does not concern the frame drop risk. It is the matter of PC.
(I recommend Windows XP or future Windows 7 rather than Vista as for this point.)