One of the most commonly posed hardware related questions in our support department is:

What is the maximum length of FireWire cable that I can use with your astronomy cameras?

The official answer is:

4.5 meters

For example, the cable CA-1394-66/4.5.

We have heard reports from customers that they have got our cameras working with cables of up to 10 meters. These cables, however, are not officially supported and thus your mileage may vary.

We do, however, offer an officially supported solution, if you have a really long distance between camera and host PC. Typically, this solution is of interest to customers with their telescope and camera in the garden and PC in a warm home office.

Using the Optical FireWire Repeater (OL/1394sc2-1), distances of between 10 meters and 1 kilometer can be bridged. Although, the Optical FireWire Repeater is certainly not a low cost solution, it does allow extremely long cables to be used and can save the day in some extreme situations.

One of the most commonly posed hardware related questions in our support department is:

I need to use the 4 pin to 6 pin Y cable (CA-1394-64/PJ/2) or a USB hub to connect my astronomy camera to my laptop. What is the polarity of the power connector?

First of all, you will need a power supply that outputs between 8 VDC and 30 VDC. This is required to power the cameras. Secondly, the polarity of the power connector depends on a number of factors.

The easiest way to find out which polarity you need is to try it out! The cameras are protected again inverse polarity, hence, you will not damage them by connecting the power supply the wrong way round.

Power up the camera and connect it to your PC. If Windows recognizes the camera, the polarity is correct. If Windows does not recognize the camera, then the polarity is probably incorrect. Simply switch around the polarity and reconnect the camera to you PC. Windows should then recognize the camera.

Many DMK users both in and out of the Astronomy business have called and written in recently questioning me on the spectral sensitivity and quantum efficiency of The Imaging Source cameras. Well, most if not all of these questions are answered by me pointing the DMK user to what we at The Imaging Source refer to as our “The White Papers“. This extensive collection of references include topics on basics optics, CCD electronics, and color interpolation. Although not deemed a DMK users manual, the material covered is extensive and well worth a look for all of The Imaging Source clients.

Recently a customer inquired about connecting more than one DMK cameras to his telescope system and I thought this may be a good FAQ blog. Jeff Barton is obviously a solar outreach fanatic like myself working in the Southwest United States.

Jeff writes:

I have a 21F04 mono and two 21AF04 color cameras, each of which is attached to a different type of solar telescope (PST Ha, PST CaK, 40mm MaxScope Ha), all on the same EQ mount for solar imaging. These are going to be connected to monitors inside a blacked-out cargo trailer to allow small groups of students to watch a short solar video followed by seeing (directly observing) three different views (wavelengths) of the Sun “live”.

My question is whether I can use Window XP and multiple monitor cards to provide the displays from a single computer, or whether it would be better to use three separate computers , each with its own monitor?

Jeff, the problem you may run into is a bandwidth jam. Although it is possible to have more than one DMK from The Imaging Source connected to your computer, at high frame rates, it is not possible to “push” that much information through the PCI bus. In other words, you get a data traffic jam.

To alleviate this problem, start both cameras out on very low frame rates and step them up carefully. But be forewarned, Windows does not like this traffic jam, so do not increase both to the 60 FPS setting or else Bill (you know who), the traffic cop will pull you over! It is most definitely better to use an additional PC, if possible for this application.

Check out the very neat programs that Mr. Barton and the Texas Astronomical Society are conducting for the public and junior astronomer through the Three rivers Foundation for the Arts and Sciences! Profjohn and The Imaging Source hope to see some of their work at the next Texas Star Party.

This is a question that I hear almost daily…

The low noise of The Imaging Source astronomy cameras is thanks to a number of aspects. The ones listed below are the most important:

Industrial-grade components

The Imaging Source deploys industrial-grade components in their industrial and astronomy cameras. Unlike USB web cameras, where the price is a very important factor (and thus quality gets put in second place), in industry the stability, longevity and quality of components on the PCBs is decisive. With the exception of the exposure time, the cameras in the astronomy line are identical to their industrial brothers.

Low operational temperature

The Imaging Source astronomy cameras run at a low temperature. Unlike many industrial cameras that run so hot that touching them can result in burning of the skin, The Imaging Source cameras are only slightly warm when they are touched. Hence, there is little thermal noise. Furthermore, thanks to their robust aluminum and zinc casing, any heat that is produced is dissipated efficiently.

Non-compressed CCD signal

The signal from the CCD is not compressed. Noise is not only a result of heat, but also of compression. As The Imaging Source astronomy cameras do not compress the signal from the CCD, the cameras do not induce any additional noise.

Highly optimized analog-to-digital SP

The analog to digital signal processing (CCD outputs an analog signal) is highly optimized, thanks to the firmware developed by The Imaging Source.