CCD project maybe
c131frdave
Posts: 38
Hello,
I was thinking about trying a new project. Unfortunately, I don't know much about electronics, and what I do know is either self taught, or what I've learned reading here. But I have a project idea that is quite advanced, and wonder if the basic stamp is up to the task.
My main hobby is astrophotography. I have a 1.2 mpixel camera that I use now, and believe it or not, it costs over $3000. Because these cameras are used for long exposures, up to 30 minutes or more, they must be cooled. The cooling is controlled by my laptop via a peltier device. The camera gathers the image, and then sends it to the laptop via USB2 for processing.
I'd like to use a camera with a larger chip. My goal was to save up enough money for a SBIG STL-11000 camera, a cooled 11mpixel CCD camera, but they cost anywhere from $6000 to $11000 depending on chip quality. But I ran accross Kodak's site, the supplier of the chips SBIG uses for their cameras, and I'm wondering if I could build one myself. They give good information about the chip, but as I am a rookie, I don't understand all of it.
Anyway, if any of you experts have a moment, check out this document for the specifics, and then please post your comment on whether you think the basic stamp, or any other parallax controller is up to the task.
Thank you.
I was thinking about trying a new project. Unfortunately, I don't know much about electronics, and what I do know is either self taught, or what I've learned reading here. But I have a project idea that is quite advanced, and wonder if the basic stamp is up to the task.
My main hobby is astrophotography. I have a 1.2 mpixel camera that I use now, and believe it or not, it costs over $3000. Because these cameras are used for long exposures, up to 30 minutes or more, they must be cooled. The cooling is controlled by my laptop via a peltier device. The camera gathers the image, and then sends it to the laptop via USB2 for processing.
I'd like to use a camera with a larger chip. My goal was to save up enough money for a SBIG STL-11000 camera, a cooled 11mpixel CCD camera, but they cost anywhere from $6000 to $11000 depending on chip quality. But I ran accross Kodak's site, the supplier of the chips SBIG uses for their cameras, and I'm wondering if I could build one myself. They give good information about the chip, but as I am a rookie, I don't understand all of it.
Anyway, if any of you experts have a moment, check out this document for the specifics, and then please post your comment on whether you think the basic stamp, or any other parallax controller is up to the task.
Thank you.
Comments
A BS will definitely not be sufficient, probably not even an SX but a Propeller could possibly do the job -- I would even say
'probably', but it will go to the limits and is radically non-trivial.
However, you say you "don't know much about electronics", if you intend to build anything like a 11-megapixel astro camera
(pelletier cooled of course) from scratch starting with a CCD chip and a microcontroller you ceratinly should know a lot about electronics, have sound programming skills, and quite some knwoledge mathematics and physics.
May be you could place this project on the Propeller Forum.
Regards
Adrian