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Select a product from
the list below in order to see the detailed product review.
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> LPI IMAGER | |
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> DEEP SKY IMAGER II | |
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> DEEP SKY IMAGER III | |
Model:
Meade LPI Imager
Description
:
Meade's exciting new LPI (Lunar Planetary Imager) can be used on any
telescope for making images! It's VGA resolution (640x480) color
CMOS chip is capable of creating high-quality lunar and planetary
images, as well as daytime terrestrial images. And with the
capability to make long exposures, you can digitally capture bright
deep sky objects with the LPI system that only costs a fraction of a
typical astronomical CCD imager system.
With an effective magnification similar to a 6mm eyepiece, the Meade
LPI produces images that are inherently high magnification with no
additional adapters, making it the perfect tool for imaging the
Moon, planets, and small, bright deep sky objects. Using a barlow
lens with the LPI will increase the magnification even more, and
installing the LPI is just as easy as sliding in an eyepiece.
Autoguiding with the LPI requires an Autostar-equipped Meade
telescope. Standard equipment includes cables with the Autostar
Suite for linking the PC to the "RS232" port of these telescopes so
that the software can make corrections to the telescope as the LPI
tracks on a star. Autoguiding with the LPI is as easy as making an
image An initial image is downloaded, and one only has to draw a box
with the computer's mouse over the star to be tracked. When used in
tandem with the LX200GPS with Smart Drive activated, stars as faint
as 10th magnitude may be used.
This
region of the Moon was taken with a Meade 8" LX90 (mounted in the
altaz configuration), by a first-time user of the LPI imager and
software.
Making
lunar and planetary images with the LPI is simple.
A hobbiest will find that they only have to do the following to make
images that they will be proud of:
▪ Install the Autostar Suite software in
your PC.
▪ Connect the USB cable to the camera
and the PC. Windows will recognize the new device and a dialog box
will appear asking if you want to install the new drivers. With the
Autostar Suite CD disk still inserted in the computer, click "OK".
▪ Open Autostar Suite, click the
"Image" drop-down menu at the top of the program and select "LPI
Imaging". The camera's dim red L.E.D. "on" light will glow
indicating you are connected.
▪ Click the drop down menu under
"Object" and select the type of object that you will image, use
"Moon" for taking images of the Moon for example.
▪ Center up the planet or region of
the Moon that you wish to image with an eyepiece. Remove the
eyepiece from the telescope's focuser, and slide in the LPI camera.
▪ The image will appear on the "Live"
box on your computer at this time. You can now focus the telescope
to get the sharpest image. Use the "Magic Eye" tool of the program
to determine best focus.
▪ Hold down the left mouse button and
draw a box around a region of interest, and let go. The LPI will
"track" on that region during the exposures.
▪ When you are ready, just click the
"Start" button and you will start tracking and stacking images. You
can take and stack as many iamges as you like.
▪ Click "Stop" to finish. The LPI
software will automatically name and save your final image. It is
that easy!
As your familiarity of
using the LPI software improves, you can over-ride all of the
automatic settings and take control of nearly every aspect of
the imaging process to further improve your imaging skill. For
example, the exposure settings can be user-controlled from .001 to
15 seconds.
The LPI software
automatically aligns multiple images images and combines them into
one superior image. Generally speaking in making an astrophotograph
there are still factors that can ruin an otherwise perfect image.
Some of these factors would be moments of poor seeing, or high
turbulence in the atmosphere, a gust of wind shaking the telescope,
poor alignment that would cause poor tracking, even a small bump to
any part of the telescope can cause problems. With the LPI system,
the software's "Min Quality" setting can be set to discard all of
the poor quality images and only combine the high quality images at
or above the setting chosen.
▪ Live - Displays
what the imager sees in the "Live" tab in the display area.
▪
Exposure - This is the exposure time in seconds (from
.001 to 16 seconds), the up and down spin buttons adjust the
exposure up and down by .5 f/stop.
▪
Gain and Offset - Are like contrast and brightness on a
TV. These controls are sent directly to the camera.
▪
Histogram - Displays a histogram of the image in the Live
tab. It uses a monochrome converted image which is an average of the
RGB of each pixel.
▪
Stretch Controls - The sliders below the histogram
control the stretch of the image. The top one is black and the
bottom one is white. The numbers below the sliders are the stretch
values. The left one is black the right one is white.
▪
LOG Checkbox - This makes the histogram response log.
▪
ROI Checkbox - Makes a histogram in the region of interest (ROI)
of the red rectangle in the Live display area drawn by the user.
▪
Magic Eye Focus - This displays a graphical
representation of the focus. The two orange triangles grow together
to indicate better focus. The red lines indicate the maximum
obtained.
▪
Avg Checkbox - This will average the last 5 focus values to
smooth out the noise in the image.
▪
Reset - This will reset the red max indicators of the
Magic Eye Focus tool.
▪
Start - This will start co-adding images and continuously
display the current image in the Live tab and the co-added image in
a new tab with the filename as the tab. The Min Quality, Evaluation
Count, Object Name, and filter selection will be used for this
image. The start button will be relabeled "Stop". When Stop is
pressed the co-added image will be saved as the file type selected
and in the "Image Folder" under the Object Name. If there is already
a file with this name then a number will be suffixed to the name.
▪
Min Quality - This selects the minimum quality that is
acceptable to co-add an image.
Evaluation Count - This is the number of images skipped when Start
is pressed to determine a quality range.
▪
Object Name - This is the filename that will be used when
the Stop button is pressed.
▪
Kernel Filter - This will insert the selected kernel
filter in the image stream. When co-adding the image, the filter is
applied after the co-add but is only used for display. It is applied
again when the image is saved such that it is only applied once to
the co-added image.
▪
Images Status - This displays the number of co added
images.
▪
Quality Status - This displays the quality of the last
camera image.
▪
Centroid - When you draw a rectangle around a bright
object in the Live display area, two crossed lines represent the
centroid of the rectangle (ROI). The rectangle will move with the
centroid to keep it in the middle. This way it will track the bright
spot any where on the image. The centroid is used by the shift and
combine algorithm to determine how much to shift the image by.
*Recommended Minimum System For Installing Autostar Suite:
PC running Windows 98SE with 64 MB and 100 MB free disk space.
Model: Deep Sky Imager II
*DSI Pro II shown above
Description :
The user-friendly astrophotography revolution
continues. Introducing the new DSI II. It combines ease-of-use with
a larger chip, greater sensitivity, higher resolution, and
dramatically lower thermal noise. Meade engineers have invented a
remarkable new way to reduce noise without a cooler. This means you
can take exposures for hours at a time. And the new thermal
monitoring sensors automatically match your dark frames to ambient
temperature so it�s nearly impossible to take an uncalibrated
picture. The software includes a new zoom feature for easier
focusing and the squared pixels of the new larger chip make
processing simpler and images more beautiful than ever. The DSI II
is the world�s first un-cooled camera with low thermal noise. And
that�s as cool as it gets.
- Dramatically lower noise
- Larger 8mm diagonal (type 1 /2) chip
- 74% higher resolution (752 x 582)
- Greater sensitivity
- Temperature sensor
Specification : Deep Sky Imager II
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|
High Sensitivity Color Sony EXview HAD
CCDT Sensor (ICX429AKL) |
|
5.59mm (w) x 4.68mm (h); 8mm
diagonal (type ½) 752 x 582 pixels (437,664 pixels) |
|
Temperature Sensor |
8.3 microns (w) x 8.6 microns (h) Built in
temperature sensor measures degrees in celsius and matches it to
each dark frame |
|
16-bit (greater image depth and
contrast) |
|
|
1/10,000 of a
second to one hour |
|
Anodized die-cast aluminum |
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|
High Speed 2.0
and 1.1 |
|
3.25" x 3.25" x 1.25"/ 10 oz. |
| Minimum System
Requirements |
Pentium-II
400MHz computer (Pentium-4 2GHz computer recommended), 98
Mega-Bytes of RAM (512 Mega-Bytes recommended), 200 Mega Bytes
of available hard-drive space (>1GB recommended), CD ROM drive,
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP (Windows XP recommended), USB 2.0 high
speed available full-powered port. |
Specification : Deep Sky Imager II
|
|
High Sensitivity
Monochrome Sony EXview HADT CCD Sensor
(ICX429ALL) |
|
|
5.59mm (w) x 4.68mm (h); 8mm diagonal (type
½) 752 x 582 pixels (437,664 pixels) |
|
Temperature Sensor |
8.3 microns (w) x 8.6 microns (h) Built in
temperature sensor measures degrees in
celsius and matches it to each dark frame |
|
|
16-bit (greater
image depth and contrast) |
|
|
1/10,000 of a
second to one hour |
|
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Anodized
die-cast aluminum |
|
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High Speed 2.0
and 1.1 |
|
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3.25" x 3.25" x
1.25"/ 10 oz. |
|
Minimum System
Requirements |
Pentium-II
400MHz computer (Pentium-4 2GHz computer
recommended), 98 Mega-Bytes of RAM (512
Mega-Bytes recommended), 200 Mega Bytes of
available hard-drive space (>1GB
recommended), CD ROM drive, Windows
98SE/ME/2000/XP (Windows XP recommended),
USB 2.0 high speed available full-powered
port. |
|
Deep Sky Imager Accessories
Deep Sky Imager
Fan
The New DSI Fan keeps your camera cool!
Give your camera a boost by enhancing its air cooled
properties.
The fan fits all Deep Sky Imager Cameras. It has
been designed to give enhanced air cooling to the
camera. The fan will keep the camera up to 9 degrees
Fahrenheit cooler than using the camera without a
fan (5 degrees Celsius cooler). The fan comes
equipped with a battery pack for simple in the field
use (batteries not included). The fan will also work
with the Meade #541 power supply.
- Keep your camera cool!
- Lower the cameras operating temp. by up to 9ºF
(5ºC).
- Works with all Deep Sky Imager cameras.
- Runs on 8xAA batteries (not included).
Series
4000 Focal Reducers
|
|
|
 |
 |
| - 4-element,
multi-coated |
- 3-element,
multi-coated |
| -
Reduces exposure times by approximately 50% |
-
Variable T-adapter included |
DEEP SKY IMAGER III
The user-friendly astrophotography
revolution continues with the introduction of the
new DSI III. It combines ease-of-use with a 1.4
megapixel chip, higher resolution, wider field of
view and lower thermal noise. Meade engineers have
invented a remarkable new way to reduce noise
without a cooling fan. This means you can stack
exposures for hours at a time. The thermal
monitoring sensors automatically match your dark
frames to ambient temperature so its nearly
impossible to take an uncalibrated picture. The
software includes a zoom feature for easier focusing
and the square pixels of the new larger chip make
processing simpler and images more beautiful than
ever. With extremely low noise, the DSI III is the
world's best un-cooled astro imager.
Features and Benefits
▪
Deep Sky Imager III and Deep Sky
Imager PRO III: Two new cameras are being added to
the Deep Sky Imager family of CCD imaging. The Deep
Sky Imager III boasts a 1.4MP Color Sony CCD Sensor.
The Deep Sky Imager Pro III has a 1.4MP Monochrome
Sony CCD Sensor. Achieve fast one-shot color images
with the Deep Sky Imager III. With greater
sensitivity of the monochrome chip, go deeper with
the Deep Sky Imager PRO III and achieve greater
detail with the CCD Color filter set.
▪
High Sensitivity (1.4MP) CCD
Sensor from Sony®: The Meade Deep Sky Imager III
utilizes Sonys large 2/3" ExView HAD? CCD Image
Sensor. This sensor provides dramatically lower
noise and higher dynamic range featuring a 16-Bit
A/D converter.
▪
USB 2.0 High Speed: Download
images with fast USB connection.
▪
2x2 Binning Mode: Use binning for fast focusing,
centering the image and advanced imaging techniques.
▪
Multiple Imager Operation: AutoStar? Envisage? will
support any number of Deep Sky Imager cameras and
one LPI?, so you can image with one DSI and guide
with the other.
▪
Temperature Sensor: The DSI III
has a built in temperature sensor for fast and
accurate auto-dark frame subraction. The temperature
sensor matches the current temperature of the CCD
chip to each dark frame so its nearly impossible to
take an uncalibrated picture.
▪
Less Noise Means More Data: You
get all the data from your Deep Sky Imager without
compression, and that means no loss of information
in your raw images.
▪
Drizzle Technology: Drizzle was
developed by NASA for processing images from the
Hubble Space Telescope. It will work on any AutoStar®
controlled telescope. There are three enhancements
that Drizzle adds:
1.Increased Resolution - increases resolution without interpolation.
2.Extended View - a final image that is nearly four times larger.
3.Field De-Rotation - eliminate field rotation with simple two-star
selection.
▪
No Batteries Required: Just plug the Deep Sky
Imagers USB 2.0 High Speed cable into your laptop
and you are ready to image or autoguide. No other
power supplies are needed.
▪
Envisage? Software Camera Control and Image
Processing Software is inclulded, eliminating the
need to purchase expensive aftermarket programs.
▪
Lightweight and Portable: Weighs
only 11 ounces and is very compact, measuring only
4.0" x 3.75" x 1.25" with no need for additional
balance weights.
▪
Versatile: Deep Sky Imager works
on any telescope and can also be used as a sensitive
and simple-to-use Autoguider on AutoStar
computerized telescopes.
▪
Priced For the Astronomer on a
Budget: The DSI III is about 1/2 the price of
competing brands.
AutoStar Suite Software with ENVISAGE?
Imaging Software:
AutoStar Suite includes Sky Software, Image Capture
Software and Image Processing Software, including
these features:
▪
Time Lapse Photography Tool -
Create movies of the rotation of Jupiter, moons
transiting Jupiter, etc...
▪
Auto and Manual Exposure Settings
- Let Deep Sky Imager? optimize the exposure, or set
it manually.
▪
New & Improved Magic Eye? Focus -
For super fast, hassle free focusing.
▪
Stretch Options - Auto-stretch
automatically brings out dim objects at short
exposures. Optimizes the contrast of objects, with
adjustable contrast settings.
▪
Automatic Dark Subtraction - Dark
frames are automatically stacked and averaged, then
subtracted giving you a clean image. Automatically
align and stack images using state-of-the-art
techniques.
▪Live
Histogram - Helps you optimize for the best
exposure..
Optional Accessory :
CCD Color Filter Set Accessory (#04530):
Bring vibrant color to images taken with your B&W
Deep Sky Imager PRO by using Meades optional CCD
Color Filter Set. This high quality Dichoic CCD
color filter set comes with Red, Green, and Blue
interference filters plus an IR blocking filter.
Designed with multiple high transmission coatings
and strong 3mm thick glass, these filters were
designed specifically for the Deep Sky Imager PRO.
They will also perform perfectly well with standard
filter wheels from other manufacturers. Meade CCD
Color Filters come in the standard 1.25" diameter
with black anodized filter rings. Their par focal
design means you will not need to re-focus when
switching between filters. These unsurpassed
interference filters offer the ultimate in specific
wavelength transmission for true color images with
minimum exposure times.
Specification :
DEEP SKY IMAGER III
| |
Deep Sky
Imager III |
Deep Sky Imager PRO III |
|
CCD Sensor |
High Sensitivity Color Sony EXview
HAD? CCD Sensor |
High Sensitivity Monochrome Sony
EXview HAD? CCD Sensor |
|
Sensor Model |
ICX285AQ |
ICX285AL |
|
A/D Conversion |
16-bit (greater image depth and
contrast) |
16-bit (greater image depth and
contrast) |
|
Min. Max. Exposure Time |
1/10,000 of a second to one hour |
1/10,000 of a second to one hour |
|
USB Capability |
High Speed 2.0 only |
High Speed 2.0 only |
|
Size / Weight of Product |
4.0" x 3.75" x 1.25"/ 11.2 oz. |
4.0" x 3.75" x 1.25"/ 11.2 oz. |
|
Chip Dimensions in Pixels |
10.2mm (w) x 8.3mm (h); 11mm
diagonal (type 2/3) 1360 x 1024 pixels (1,392,640 pixels) |
10.2mm (w) x 8.3mm (h); 11mm
diagonal (type 2/3) 1360 x 1024 pixels (1,392,640 pixels) |
|
Pixel Size (in microns) |
6.45 microns (w) x 6.45 microns (h)
Built in temperature sensor measures degrees in Celsius and
matches it to each dark frame. |
6.45 microns (w) x 6.45 microns (h)
Built in temperature sensor measures degrees in Celsius and
matches it to each dark frame. |
|
Minimum System Requirements |
Pentium 4 1.4GHz computer (Pentium 4
2.1GHz recommended), 500 Megabytes of RAM (1 Giga-Byte
recommended), 200 Megabytes of available hard-drive space (>1 GB
recommended), DVD-ROM drive, Windows 2000/XP/Vista (Windows
Vista recommended), USB 2.0 high speed available full-powered
port. |
Pentium 4 1.4GHz computer (Pentium 4
2.1GHz recommended), 500 Megabytes of RAM (1 Giga-Byte
recommended), 200 Megabytes of available hard-drive space (>1 GB
recommended), DVD-ROM drive, Windows 2000/XP/Vista (Windows
Vista recommended), USB 2.0 high speed available full-powered
port. |
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