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MallinCam Video CCD Observational System
Return to Waning Moon II
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MallinCam Color HYPER PLUS
Despite the introduction of the Mallincam TM VSS, the Mallincam TM Color HYPER PLUS is still in high demand and continues to be offered by Pro-Com Electronics. It is truly state of the art. It offers the elimination of amplifier glow with the shorter integration times. With the longer integration times, minimal amplifier glow is visible in the top/left corner of the screen. Compared to previous MallinCam TM cameras, the background is much darker. Image quality rivals pictures seen in books, and they are live on a monitor. The camera incorporates a thermoelectric Peltier cooler with digital transformer to lower the temperature of the CCD sensor. This is especially critical when the longer exposure limits are utilized.
The MallinCam TM Color HYPER PLUS has 4 discrete long exposure modes - 7 seconds, 14 seconds, 28 seconds, and 56 seconds. The camera can also be use for planetary viewing as well as lunar and solar (with proper filtration), as it is capable of exposures as shorts as 1/12,000th second. There is a 12 bit CPU inside the cameras, and it is completely digital even in non-integration mode. The variable zoom feature rivals a barlow of 2X when activated and allows for easy focusing. The BLC function now has a variable PEAK feature and is fully adjustable. The ELC /ALC function has been expanded to allow more control. The MallinCam TM Color HYPER PLUS is more sensitive than any webcam, digital camera or CCD computer-camera, and its sensitivity is continuously variable over an extremely wide range!
Single 56 Second Frame Grab - MCHP on 17.5" AstroSsytems TeleKit with ServoCAT
The MallinCam TM Color HYPER PLUS, as well as its B&W counterpart, operates by sending video images to a TV screen for easy viewing real time by more than one observer. Simultaneously, the video signal can be sent to a camcorder, VCR, DVD burner, or computer video card and recorded for future imaging processing. Through the proper setting of items on the camera's menu, it is possible to increase the sensitivity. The video information accumulated by the camera is sent to the on-board memory module, fowarded to the video processing circuitry and then onto the monitor which updates automatically. By accumulating up to 2.1 seconds of video information, it is possible to resolve star images down to 15th magnitude while using an 8" telescope. This is 2 to 3 magnitudes fainter than the dimmest stars visible in the eyepiece! In addition, many of the Messier, NGC and IC deep sky objects appear on the monitor with detail that usually requires long exposures on film while guiding on the object. Through the use of the HYPER circuitry, 7, 14, 28 and 56 second exposures are now available and this greatly extends the faintest magnitude available.
Single 56 Second Frame Grab - MCHP on 17.5" AstroSsytems TeleKit with ServoCAT
Even Dobsonian and alt-az mounted telescopes can now participate in imaging. For Dobsonian scopes on an equatorial platform or with a tracking mechanishm like a ServoCAT, or an alt-az mounted Schmidt-Cassegrain that has tracking, it is possible to observe faint objects real time and record the event for imaging processing. For alt-az mounted scopes, as long as the recording is fairly short (less than 5 minutes), stacking of frames without field rotation is possible. And since RegiStax supports two star alignments for image stacking, it is possible to take even longer videos and process them with no field rotation visible in the finished images.
Single 7 Second Frame Grab - MCHP on 17.5" AstroSsytems TeleKit with ServoCAT
The imaging chip is overlaid by a network of microprisms to register separate colors - red, green and blue. This network eats up a little bit of the light hitting the chip without registering a charge, so the MallinCam TM Color HYPER cameras are less sensitive than the monochrome versions - about 15% according to Rock Mallin based upon his testing. But they provide an image in full color, and sometimes that's what counts!
A picture of the CCD sensor used in the Color Hyper is shown below.
$1199.95 USD
Also available in Black and White
$1099.95 UDS
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