Lumenera Skynyx2-0 monochrome camera

Good Luck with your new purchase Carl! I hope you get some great rewarding shots!

Keith..

Hi Carl,
Were you able to find comparison images between the B/W and colour versions of the camera you got. I've been looking at these Lumenera cameras and am trying to decide if the B/W option is worth the hastle.
I know theoretically B/W should have higher resolution, how has it worked out for you so far ?

Dave,

Monochrome imagers are always better than a one shot colour variant of the same device. More sensitive and better resolution. I suppose the nub of this is that all the worlds best planetary imagers, Damo Peach Dave Tyler, Carl O'Beirnes et-al all use a monochrome imager and LRGB interference filters.

The problem is interference filters are not cheap. Cost me over 500lids for a set of 2" and I think Carls 1.25" set cost nearly 300euro.

However I always say, if your gonna do it, do it right and if you can afford the imager then you can afford to wait if necessary to get the filters and filter wheel too.

I understand that this is a major investment to some and impossible for others but if you can afford to get the best is there any point in producing images which are second best?

Folks - I'm not an optical expert but I would have though if you had a monochrome CCD and a colour CCD with identical pixel sizes, that their resolution would be the same - i.e. they will resolve a star ove the same number of pixels (given an identical optical path).

Sensitivity is different and a monochrome version of a CCD will outperform a colour version (of the same type/model).

As ever, it is a trade-off - if you want to shoot colour with a monochrome CCD it will require more time than a colour CCD - but your result will be better (all other things being equal).

That said, there are some exceptional one-shot colour CCD's out there producing superb images.

Cheers

Dave