artemis 11000

[J12 1]

Salut,
je viens de voir ça sur le groupe artemis yahoo. Steve Chambers prépare encore un coup!

Hello,

Lets start off with the bad news. The Fairchild large format camera has
been shelved for the time being.

Developing a low cost camera running the Fairchild CCD that is aimed at
amateur astronomers was becoming increasing problematic, such that I was
looking around at other sensors. Part of the problem is the Sony 285
such a great chip that finding something better without it costing the
earth is not easy. A few weeks ago I met up with one of the people from
Kodak. We knocked some ideas around for what would be the perfect easy
to use camera for astronomy without concentrating too much on price.
Its should not be too much of a surprise that the conversation soon
revolved around the 11 mega pixel 35mm format KAI11000 which is the top
of Kodak's interline range.

The CCD has 9um square pixels in a 37.25mmx25.70mm array and shares a
number of features with the Sony 285. Its interline device which means
we do not need a manual shutter. It has progressive readout which
eliminates interlacing type artefacts in the image. It is has low dark
current compared with traditional large format CCDs like the Fairchild
which allows rather lighter cooling and much easier case design.
Finally the use of micro lenses on the CCD surface gives good QE
figures.

Later when I started to cost up such a camera the figures started to
look quite interesting. The plan is to use the same digital side
developed for the Fairchild camera, ie USB2 interface, 16 bit ADC,
controlled 2 stage cooling, and single 12V supply.

And of course keep the Artemis touch. The design is kept simple to
offer a quality camera at an interesting price.

In some ways its still early days as the designs for the circuit board
have only just gone out for manufacture. However as the camera will be
able to use much of the Fairchild cameras firmware and Jons existing
software I feel the large format project is on a home straight. If
things go well with this camera it should go on sale this year.

And the bottom line. I am building with a final cost of £2000 in
mind. As ever I will keep posting updates so you can see how it come
on.

Regards

Steve