Available Cameras
There are currently two MallinCam TM Video CCD cameras available - the HYPER and the HYPER PLUS. Each is available in either B&W or Color. The HYPER has exposure times of 2.1, 7 and 14 seconds. The PLUS adds two additional exposures of 28 and 56 seconds.
MallinCam TM B&W HYPER and HYPER PLUS
The Mallincam TM B&W HYPER and HYPER PLUS CCD cameras are the latest releases from Pro-Com Electronics. They are truly state of the art. They offer 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 cameras incorporate 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.
For those desiring to generate images, the camera's output can be fed into a frame grabber attached to a computer. The extracted frames can be stacked and processed to produce excellent astronomical images. The new MallinCam TM B&W HYPER and HYPER PLUS have the same sky pollution filters used in previous models, and are by far the most sensitive Video Cameras for astronomical use on the market today. Other cameras use up to 8.5 seconds of integration time to produce an image on the monitor. The MallinCam TM Pro achieves better results in only 2.1 seconds. And now with the addition of HYPER circuitry and 7, 14, 28 and 56 second exposure limits, the live images on the monitor are phenomemal.
The B&W HYPER and HYPER PLUS can be use for planetary viewing as well as lunar and solar (with proper filtration) There is also a new 12 bit CPU inside the cameras. The cameras are now 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.
MallinCam TM Color HYPER and HYPER PLUS
Below is a link to a UStream program made on Thursday, March 13, 2008. DVDs recorded at the 2008 Kisatchie Starparty using a Celestron CPC1100, Starizona Hyperstar System and MallinCam Color HYPER PLUS in either 28 or 56 second exposure mode were broadcast.
The MallinCam TM Color HYPER and HYPER PLUS PLUS allow for live, full color viewing of the planets, the moon, the sun and deep sky objects. Through the addition of a optional lens, these cameras are capable of showing wide-field vistas of the Milky Way, meteor showers or the Aurora Borealis. The MallinCam TM Color HYPER and HYPER PLUS are more sensitive than any webcam, digital camera or CCD computer-camera, and their sensitivity is continuously variable over an extremely wide range!
The MallinCam TM Color HYPER and HYPER PLUS, as well as their B&W counterparts, operate 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 ususlly requires long exposures on film while guiding on the object. Through the use of the HYPER circuitry, 7 and 14 second exposures are now available and this greatly extends the faintest magnitude available. The PLUS adds two additional exposure levels - 28 seconds and 56 seconds.
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 now that RegiStax 3 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.
Below is a collage of 6 images. The three in the left column were taken by Fred Wausauch using his 9.25" Celestron with XLT coatings in Alt-Az mode from his home about 20 miles from Ottawa. The limiting magintude was 3-4 with no Milky Way visible. Each image is a single 12 second exposure using a MallinCam Color HYPER. He used a MallinCam MFR-3 focal reducer to change the scope to about f/4, and a MallinCam USB 2.0 device to grab each fram on his computer. In the right column are the same three single frame 12 second images tweaked slightly in Paint Shop PRO.
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.
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