DMK 21AF04 & Supaslim Filter Wheel

In April of 2006 I bought the above set up to improve my imaging performance in relation to the planets. Up until then I had imaged with a Toucam Pro 2 840K. My images were good, but I knew I could do better. With the guidance of imagers such as Anthony Wesley and Chris Go I selected the DMK and the Supaslim filter wheel. Anthony uses the filter wheel and has achieved very good results with it. Chris uses the DMK and his results are astounding. So I decided to combine both pieces of equipment; the results have been staggering. I will talk about the camera first and then the filter wheel next.

The Imaging Source manufactures the DMK 21AF04. It has a resolution of 640 x 480 and can image at 60fps (now) through a firewire port. It's imaging sensor is a 1/4" CCD with progressive scan. It is a monochrome camera and therefore requires a filter wheel and filters to produce colour images. One of the advantages of using a monochrome camera is that of resolution. In a colour camera each colour takes up one third of the sensor. With a monochrome camera and a filter combination the entire frame is made up of that colour. This gives very sharp images and far greater resolution.

So what do I think, of the camera? Well quite frankly, I am very happy with its performance so far. It is fast, 30 fps means that in 10 seconds it has produced 300 frames. That is important for imaging Jupiter. Also the image is not as grainy as that of the Toucam. The detail seen during capture is better than anything I had ever seen on the Toucam and that was on a night of 4/10. I had to wait patiently for another 3 weeks before I saw what is could do in 7.5 - 8/10 seeing. See image below (I think the results speak for themselves).

Furthermore I like the fact that the camera is very small. Its dimensions are roughly 50x50x50mm. This might not seem much of an issue, but when you add up the combined weight the imaging train, it becomes a factor.

In addition the ease of use is impressive. The camera comes with the IC capture software, which is the best capture software I have used. Everything can be controlled on the hop through series of small windows; I can adjust gain, gamma, brightness, and exposure while capturing. Or I can set exposure to auto and the image is perfectly exposed or doing timed avi's. I am very impressed with this software.

So what don't I like about the camera. Well not much, but some things did annoy me. Firstly, the camera does not come with any cables. I had to go and buy them myself. Also I had to buy a powered hub to power the camera. Ensure that you buy a hub which is 12v, most hubs are 5v and will not power the unit. And I had to download a unibran driver to use the Y800 codec in registax3.

Now to the Supaslim Filter Wheel

The Supaslim is a great wheel, very solid and dependable. Tru Technology makes it. It comes with a cable and power supply and software. You can buy wheels with 4, 5 and 7 holes. The later two are 1.25" holes but the first is a 2". The wheel can be manipulated via computer control. Upon power up it finds the home plate on the wheel, then all you need do it go to the filter you want with a click of a button.

One thing to consider is that if you buy the wheel with 4 holes, like I did, the filters are going to cost way more than the 1.25" model. It cost me over $300 more for the 2" filters.

On the downside is the cost. The wheel alone cost over $1200 Australian. In fact the whole set-up cost in excess of $3200 Australian. So this is not an easy imaging system to buy. The filter wheel does not come with the necessary adapters to connect to the scope or to the camera. These are not cheap either.

That said though, the whole system works really well and produces really nice images. Overall, I am really glad I made the investment and give both units a 9/10.

Paul Haese