S&T Test Report by Dennis di Cicco
AL
L^ PHOTOS^ BY^ THEAUTHORMeade’s DSI-IV Camera
Could this be the best astronomical camera yet offered by Meade?
The answer depends on your imaging interests.DIGITAL IMAGING HAS BEEN part
of amateur astronomy for more than
three decades. It’s a sobering thought
for those of us who’ve been there since
the beginning. Over the years, Meade
has introduced a number of astronomy
cameras, but the newest — the DSI-IV —
might be the best one yet. It all depends
on your imaging interests.
The DSI-IV is a highly versatile cam-
era capable of recording high-resolution
video of the Moon and planets as well
as quality long exposures of faint deep-
sky objects. It’s built around a cooled,
16-megapixel Panasonic CMOS detec-
tor with 3.8-micron-square pixels in a
4,640-by-3,506-pixel array. The sensor’s
imaging area measures 17.6 by 13.3 mil-
limeters, making it slightly smaller than
the APS chips in today’s crop-sensor
DSLR cameras.
For this review we borrowed a
monochrome version of the DSI-IVWhat We Like
Highly versatile
astronomical camera
Excellent thermoelectric
cooling system
Rugged design and
constructionWhat We Don’t Like
Included software
has excellent video-
capture features, but
long-exposure imaging
controls could be
improvedfrom Meade. A one-shot color version
is also available for a little less money.
The camera is roughly 3½ inches (about
90 mm) in diameter, 4 inches long, and
is very well made. It weighs 25 ounces
(0.7 kg) and is supplied with a 2-inch
nosepiece. It will reach focus on any
telescope that has a focal point extend-
ing at least 18 millimeters outside of
the focuser drawtube. With the proper
adapters, it will easily work with focal
reducers, tele-extenders, and most fi eld
fl atteners, leaving enough room for a fi l-
ter wheel or low-profi le off-axis guider.
The DSI-IV’s regulated thermoelec-
tric cooling easily dropped the CMOS
sensor to the specifi ed maximum 40°C
below ambient temperature, with suf-
fi cient overhead to maintain accurate
temperature regulation — an important
feature for deep-sky imaging. There are
eight small heating elements bonded to
the perimeter of the CMOS chamber
window that were effective at keeping
the window free from fog. While I never
needed to use it, there’s also a threaded
port on the side of the camera for
attaching a supplied desiccant module
that offers added fogging protection.
A single USB 3.0 cable between
the camera and your computer is all
that’s needed to connect and power the
camera. The 12-volt adapter that comes
with the DSI-IV, with its additional
cable connection to the camera, is only
needed for the cooling system, and is
thus really only mandatory for long-Meade DSI-IV
Monochrome Camera
U.S. Price: $1,099
(one-shot color version $999)
meade.com70 JUNE 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE
tMeade’s new DSI-IV camera comes as a
complete package with a 2-inch nosepiece,
USB 3.0 computer cable, 12-volt adapter and
cables (needed only for the camera’s cooling
system), operating software on a CD-ROM,
and rugged, waterproof case. The little, sealed
plastic bag at right contains a desiccant mod-
ule that attaches to the camera to help prevent
fogging of the CMOS chamber window. The
author never had to use it.