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68 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE JULY 2016

I

t’s easy to see why some astrophotographers prefer

one-shotcolourCCDcameras.Ratherthantaking

a series of exposures through various filters and

combiningthemtoformacolourimage,one-shot

cameras serve up a colour image almost from the

beginning, requiring only a quick conversion from

thecamera’snativeformattofullRGBcolour.It’s

the same convenience enjoyed by astrophotographers

using DLSR cameras for deep sky astrophotography.

A new one-shot colour camera from Starlight

Xpress, the Trius-SX814C, offers more versatility

than other colour cameras I’ve tested. This compact,

lightweight CCD camera features a 9.19-megapixel

An imaging ensemble

from Starlight Xpress

Trius-SX814C, Mini Filter Wheel with OAG,

& Lodestar X2 Autoguider

Available from http://www.sxccd.com and dealers.

The Starlight Xpress

Trius-SX814C camera

configured with the SX

Mini filter wheel with its

integral off-axis guider

and Lodestar X2 guiding

camera attached.

Sony ICX814 chip with a 3,388 × 2,712 array of

3.69-micron pixels forming an active imaging area

measuring 12.5 × 10 mm.

These small pixels make the camera especially

attractive to astrophotographers who use fast, short-

focal-length refractors, camera lenses, or short-focus

Newtonians. In addition, the camera has very low

noise characteristics. So little noise, in fact, that you

can often forgo the need of dark-frame calibration.

The Trius-SX814C is a relatively small cylinder

measuring 70 mm in diameter and 67 mm long, so

its size and weight (450 grams) shouldn’t produce

balance issues in most imaging configurations.

ALL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR

AS&T Test Report

STARLIGHT XPRESS