Moravian Instruments G3 Mark II Series Bedienungsanleitung
G3 Series Mark II
Cooled CCD Cameras
User’s Guide
Version 1.3
Modified on August 12th, 2019
All information furnished by Moravian Instruments is believed to be
accurate. Moravian Instruments reserves the right to change any
information contained herein without notice.
G3 cameras are not authorized for and should not be used within Life
Support Systems without the specific written consent of the Moravian
Instruments. Product warranty is limited to repair or replacement of
defective components and does not cover injury or property or other
consequential damages.
Copyright © 2000-2019, Moravian Instruments
Moravian Instruments
Masarykova 1148
763 02 Zlín
Czech Republic
phone: +420 577 107 171
web: http://www.gxccd.com/
e-mail: [email protected]
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................. 5
G3 Camera Overview .................................................................................... 8
CCD Detectors and Camera Electronics ...................................................... 13
CCD sensor .............................................................................................. 16
Model G3-1000 ................................................................................... 16
Model G3-6300 ................................................................................... 16
Model G3-11000 ................................................................................. 17
Model G3-11000C ............................................................................... 17
Model G3-16200 ................................................................................. 17
Model G3-16200C ............................................................................... 17
Camera Electronics .................................................................................. 18
Model G3-1000 ................................................................................... 18
Model G3-6300 ................................................................................... 19
Model G3-11000 ................................................................................. 19
Model G3-16200 ................................................................................. 19
Cooling and power supply ........................................................................... 20
Power supply ........................................................................................... 21
Mechanical Specifications ........................................................................... 24
Camera with Internal Filter Wheel .......................................................... 25
Enhanced cooling variant ........................................................................ 26
Camera with “S” External Filter Wheel ................................................... 27
Enhanced cooling with External filter wheel variant .............................. 28
Optional accessories ................................................................................... 29
Telescope adapters ................................................................................. 29
Off-Axis Guider Adapter (OAG) ............................................................... 30
Attaching camera head to telescope mount ........................................... 32
Camera head color variants .................................................................... 33
Gx Camera Ethernet Adapter .................................................................. 33
Adjusting of the telescope adapter ............................................................. 35
Camera Maintenance .................................................................................. 38
Desiccant exchange ................................................................................. 38
Exchanging the silica-gel...................................................................... 39
Desiccant containers for Standard cooling and Enhanced cooling
cameras ............................................................................................... 41
Changing Filters ....................................................................................... 41
Opening the camera head ................................................................... 42
Changing the Whole Filter Wheel ........................................................... 42
Changing the Telescope Adapter ............................................................ 43
Power Supply Fuse .................................................................................. 44
5
Introduction
Thank you for choosing the Moravian Instruments camera. The cooled G3
series Mark II CCD cameras were developed for imaging under extremely
low-light conditions in astronomy, microscopy and similar areas.
Design of this series inherits from earlier G3 Mark I cameras but brings
some significant enhancements. G3 cameras employ precise electronics
providing uniform frames and extremely low read noise limited only by
CCD detector itself.
Modular mechanical construction allows various camera variants to be
combined with rich set of accessories, including telescope adapters, off-
axis guider adapters, internal or external filter wheels, Ethernet adapters,
guiding cameras etc.
Rich software and driver support allows usage of G3 camera without
necessity to invest into any 3rd party software package thanks to included
free SIPS software package. However, ASCOM (for Windows) and INDI (for
Linux) drivers, shipped with the camera, provide the way to integrate G3
camera with vast variety of camera control programs.
The G3 cameras are designed to work in cooperation with a host Personal
Computer (PC). As opposite to digital still cameras, which are operated
independently on the computer, the scientific slow-scan, cooled cameras
usually require computer for operation control, image download,
processing and storage etc. To operate the camera, you need a computer
which:
1. Is compatible with a PC standard and runs modern 32 or 64-bit
Windows operating system.
2. Is compatible with a PC standard and runs 32 or 64-bit Linux
operating system.
Drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux systems are provided, but the
SIPS camera control and image processing software, supplied
with the camera, requires Windows operating system.
6
3. Support for x64 based Apple Macintosh computers is also
included.
Only certain software packages are currently supported on Mac.
G3 cameras require at last one free USB 2.0 port to communicate with a
host PC.
A simple and cheap device called “USB hub” can expand number of
available USB port. Typical USB hub occupies one computer USB port
and offers four or seven additional USB ports. Make sure the USB hub
is USB 2.0 high-speed compatible.
Alternatively, it is possible to use the “Gx Camera Ethernet Adapter”
device. This device can connect up to four Gx cameras of any type (not only
G3, but also G0, G1, G2 and G4) and offers 1 Gbps and 10/100 Mbps
Ethernet interface for direct connection to the host PC. Because the PC
then uses TCP/IP protocol to communicate with the cameras, it is possible
to insert WiFi adapter or other networking device to the communication
path.
Please note while the USB standard allows usage of cable no longer
than approx. 5 meters, the TCP/IP communication protocol used to
connect the camera over the Ethernet adapter is routable, so the
distance between camera setup and the host PC is virtually unlimited.
The G3 cameras need an external power supply to operate. It is not
possible to run the camera from the power lines provided by the USB
cable, which is common for webcams or very simple imagers. G3 cameras
integrate highly efficient CCD chip cooling, shutter and possibly filter
wheel, so their power requirements significantly exceed USB line power
capabilities. On the other side separate power source eliminates problems
with voltage drop on long USB cables or with drawing of laptop batteries
etc.
Also note the camera must be connected to some optical system (e.g. the
telescope) to capture images. The camera is designed for long exposures,
necessary to acquire the light from faint objects. If you plan to use the
7
camera with the telescope, make sure the whole telescope/mount setup is
capable to track the target object smoothly during long exposures.
8
G3 Camera Overview
G3 camera head is designed to be easily used with a set of accessories to
fulfil various observing needs. Camera head itself is manufactured in
several variants.
First, there are variants differing in the cooling performance:
Standard cooling
Enhanced cooling (11 mm thicker due to increased heat sink)
Second, there are variants differing if filter wheel control:
Camera with Internal filter wheel.
Camera with control port for External filter wheel. This model
allows attachment of several variants of external filter wheels
with various number of filter positions and sizes.
Figure 1: G3 Camera Mark II without filter wheel (far left), with Internal filter wheel
(left) and with attached “S” (right) and “L” (far right) External filter wheel
G3 camera model with Internal filter wheel accepts 5 filters for unmounted
D50 mm filters or filters in standard 2” threaded cells.
There are three sizes of the External filter wheels, capable to accept
various sizes of filters, available for the G3 cameras:
9
Small “S” size wheel for 7 unmounted filters D50 mm or filters in
2” threaded cells.
Small “M” size wheel for 7 unmounted filters D50 mm or filters in
2” threaded cells.
Small “M” size wheel for 5 square filters 50×50 mm.
Large “L” size wheel for 9 unmounted D50 mm or filters in 2”
threaded cells.
Large “L” size wheel for 7 square filters 50×50 mm.
Please note the camera head is designed to either accept Internal filter
wheel or to be able to connect to the External filter wheel, but not
both. If the Internal filter wheel variant is used, External filter wheel
cannot be attached.
And third, there are two sizes of adjustable adapters, which can be used
with G3 cameras:
Small “S” adapters, compatible with G2 cameras, are used for e.g.
M48×0.75 and M42×0.75 threaded adapters, Nikon bayonet
adapter, 2” barrel adapter etc.
Large “L” adapters, compatible with G4 cameras, intended for
large diameter attachments between camera and telescope, e.g.
M68×1 threaded adapter or G3-OAG, which is also equipped with
M68×1 thread.
Adjustable adapters are mounted on adapter base when camera with
internal filter wheel or camera without any filter wheel is used or directly
on the external filter wheel front surface. This means both “S” and “L”
adapter bases can be mounted on any camera, external but filter wheels
are made for one particular adapter size only:
“S” external filter wheels are compatible with “S” adapters
“M” and “L” external filter wheels are compatible with “L”
adapters
Note the “S” and “M” filter wheels are of very similar dimensions and
hold the same number of the same filters. They differ in the adjustable
adapter size only.
10
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of G3 camera with “S” size adapter system
components
Dieses Handbuch passt für folgende Modelle
6
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