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Meteor Camera Sony ExView HAD help sought
Group,
I am interested in brewing an inexpensive all sky meteor camera. In this regard, I am looking for someone or a set of instructions to cripple the automatic gain control and automatic brightness control on a Sony ExView HAD chip. I think the answer for the "cheap meteor cam" what has been done by the Croatian Meteor Group. Report 2nd Year of Croatian meteor network (2009) http://www.imo.net/imc2009/pdf/segon...ic_imc2009.pdf Slide 3 Describes using the Sony EX View HAD modified to disable the automatic gain control to reach down to 3 or 4 mag with modifications. The Croatian group is using a $270 base camera from Supercircuits based on the Sony ExView HAD chip - http://www.supercircuits.com/Securit...Dome-Security- Cameras/CD42IRHR I purchased Supercircuits PC402UXP Super Low Light camera board with this same chip and have been testing it for use as a low-end meteor cam. http://www.supercircuits.com/Securit...meras/PC402UXP The Croatian Meteor Group (at http://www.astro.hr/hmm/ ) concluded for the Sony HAD ExView that the raw Sony ExView might function with the AGC enabled, "After many tests of different models, 1004X black-and-white cameras were chosen for CMN. Their main advantage is availability and low price (around 60 EUR currently). They are build around well known Sony 1/3" EXView HAD CCD chip. . . . . The hardware of the camera is slightly modified in such a way that the video signal gain is fixed to about 90% of maximal gain. This is done solely to make camera more suitable for photometry. Camera can be used without this modification also, the only difference being that variable gain will make accurate trail photometry impossible in most cases. The trails itself will be recorded without any problems.Using an unmodified camera is a good option if one is not able to perform the required modification, or to find someone who could do it. The modification itself is not difficult, but requires some soldering experience and a good solder iron as components on camera electronic board are tiny indeed." http://www.astro.hr/hmm/ In testing, I found the automatic gain control really reduced how deep the camera board could see. Having little background in electronics (I'm on a basic soldering level and have done a couple of the old Forest Mims Radio Shack projects), does anyone have a buy-the-numbers instruction sheet for how to modify the Sony ExView HAD chip (specifically the Supercircuits PC402UXP board) to disable the AGC and/or the auto brightness control? Thanks, Kurt - Canopus56 |
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