Moravian Instruments G0 User manual

G0 and G1 CCD Camera
Operating Manual

Version 2.3
Modified on January 16th, 2014
All information furnished by Moravian Instruments is believed to be
a urate. Moravian Instruments reserves the right to hange any information
ontained herein without noti e.
G0 and G1 CCD devi es are not authorized for and should not be used
within Life Support Systems without the spe ifi written onsent of the
Moravian Instruments. Produ t warranty is limited to repair or repla ement
of defe tive omponents and does not over injury or property or other
onsequential damages.
Copyright © 2000-2014, Moravian Instruments
Moravian Instruments
Masarykova 1148
763 02 Zlín
Cze h Republi
tel./fax: [phone]
internet: http://www.g xxd. om/
e-mail: info@gx d. om

Table of Contents
Introdu tion...............................................................................................5
Camera Te hni al Spe ifi ations.............................................................8
CCD Chip..........................................................................................10
Model G0-0300 and G1-0300.....................................................10
Model G0-0300C and G1-0300C................................................11
Model G1-0301...........................................................................11
Model G1-0301C.........................................................................11
Model G0-0800 and G1-0800.....................................................12
Model G0-0800C and G1-0800C................................................12
Model G0-2000 and G1-2000.....................................................12
Model G0-2000C and G1-2000C................................................12
Model G1-1200...........................................................................13
Model G1-1200C.........................................................................13
Model G1-1400...........................................................................13
Model G1-1400C.........................................................................14
Camera Ele troni s......................................................................14
CCD Chip Cooling............................................................................15
Power Supply....................................................................................16
G0 Camera Me hani al Spe ifi ations.............................................17
G1 Camera Me hani al Spe ifi ations.............................................18
Getting Started........................................................................................21
Camera System Driver Installation...................................................21
Windows 7 and 8 System Driver Installation..............................22
Windows XP and Windows Vista System Driver Installation....23
SIPS Software Installation................................................................24
SIPS onfiguration files...............................................................25
G0/G1 CCD Camera Driver for SIPS...............................................26
Camera Conne tion...........................................................................26
Camera LED state indi ator........................................................27
Working with Multiple Cameras.......................................................27
Camera Operation...................................................................................29
Camera and the Teles ope................................................................29
Temperature Control.........................................................................30
First Images.......................................................................................31
Brightness and Contrast – Image Stret hing.....................................32
Calibration.........................................................................................34
Color Images...........................................................................................36
Balan ing olors................................................................................39
Guiding...................................................................................................41
Guiding using SIPS software pa kage..............................................43

“Guiding Setup” tab of the CCD Camera ontrol tool................44
“Guiding” tab of the CCD Camera ontrol tool..........................49
Calibration of guiding subsystem................................................51
Some General Rules for Su essful Imaging.........................................53
Camera Maintenan e..............................................................................55
Changing the Teles ope Adapter of the G1 Camera.........................55

Introduction
Thank you for hoosing the Moravian Instruments CCD amera. These
ameras were developed to be small, lightweight and easily operated.
Despite their ompa tness and simpli ity, they are very sensitive for use in
low-light imaging appli ations in astronomy, mi ros opy and similar areas.
G0 and G1 ameras digitize image with 16 bit pre ision to fully exploit
CCD hip dynami range. Still the pixel digitization rate rea hes 8 Mpx/s in
fast read mode – downloading of image ontaining hundreds thousands
pixels takes only a small fra tion of a se ond. Slow read mode on the other
hand ensures very low read noise, approa hing the read noise limit of the
CCD hip itself, and still provides more than 2.5 Mpx/s digitization speed.
Also important design goal of G0 and G1 ameras was USB-powered
operation. Camera is atta hed to the host omputer only via single USB
able, whi h provides both amera-to-host ommuni ation and amera
power. No separate power supply is used with G1 ameras.
Both G0 and G1 series of CCD ameras provide also the RJ-12 onne tor
beside the USB-B onne tor, whi h allows dire t onne tion of the amera
head and the teles ope mount equipped with the standard “autoguider” port.
This onne tor (together with other amera features like very fast
download, ompa t and lightweight onstru tion, USB powered operation
et .) makes using of these ameras for guiding of teles ope mount very
simple. Using of G0 or G1 CCD for guiding is des ribed later in this
manual.
Simpli ity, ompa tness and qui k image download took pre eden e to
some other features, so G0 and G1 series of CCD ameras la k me hani al
shutter and filter wheel. Also power provided by USB able is not suffi ient
for power-hungry thermoele tri (Peltier) oolers. This is why the CCD
hip in these ameras annot be ooled below ambient temperature.
However, G1 ameras employ a small fan, whi h for es air flow inside the
amera head and removes the heat generated by amera ele troni s. The
CCD temperature an be lowered by many degrees Celsius ompared to
sealed designs, whi h results to lowering of CCD thermal noise by a fa tor
of two or more.
5

Please note the G0 and G1 CCD ameras are designed to work in
ooperation with a host Personal Computer (PC). Computer is ne essary for
operation ontrol, image download, pro essing and storage as well as for
guiding. To operate G0 or G1 CCD amera, you need a omputer whi h:
1. Is ompatible with a PC standard.
2. Runs a modern 32 or 64-bit Windows operating system.
Drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux systems are also provided, but
amera ontrol and image pro essing software, supplied with the
amera, requires Windows operating system.
3. Provides at last one free USB port.
The G0 and G1 CCD ameras are designed to operate with
USB 2.0 high-speed (480 Mbps) hosts. Although they are fully
ba kward ompatible with USB 1.1 full-speed (12 Mbps) hosts,
image download time an be signifi antly longer if USB 1.1
onne tion is used.
A simple and heap devi e alled USB hub an expand number of
available USB port. Typi al USB hub o upies one omputer USB
port and offers four free ports. Make sure the USB hub is USB 2.0
high-speed ompatible.
But keep on mind that if more USB devi es onne ted to one hub
need to ommuni ate with a host PC, USB hub shares its single
up-link line to the host PC. Although G0 and G1 CCD ameras an
operate through a USB hub, it an negatively affe t the amera
performan e, like download time et . It is re ommended to
onne t other USB devi es through USB hub (e.g. the mouse) and
to provide the amera a dire t USB onne tion to the host PC.
Also note the G0 and G1 ameras are powered from the host PC
through the USB able. Unpowered USB hub may not provide
enough urrent to operate the amera. Always use USB hub with
its own power supply to onne t the amera. G0 and G1 amera
power onsiderations are des ribed later.
4. Alternatively it is possible to use the Gx Camera Ethernet Adapter.
This devi e an onne t up to four Gx ameras of any type (not
only G0 and G1, but also G2, G3 and G4) and offers 1 Gbps and
10/100 Mbps Ethernet interfa e for dire t onne tion to the host
6

PC. Be ause the PC then uses TCP/IP proto ol to ommuni ate
with the ameras, it is possible to insert e.g. WiFi bridge or other
networking devi e to the ommuni ation path.
The G0 or G1 CCD amera must be onne ted to some opti al system (e.g.
the teles ope) to apture images.
G1 ameras are equipped with CS-thread adapter, whi h allows usage of
CCTV lens with C/CS thread with the amera (it is ne essary to use 5 mm
distan e ring for C-mount lenses). Adapter for 1.25” teles ope fo user is
s rewed into the CS-thread adapter adapter.
G0 ameras are designed to be atta hed to the 1.25” teles ope fo user only
and CCTV lenses annot be dire tly used.
7

Camera Technical
Specifications
The G0 series of CCD ameras omprises of the following models:
Model G0-0300 G0-0300C G0-0800 G0-0800C
CCD chip ICX424AL ICX424AQ ICX204AL ICX204AK
Resolution 656×494 656×494 1032×778 1032×778
Pixel size 7.4×7.4 µm7.4×7.4 µm4.65×4.65 µ
m
4.65×4.65 µ
m
Read mode Progressive Progressive Progressive Progressive
Dimension 4.9×3.7 mm 4.9×3.7 mm 4.8×3.6 mm 4.8×3.6 mm
Color mas Not present RGB
(Bayer)
Not present RGB (Bayer)
Interface USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0
Model G0-2000 G0-2000C
CCD chip ICX274AL ICX274AQ
Resolution 1628×1236 1628×1236
Pixel size 4.4×4.4 µm 4.4×4.4 µm
Read mode Progressive Progressive
Dimension 7.2×5.4 mm 7.2×5.4 mm
Color mas Not present RGB
(Bayer)
Interface USB 2.0 USB 2.0
8

The G1 series of CCD ameras omprises of the following models:
Model G1-0300 G1-0300C G1-0301 G1-0301C
CCD chip ICX424AL ICX424AQ ICX414AL ICX414AQ
Resolution 656×494 656×494 656×494 656×494
Pixel size 7.4×7.4 µm7.4×7.4 µm9.9×9.9 µm9.9×9.9 µm
Read mode Progressive Progressive Progressive Progressive
Dimension 4.9×3.7 mm 4.9×3.7 mm 6.5×4.9 mm 6.5×4.9 mm
Color mas Not present RGB
(Bayer)
Not present RGB (Bayer)
Interface USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0
Model G1-0800 G1-0800C G1-1200 G1-1200C
CCD chip ICX204AL ICX204AK ICX445ALA ICX445AQ
A
Resolution 1032×778 1032×778 1296×966 1296×966
Pixel size 4.65×4.65 µ
m
4.65×4.65 µ
m3.75×3.75 µ m3.75×3.75 µ m
Read mode Progressive Progressive Progressive Progressive
Dimension 4.8×3.6 mm 4.8×3.6 mm 4.9×3.6 mm 4.9×3.6 mm
Color mas Not present RGB (Bayer) Not present RGB (Bayer)
Interface USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0
9

Model G1-1400 G1-1400C G1-2000 G1-2000C
CCD chip ICX285AL ICX285AQ ICX274AL ICX274AQ
Resolution 1392×1040 1392×1040 1628×1236 1628×1236
Pixel size 6.45×6.45 µ
m6.45×6.45 µ m4.4×4.4 µm 4.4×4.4 µm
Read mode Progressive Progressive Progressive Progressive
Dimension 9.0×6.7 mm 9.0×6.7 mm 7.2×5.4 mm 7.2×5.4 mm
Color mas Not present RGB (Bayer) Not present RGB (Bayer)
Interface USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0
CCD Chip
Sensitivity is an important feature of any CCD amera, no matter if it is
used as an imaging amera or automati guider. Imaging amera must not
waste light gathered by the opti al system to provide images with as good
signal/noise ratio as possible. A hieving of suffi ient S/N ratio in rather
short time is also important to allow perfe t guiding – the ne essity to
a umulate light for many minutes is often una eptable for high quality
guider. This is why the G1 ameras utilize sensitive Sony CCDs.
●The CCD quantum effi ien y ex eeds 50%.
●The CCD read noise is very low and rea hes 5 to 10 ele trons
RMS.
●G1 ameras support 16-bit digitization, signifi antly enhan ing the
dynami range ompared to 8-bit ameras.
●Strong anti-blooming prote tion keeps even bright stars round,
without blooming streaks.
●G1 ameras also provide very fas readout – pixel digitization speed
is 8 Mpx/s in fast read mode.
Model G0-0300 and G1-0300
G0/G1-0300 model uses progressive-s an VGA (640×480 pixels) Sony
ICX424AL CCD hip.
10