Santa Barbara Instruments Group ST-7E astronomical CCD camera with ABG

Real CCD imaging starts here!  It contains the Kodak KAF-0400E imaging chip with a 765 x 510 pixel array at 9 microns.  It guides itself with a separate TC-211 guiding chip.   I highly recommend the use of MaxIm DL/CCD software for image acquisition.  This software allows for multiple exposures or sequences without having to stop the autoguiding chip.

This model contained the secondary cooler which gives a drop of ~7 extra degrees Celsius when used with air or ~14 degrees when using a water pump.  This capability is important in the Texas summer heat.

This particular version of the camera comes with the anit-blooming gate. While many are critical of the ABG version because it is only ~70% as sensitive as the non-anti-blooming model, I discovered that you gain this time back during processing since you don't have to stack as many images during a session and you don't have to clean up blooms.

For more on the differences between ABG and NABG cameras, see the article called "Blooming Vs. Anti-blooming" on the Articles page.

While there are now versions of the ST-7 with a more sensitve "M" chip and with USB, the older versions are still quite fine cameras, especially when you consider their price on the used market.  Besides, the chip isn't large enough to benefit significantly from the faster USB.