Joe, I'm no expert on it - but I can parrot some of the reasons that I've heard. Part of the problem is that unlike PC's, with CCD camera's you don't get the mega-volume mass production benefits as mentioned by Chuck. At least currently. Astroimaging CCD's are mainly monochrome; camcorders - for the most part use "color" CCD chips. Currently color chips don't have the photon well depth needed, etc. because the pixels are split up to support the red, green, and blue components. I'm also not sure if the defect requirements are the same on camcorder CCD's as they are on astroimaging CCD's. But, this could all change if the color CCD chips become usable for astro imaging - then we could get mass production benefits. Perhaps then we could maybe get away from all the color filter wheels, etc. like Jim Seargeant and other CCD experts have to use.
-----Original Message----- From: Joe Bauman [mailto:bau@desnews.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 11:29 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Celestron's New CGE Series
Don't you think CCD prices will drop drastically? I can't help but feel they're high now just like PCs were when they first came out, but will go down as technology and production improve. My first PC was an IBM that cost around $5,000 about 1984, with "spin-writer" printer and a monochrome monitor. It didn't even have a hard drive. It's worthless now except as a museum piece. In a few years it was far outclassed by computers that were much less pricy. -- Joe
Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau@desnews.com (801) 237-2169
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