Re: [Utah-astronomy] Celestron's New CGE Series
I'd go with TEC's new 140 APO. A steal at $4250. An Astro-Physics 6" refractor sells for $6480 with a 2.7" focuser and $8800 with a 4" focuser with field flattener. But plan on waiting about 5 years or more for one. Street prices are much higher. I'd mount the 140 APO on a G11 tripod with my GM-8 mount head. Then I would try digicam imaging before getting into CCD. I'm not in a hurry to plunk down thousands of dollars on a CCD outfit. Debbie
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
--- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
I asked Alan Hale (president of Celestron)
And all these years I thought Alan Hale was the skipper of the S.S. Minnow! ;) C. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/
Patrick, I agree with Alan (who may have a tad more insight than I, after all) - prices will stay in the current ranges but the capabilities increase. I don't believe the small companies involved in amateur CCDs would be able to stay in business if the price per unit goes down. Volume won't make up the difference - these aren't MP3 players. The capability increases seem to come in fits and starts, rather than in a sort of continuous improvement. It would seem that once a design is finalized, they have to let production run for a while to get a return on their development effort. As for expense, the camera is just a part of the total cost - even excluding the telescope and mount. Filter wheel, AO7, pier, upgraded wedge, software, software, software, etc. It do add up.
I asked Alan Hale (president of Celestron) that when he was in town a while back. He said to look for prices to stay sort of stable but capabilities to go way up.
Patrick
Jim Sgt
That's why I come over to your house and use your scope and CCD stuff Jim... B) Tnx de n7zi Gary Why buy something for ten bucks when you can make it for a hundred... J.R. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Jim Seargeant Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 7:41 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Celestron's New CGE Series <snip> As for expense, the camera is just a part of the total cost - even excluding the telescope and mount. Filter wheel, AO7, pier, upgraded wedge, software, software, software, etc. It do add up. <snip>
Of course prices will drop as the technology matures and the customer base grows. However, the market for imagers is considerably smaller than that for computers or video games, so manufacturers will never be making millions of them and ecconomies of scale won't be as drastic as a mainstream consumer item. But if you keep waiting for prices to drop, you'll never buy a system. You gotta start sooner or later. C. --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
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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participants (6)
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