QHY + SBIG + Olympus = A cool toy (Pun Intended)

Traded out recently for some toys.  I missed my old QHY-8 OSC CCD, so now I have another one.  What's as good as a DSLR for wide field, but also as good as a CCD for sensitivity with thermoelectric cooling and low noise?  A CCD that can use SLR lenses.  So if you take a QHY-8 for example, go get a bayonet adapter from SBIG, and some SLR lenses, and slap this hodgepodge together, you get exactly that - a super sensitive, low noise, wide field imager.

Here's a test shot indoors during the early morning hours while it was still dark out.  1 second on a DVD shelf across the room.  Looks like it reaches focus just fine. 

 

Next Step - mounting hardware to piggyback it on my new CGEM DX EQ mount or on top of whatever OTA I end up picking up here shortly.  For now it's all back in the box for the big move coming in the next few days.