The new FW8-STL for the STL series cameras is now shipping. It is a single carousel design that is thinner but wider than a double carousel design. The existing accessory plate and bolt pattern on the front cover of the camera are brought to the front of the filter wheel so that any existing custom accessories made to fit the camera will also fit the new filter wheel. Compared to the existing filter wheel and cover, there is an increase of approximately 0.35" in backfocus with the new filter wheel installed. The drawing below shows the approximate dimensions of the new cover with internal carousel.
The new filter wheel is a simple replacement cover for the camera. It holds eight 50mm drop-in filters (or 48mm threaded filter cells). It picks up the existing connector and bolt pattern in the main body and is controlled through the I2C port. A short jumper cable to the I2C port is the only external cabling required. All power and commands come from the camera and can be controlled remotely via software without any other external cable running to the computer or power supply. The FW8-STL also has its own ROM and electronics so the camera does not have to be returned to SBIG for re-programming to control the different filter wheels. Once the camera drivers are updated by free download, the user can simply remove the existing cover and replace it with the new one.
The renderings above show the filter wheel installed on an STL body with the telescope side cover removed. The final version is slightly longer to accommodate the built-in electronics. The new filter wheel is compatible with the large format AO.
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STL with 5-position
filter wheel |
STL with 5-position
filter wheel and A |
