This review, “Yankee digital dandy,” appeared in the September 2006 issue of Astronomy magazine
The field of advanced charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging is dominated by high-quality instruments from a few well-known manufacturers, such as Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG), Finger Lakes Instrumentation (FLI), and Starlight Express. Recently, a new player entered the game with a unique approach to CCD camera design. That company, Yankee Robotics of San Diego, has introduced its Trifid-2 line of cameras and is aiming directly at the big boys.
I tested Yankee’s top-of-the-line model, which features Kodak’s KAF-6303E CCD detector, to see if it measures up to the competition. It does.
The first thing prospective customers will notice about the Trifid-2 is the price, which, at $6,895 (with the Class 2 imaging chip), is thousands of dollars less than competitors’ cameras equipped with the same 6-megapixel KAF-6303E detector. What you get for the money is a small, light camera body with a large detector that measures 18mm by 27mm, a USB-2.0 interface, and a lifetime warranty.
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