Not sure which forum area is appropriate for these questions but this seemed perhaps the least inappropriate. If a moderator would like to move it elsewhere, please do so.
My SBIG-8XE / CFW10 / AO7 combination died the other night. It now thinks it is a SB-7 / CFW5 combo. Diffraction Limited tell me that it’s a return for repair job. The problem with that is shipping and import duty between La Palma and Canada is likely to reach €500 or so, to which must be added the repair costs.
The camera is very nice when working but has relatively large pixels (0.7arcsec/pixel on the image plane), relatively few of them (1530×1020) by modern standards and a long minimum exposure time (0.11s) so Lucky imaging is infeasible. Initial exploration of the Starlight Xpress offerings suggest that these disadvantages can be remedied while keeping the advantages for an outlay of around €5000. I’m tempted to upgrade.
One obvious question: is there likely to be a market for the SBIG equipment in a “spares or repair” state? I’ve no idea whether it is salable at all and, if so, what its value may be.
Any advice and suggestions on my options and how to proceed will be gratefully received!
Paul