I stumbled upon an old but functional Orion PARSEC 8300C. I read SBIG made this for Orion based on its 8300 camera. If this is true, can I use the legacy SBI 8300 drivers, etc., to use the PARSEC camera?
Diffraction Limited did manufacture a number of cameras for other companies including certain Orion models. You will need to find the drivers for that camera - they do not use SBIG drivers.
Yes, Diffraction Limited originally built these cameras, but they have been obsolete for 15 years. The cameras were originally shipped with MaxIm DL Essentials Edition, which is no longer available. However, it is also possible to run the camera from MaxIm DL V6 (but not V7). You will need three things to run this camera: MaxIm DL V6, the MaxIm DL Obsolete Drivers installer, and x86 (32-bit) FTDI drivers. If you have (or purchase) MaxIm DL V7, you can also run MaxIm DL V6.50 The MaxIm DL Obsolete Drivers installer is available from https://diffractionlimited.com/down/MaxImDLObsoleteDrivers.exe - again, this only works with V6. FTDI USB drivers are available at http://ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm - please note you need the x86 (32-bit) version.
Hi Doug, thank you for these links, I was able to use these to take an image with a Parsec 8300C that I recently got my hands on! I was hoping to use the camera outside of MaxIM (as I'm trying to learn astrophotography through N.I.N.A). I've seen people mention that you can connect the Parsec 8300C to ASCOM drivers -> Nebulosity -> astro software such as nina. I believe this requires ParsecASCOM.exe. which at one point was available for download on this page: https://optcorp.com/pdf/Orion/ParsecASCOM.exe . The page now 404s and dos not seem to have any archives. Is there any chance you know where I would be able to find this ASCOM driver? Thank you!
Here's the file: https://cdn.diffractionlimited.com/temp/ParsecASCOM.exe No guarantees - it's over 15 years old.
Wow thank you so much! I'll try this out when I get home. I spent so many hours searching for this driver over the weekend, I think you've just created the only working link. Very much appreciated
