QHY miniCAM8 cooled color camera with filter wheel - IMX585 sensor with D=12.84 mm

QHY MiniCam8 - Compact camera with integrated filter wheel

With a diameter of just over 10 centimetres, the miniCAM8 is a compact and powerful astro camera for deep-sky photography as well as high-resolution planetary and lunar photography. The powerful Sony IMX585 is cooled by a controlled Peltier cooling system to up to 45 °C below ambient. The filter wheel holds 8 filters. This allows you to take complete L-RGB and narrow-band images.

High Near-Infrared Sensitivity
The IMX585 is a Sony Starvis II processor that enables high sensitivity and high dynamic range (HDR). It also improves sensitivity in the near-infrared range (at 850 nm) by approximately 1.7 times compared to the IMX485. The new camera miniCAM8 has a maximum quantum efficiency of 60% in the near-infrared band and 92% in the visible wavelength band.

BSI
One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full-well capacity. This is particularly helpful for sensors with small pixels. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor.

In the back-illuminated sensor, the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case, the sensor´s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer, and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of electron production to incoming photons is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency, the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons, and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

Zero Amplify Glow
miniCAM8 is also a zero amplifer glow camera.

Anti-Dew Technology
Based on almost 20-year cooled camera design experience, the QHY cooled camera has implemented the fully dew control solutions. The optic window has a built-in dew heater, and the chamber is protected from internal humidity condensation. An electric heating board for the chamber window can prevent the formation of dew, and the sensor itself is kept dry with our silicon gel tube socket design for control of humidity within the sensor chamber.

Cooling
In addition to dual-stage TE cooling, QHYCCD implements proprietary technology in hardware to control the dark current noise.

Linearity HDR Mode
The native ADC of the IMX585 sensor is 12-bit. Compared to 16-bit, the 12-bit depth offers fewer bits, resulting in a relatively narrower dynamic range, which may lead to issues such as insufficient color gradation and potential information loss. During the product development of miniCAM8, QHYCCD merged high and low gain to extend the data to 16-bit. However, since this 16-bit depth is not native, a sudden shift in linearity might occur, affecting the smooth transition in images. To address this, QHYCCD developed the "Linearity HDR" mode, which uses an algorithm-based approach to correct image linearity through software, ensuring smoother transitions and richer color representation.

In the "Linearity HDR" mode, the full well is 46 ke-, while the read noise is only 1.0e-; the dynamic range reaches up to 46,300:1, equivalent to 93 dB or 15.5 stops.

Four filters included in the scope of delivery
The filters have 19x12 mm and fit into the filter wheel.

LPF (Light Pollution Filter) and HLP (Heavy Light Pollution filter) are nebula filters against light pollution

FCE (Four-Channel Enhancement filter) lets through all relevant lines and is a very broadband filter

UV/IR blocks UV and IR and lets all lines of the visible spectrum through

Software
There is an all-in-one pack, you can download it here.

- Camera
- Adapter M48 to C-Mount
- Adapter 1.25" to C-Mount
- Desiccant tube
- Tweezers for inserting the filters
- Screwdriver
- USB3.0 cable (1.8 m)
- 12 V power adapter
- Mains cable
- 12 V extension cable
- Camera bag
- Driver download instructions card
- Four filter for the filterwheel

Safety informations: PDF Download