CAMERA QHY 5-III-462M

QHY 5-III-462 M/C CMOS Camera

QHY 5-III 462 uses the latest (6th Generation) 2.1 megapixel IMX462 STARVIS CMOS sensor from Sony. The pixel size is 2.9µm making it the same size and resolution as the sensor used in the QHY5III290 camera (product is dicontinued) that has been so successfully used for planetary imaging by some of the best planetary imagers in the world.

Like the other cameras in the QHY 5-III series, the QHY5III-462 M/C is powered and controlled via USB 3.0. No additional power supply is required. The camera is available as color and mono version.

QHY 5-III-462 Monochrome Camera

The QHY 5-III-462M is a monochrome version of the very popular QHY 5-III-462C CMOS Camera (#1931026 , € 295,-) . QHYCCD is introducing this camera in the current 5III Series body. The QHY5III462C is well known for its extraordinary sensitivity in the NIR and particularly at the methane absorption line at 899 nm. However, serious planetary imagers often like to use monochrome cameras and custom filters for color and NIR planetary imaging instead of the built-in filters of a color sensor. Now this is possible with this latest generation sensor from Sony in the New QHY5III462M camera.

Please refer to the following graph for the most important operating parameters.

QHY 5-III-462 Color Camera
The QHY 5III-462C is an RGB single shot color camera with high quantum efficiency and high sensitivity in the near infrared region.

Highlights of the camera include fast frame rates (120+ frames per second), with low noise (<1e-) at high gain, and high quantum efficiency in the red and near-infrared spectral regions, including UV/IR and IR850 filters for RGB, LRGB, IR, and monochrome imaging with one camera.

The QHY 5-III-462C is available with two different accessory sets:

Standard Set:

• QHY-5-III-462C High Speed USB3.0 Camera
• USB Cable
• Tracking Cable
• Focus Locking Ring
• C-mount adapter
• 1.25" UV/IR filter
• 1.25" IR850 filter

The delivery of the extended set includes all parts of the standard set and additionally the following accessories:

• 1.25" Methane filter (890nm) with 10nm half-width for photography of large gas planets
• Wide Angle all sky lens with f = 2,5mm - f/1.2
• CS mount adapter for connecting the lens to the camera

The Expansion Kit for QHY 5-III-462C (#1931028) is also available separately.

Lowest Readout Noise, Fast frame rates (120+ FPS)

The IMX462 sensor is back-illuminated and has new features that give it two significant advantages over other planetary cameras:

1. the IMX462 sensor has sHGC for extremely low read noise (less than one electron) at high gain. This is ideal for stacking hundreds or thousands of short planetary images.
2. it is exceptionally sensitive in the NIR. In this generation of sensor, the photodiode portion of the pixel well is deepened, allowing photons of longer wavelength to penetrate deeper into the substrate and thereby dramatically increases the sensor's sensitivity to red light and near infrared light (NIR). The RGB filters over the pixels become transparent at NIR wavelengths, so the sensor displays almost equal peak sensitivity to NIR light as it does to light in the visible spectrum.

The peak QE of the QHY 5-III 462 Color version in the NIR around 800nm is as high or higher as the peak QE in the visible wavelengths. For planetary imagers using a methane filter that passes light around 880nm this is welcome news.

Innovative cooling concept

By including four proprietary cooling segments with a larger diameter at the end of the camera, the cooling surface of the otherwise cylindrical camera housing is significantly increased. This results in faster and higher thermal dissipation from the inner area of the camera to the outside environment.

The QHY5III462C camera will include two 1.25" screw-in filters, a UV/IR cut filter to isolate the visible wavelengths for normal RGB imaging and an IR850 filter that will cut the visible wavelengths but pass wavelengths above 850nm. Together, this yields a camera that can image in (a) visible light only, or (b) NIR light only, or (c) combined visible and NIR. Passing all the light, visible and NIR, will produce a very sensitive luminance frame (when shot through a reflector or other scope capable of focusing visible and NiR together) for producing LRGB color images.