A Highly Sensitive Planetary Camera From ZWO!
This ASI678MM comes standard with impressive aspects such as a high performance Sony sensor, careful circuitry, and outstanding sensitivity. These, in addition to the low readout noise, small pixels, and plenty more, this camera is well suited for planetary, lunar, and solar astrophotography!
Equipped with Sony’s renowned STARVIS 2 technology, this ASI678MM exhibits an exceptionally low readout noise of 0.6e, decreased dark current, and heightened near-infrared response. The onboard Sony IMX678 sensor is back-illuminated for increased sensitivity, and features a small pixel size of 2um in 4K resolution. The fast 47.5 FPS helps you capture the best frames between bouts of astronomical seeing disturbances, and the high dynamic range delivers exceptional detail. Reveal intricate structures on our Moon, collect beautiful signal on our Sun, and capture sharp images of the planets within our solar system. Through these incredible features, ZWO delivers a camera with remarkable astrophotography performance!
A High Performance, Professional Camera for Astrophotography
Let’s Dig into the Data!
What sets one astrophotography camera apart from another? How is performance measured? Camera and sensor manufacturers provide certain interconnected specifications that give insight into the performance of a camera. These measurements include quantum efficiency, read noise, full well depth, gain, dark current, and dynamic range. While the graphs provided by the manufacturer may be confusing or intimidating, don’t fret! Our team has put together a breakdown of these complicated topics to help you make sense of them. Take a look at the article here: Understanding ZWO Camera Charts and Graphs, and feel more confident making the right choice for your astrophotography needs!
Sony IMX678 CMOS Sensor
As a back-illuminated sensor, the absence of wires and transitions in the way of the Sony IMX678’s pixel wells increase the sensitivity of this ASI678MM incredibly. This heightened collection of photons in turn increases the signal to noise ratio seen within the captured frames! Also, the large 11.27Ke full well capacity and 12bit ADC offer impressive dynamic range, and the low readout noise of 0.6e pairs well with the peak QE value of 83% for incredible details. This ASI678MM features 4K resolution and 3840 x 2160 pixel array, with 2um pixels for peak clarity on our Sun, Moon, and the planets within our solar system.
Electronic Highlights
In typical CMOS cameras, weak infrared light can be seen within the captured frames. This is called amp glow, and requires the addition of dark calibration frames to eliminate them. To combat the issue of amp glow, ZWO has carefully wired this camera to eliminate it all together! This results in cleaner images with less of a hassle during post processing. Also, a 256MB memory cache has been incorporated within this camera. This addition greatly reduces buffer time during data transmission and safely preserves your images until they are ready to be transferred to your computer. In order to deliver maximum image quality during high gain imaging, the integration of High Conversion Gain mode (HCG) effectively reduces readout noise while simultaneously preserving its high dynamic range. This setting automatically kicks in at a gain value of 182.
USB 3.0 and ST4 Guide Port
This camera body is fitted with two ports for great versatility. While imaging the planets, the Moon, or the Sun, the USB 3.0 port effectively transfers your images to your computer with its large 5Gb bandwidth. ZWO has also furnished this package with an included USB 3.0 cable to get you out and imaging in no time. Wanting to take advantage of the high sensitivity this ASI678MM offers for guiding? Easily connect your camera directly to your telescope mount through the ST4 port to assist it in its tracking capabilities!
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