Telescope-Cameras-QHYCCD QHY600 Professional Color Camera

QHYCCD QHY600 Professional Color CMOS Camera

Please Note : If you would like enable the 2×10 Gigabit fiber port function on the QHY600 Professional camera, please select the option above to add the PCIE Grabber Card to your purchase. The cost of the card is $995 which will be added to your total if the option is selected. For more information on the optional PCIE Grabber Card, please see below.

The QHY QHY600 Professional CMOS color camera is a great, full frame astrophotography camera with extremely low dark and read noise. This professional version of the QHY600 uses the Sony IMX455 back-illuminated, full frame sensor with 3.76um pixels, measuring at 36mm x 24mm. A back-illuminated CMOS structure gives this camera improved full well capacity. Unbinned, the camera has a full well capacity of more than 51ke-. Binned 2×2 to 7.5um, the camera’s full well is 196ke-, and binned 3×3 to 11um, the full well is 441ke-. This CMOS camera also has an extremely low dark current.

Not only does this camera already have an impressive 51ke- full well capacity, but QHY has implemented a way to acheive a higher full well capacity with user controlled read modes. There is extended full well readout mode, meaning the QHY600 can achieve a greater full well of more than 80ke-. This gives a better dynamic range and large variations in magnitude of brightness are less likely to saturate. There are three readout modes, each with their own characteristics.

The color QHY600 Professional camera comes with a plethora of features. These include a 2GB Image Buffer for smooth, uninterrupted, and high-speed data transfer and USB3.0 re-connection with 12V ON/OFF, and 10 Gigbit Fiber port support high speed interface. Additionally, the professional version’s support of 20 Gigabit Optical fiber ports provides faster interface, is very stable, and has a long transfer distance of up to 300 meters. The round camera design of this camera makes it ideal for the new generation of RASA telescopes because it can match the image field.

When it comes to high-speed data transmission technology, QHY has delivered. The QHY600 Pro comes with 20Gbps optical fiber transmission, solving for the shortcomings of USB3.0 transmission such as limited speed, limited distance, and reliability. When it comes to limited speed, the 20Gbps optical fiber can reach a transmission rate of up to 2000MB/s. Solving for limited distance, the new technology can easy transmit at distances up to 300 meters. Finally, the reliability has been increased from the USB3.0 connection because their is no conductive medium between the camera and the computer.

QHY’s incorporated USB re-connection feature means that this camera’s computer connection can be connected and disconnected by turning the 12V power supply on and off. This means you do not have to worry about plugging and unplugging the USB cable, enhancing user control when working from a remote station. All you have to do is control the 12V power supply to control the remote USB connection.

Equipped with an electronic rolling shutter, the camera utilizes Sony’s Exmor BSI CMOS technology and electric shutter. This type of shutter is more reliable than a mechanical shutter and more stable when the astrophotographer takes a large number of exposures.

With a native 16-bit A/D on-chip, this camera has an output of 65536 levels, meaning that the camera gives a higher resolution and a system gain that is less than 1e-/ADU. QHY’s 600 series cameras has no sample error noise and very low read noise. The QHY600 has only one electron of read noise, meaning the camera can achieve an SNR>3 at only four to six photons. You can use this camera for short exposures, narrow band imaging, sky surveys, time domain astronomy, fluorescence imaging, DNA sequencing, and microscopy!

QHY has added an innovative suppression technology that can reduce the level of random noise such as the the type of thermal noise that is generated by back-illuminated CMOS sensors and has a value not related to the exposure time.

The high pixel count of this CMOS camera means that the memory requirements for temporary and permanent storage is greater. The QHY600 sensor produces about 120MB of data per frame. Additionally, the data band-width is increases from 16-bits to 32-bits. To sufficiently meet the memory needs, the QHY600 comes with large-capacity memory of up to 1GB.

QHY has included a large-capacity, flexible hardware programmable technology with the QHY600 Pro camera. This is a million-gate, 20nm process programmable Field Programmable Gate Array chip. The camera’s firmware occupies 10% of the resources, and the other 90% of the hardware logic resources provide users with custom functions. These functions include high-performance GPS trigger imaging, hardware time stamp, high-precision external trigger, continuous mode with the latent image elimination, two readouts to reduce readout noise, and multi-camera high-precision synchronous shooting. Learn about the QHY268C and QHY600 cameras and their impressive features in the comprehensive video below!

QHY600 Color Camera Specifications

• Image Sensor: SONY Full Frame BSI CMOS Sensor IMX455ALK-K

• Pixel Size: 3.76um x 3.76um

• Sensor Surface Glass: AR+AR Multi-Coated

• Sensor Type: Back-Illuminated (BSI)

• Effective Pixels: 61.17 Megapixels

• Pixel Array: 9576×6388

• Effective Image Area: 36mm x 24mm

• Full Well Capacity: Standard Mode >51ke- / >204ke- / >408ke-, Extend Full Well Mode >80ke- / >320ke- / >720ke-

• A/D: 16-bit (0-65535 levels) at 1X1 binning, 18-bit at 2X2, 19-bit at 3X3, 20-bit at 4X4 software binning

• Sensor Size: Full Frame Format

• Frame Rate: Full Frame Size: 4.0FPS (8-bit output), Full Frame Size: 2.5FPS (16-bit output), 7.2FPS at 9600×3194, 22.5FPS at 9600×1080, 28FPS at 9600×768, 47FPS at 9600×480, 160FPS at 9600×100

• Read Noise: 1.0e- to 3.7e- (Standard Mode)

• Dark Current: 0.0032e-/p/s @ -20C 0.0056e-/p/s @ -10C

• Peak QE: >87%

• Exposure Time Range: 40us – 3600sec

• Firmware/FPGA Remote Upgrade: Supported. Via Camera USB Port

• Shutter Type: Electric Rolling Shutter

• Computer Interface: USB3.0, (2×10 Gigabit Fiber Port provided by the optional PCIE Grabber Card)

• Hardware Frame Sequence Number: Supported

• GPIO: 4PIN, High Speed with Flexible FGPA control

• Built-in Image Buffer: 1GBytes（8Gbit）/ 2GBytes（16Gbit）DDR3 memory

• Memory: Built-in 64MByte Flash Memory

• Cooling: Dual Stage TEC cooler (Long exposure is typically -35C below ambient, Short exposure high FPS is typically -30C below ambient)

• Anti-Dew Heater: Yes

• Telescope Interface: M54/0.75

• Optic Window Type: AR+AR High Quality Multi-Layer Anti-Reflection Coating

• Power: 40W/100%, 20W/50%, 13.8W/0%

• Back Focal Length: 17.5mm (±0.2)

• Weight: 915g (2.0172 lb.)

About the Optional PCIE Grabber Card

The PCIE Grabber card from QHY enables your QHY600 Professional Camera’s ability to achieve 4 FPS @ 16-bit and 10 FPS at 10-bit frame rates. QHY’s grabber card enables the optical 2×10 gigabit fiber port connection which achieves the above and also provides the option for users to locate the camera from much longer distances than the traditional USB3.0 interface. Adding the PCIE grabber card means that you can locate your camera from hundreds of meters, rather than just a few meters.

A single QHY PCIE Grabber card can be used with more than one camera in succession (not simultaneously). This means that if you have multiple QHY PRO series cameras, and you plan on using them at different times, then you only need one card between them!