Player One Ares-M Pro (IMX533) USB3.0 Mono Cooled Camera

Features:

The DSO cooled camera line is the most advanced product line in Player One history. We started the project in 2021, and through a lot of modifications and rebuilds we made this final version. It brings our newest technology and design to everyone, we are very proud to introduce this camera line.

Power Supply Not Included! - You can purchase here... https://www.microscopecameras.co.uk/player-one-12v-5a-power-supply-dc55-x-21mm

Drivers and software download: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/software/

Manuals download: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/

Ares-M Pro (IMX533) camera is developed by Player One Astronomy, this camera is not only great for DSO imaging, and also can do solar and lunar imaging too. Ares-M Pro camera, which adopts Sony IMX533 1” square format monochrome sensor. The 3.76um pixel size accommodates a good depth of 73Ke with a total of 9MP  (the resolution is 3008*3008), and the diagonal is 16mm.

STARVIS Technology

Ares-M Pro (IMX533) camera is based on Sony STARVIS technology, it is back-illuminated pixel technology used in CMOS image sensors.

Format

Ares-M Pro camera has a 1″ format, this size is quite big for imaging.

Highlights

Cutting-edge Design

The Ares cooled series is starting with a new design! This time with a round body, a classic red and black color scheme, and using carbon fiber to keep weight down and a cutting-edge outlook. We also integrated the sensor tilter plate and anti-dew PCB board. This series of designs makes the camera not only light and cool but also functional!

Front 3P and Rear 4P tilter plate

When shooting deep sky objects, the sensor tilt plate can be used to adjust the sensor tilt angle to make the stars at the corners more rounded. Ares camera provides both front and Rear tilter plates to fulfill all usage scenarios.

Front 3P tilter plate is the default port on the camera, we believe most users have experience with this before. It works well in a lot of basic scenarios.

The rear 4P tilter plate is an alternate part for the camera, when using the filter wheel/filter drawer and OAG with a fixed angle, it is necessary. It is also convenient for RASA users to adjust the sensor tilt angle.

The built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from the side slits without any side leakage.

Carbon fiber and lightweight

The Ares series uses carbon fiber in camera housing and has been optimized for weight reduction in its structural design. The camera weighs only 420 grams, making it one of the lightest models on the market.

Deep Cooling

Player One cooled camera series uses  a 2-stage TEC Cooling unit, after improving the structure design to reject the heat back to the camera chamber, Camera Delta-T can reach 35-40℃.

Anti-Dew heater

In the design of lightweight cooled cameras, Player One is still pursuing perfection, any necessary features must-have, especially the anti-dew system, is the problem that a lot of small cooled cameras ignore.

Full well

Ares-M Pro camera has 73 Ke full well, it’s almost 1.5 times more than IMX533 Basic (50ke).

Frame rate

Ares-M Pro camera can run 43FPS under RAW8 mode, that is much faster than existing models on the market.

Dual Sampling Mode

Ares series has a dual sampling mode. Normal mode and LRN mode, have different advantages in imaging.

1. Normal mode has a faster FPS, it is more suitable for planetary imaging.

2. LRN (low readout noise) mode has lower readout noise and higher dynamic range. It is more suitable for DSO imaging.

Non-Amp-Glow

The dark frame of the Ares-M PRO (IMX533) camera is totally “dark”, it is also a “Non-Amp-Glow” camera too!

300s@gain=0, offset=10, -10 degree, Dark frame of Ares-M PRO camera: DOWNLOAD

Preview of Dark frame: Exposure=300s, gain=0, offset=10, temp=-10℃   STF auto-Stretch in Pixinsight 1.86

Non-Amp-Glow can give us very clean background, much easier to get high quaility images.

Ares-M PRO camera is also very good for solar, lunar, and planetary imaging. Its 1″ square sensor can easily capture the full disk of the Sun and Moon with short focal refractors. And it also could make mosaic work more efficient.

512MB DDR3 Cache

As an improvement, the DDR3 cache in cooled cameras is increased to 512MB. It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, effectively avoids frame dropping, and greatly reduces readout noise.

With the DDR3 cache, the camera does not have high demands on computing needs any longer, it will still have excellent performance even if it is connected to a USB 2.0 port.

Type-C Data port and Power port

The back piece of the cooled camera has 2 Type-C data ports and a 12V DC 5.5×2.1mm power port.

The main data port supports USB3.0 protocol, the camera can run 43fps under RAW8 mode. Type-C port is easier to plug in when assembling the imaging equipment at night.

When recording images, since the actual writing speed will be affected by the writing speed of the hard disk itself, when the hard disk writing speed is slow, the recording may not reach the theoretical speed. It is recommended that you use a high-quality solid state drive to record data to give full play to the performance of the camera.

The camera has a 12V DC5.5*2.1mm port to provide enough power to the TEC cooling system. If you don’t need to power up cooling, only need to connect the main Type-C port, the camera will work as an uncooled camera.

Standard Cable Usage

Cooling System and Anti-Dew Heater

In the ASCOM window, we provide 3 adjustable parameters: Target temperature, Fan Speed, and Anti-Dew power.

Standard Delta-T: 35℃-40℃, when ambient temp 30℃, fan speed 100%, dew heater 1%.

Recommend Delta-T settings: 30℃-35℃ below ambient, fan speed 50-70%, dew heater 10%, power consumption 40- 60%.

The rotation speed of the cooling fan is also adjustable, the default value is 50% speed.

Dew problem is the biggest enemy in Astro imaging, the camera integrated anti-dew heater in front of the camera. The heat power is adjustable.

Overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanism

Player One cameras produced by the number one player ensure the safety of your camera and other equipment through overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanisms.

Performance

HCG open at gain=125.

Readout Noise

Regarding readout noise, we solemnly promise that all values are obtained from actual tests.  And for users, you could use Sharpcap 4 for testing. SC4 has a function called Sensor Analysis, which provides a very simple way to test readout noise.

Player One wrote a tutorial on their website: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/

If you are interested in readout noise testing, you may try it yourself, which is very simple.

Dark current

The dark current is only 0.000044 e/s/pix at -20℃ and 0.000996e/s/pix at 0℃. In the entire curve, the dark current is almost like a straight line, which can prove that the Ares camera has very good quality and stable performance.

Absolute QE Curve

Mechanical Drawing

BFL Solutions

Following are some recommended 55mm BFL solutions for this camera. If you don't consider BFL, there are various other options.

Package List

Specifications