Player One Artemis-M Pro (IMX492) USB3.0 Mono Cooled Camera

Features:

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/

New Cutting-edge Design

Polygons like regular hexagons are quite Player One; using the DSO-cooled cameras we want to make them more beautiful and functional. After a lot of experimentation, we fixed the final style, which uses a scientific and technological octagon to construct the main body line and four sides of cambered surfaces, supplemented by round chamfers to achieve both rigidity and flexibility. The front piece is round to avoid diffraction on RASA. The positive red, which is like a summer fire, is paired with the low-key and steady black, and the super-fine frosting process on the entire surface makes the camera look elegant and cool, maintaining Player One style.

Artemis-M Pro (IMX492) cooled camera is developed by Player One Astronomy, it is designed for advanced DSO imaging. It adopts a Sony IMX492 4/3″ format monochrome sensor. The 2.315um pixel size accommodates a good depth of 18.6Ke with a total of 47MP  (the resolution is 8288*5648), and the diagonal is 23.2mm.

Rear Adjustment 4 Point Sensor Tilt Plate

When taking deep sky objects, using a sensor tilt plate can get a much smaller field curvature of the telescope. We adopt rear Adjustment and 4 point tilt plate, which has a lot of advantages in usage.

4 Point adjustment makes it easier to know which corner is needed to adjust. The built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from the side slits without any side leakage.

To understand 4 point adjustment method, we made an example for users:

Deep Cooling

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

512MB DDR3 Cache

As an improvement, the DDR3 cache in cooled cameras is increased to 512MB. It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, it 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.

STARVIS Technology

Artemis-M Pro (IMX492) cooled camera based on Sony STARVIS technology, it is back-illuminated pixel technology used in CMOS image sensors.

4/3″ Format

The Artemis-M Pro cooled camera has a 4/3″ format (19.2mm*13mm), this size is very popular for DSO imaging.

Pixel BIN mode

IMX492 sensor has a native 47 Megapixel, no need to unlock anything, and doesn’t need any technology to do that. After you know this, the following description will be very easy to understand.

12-bit depth: IMX492 has a 12-bit on-chip ADC. When using BIN1 mode, IMX492 has 47 Megapixels, pixel size is 2.315um, and bit depth is 12 bit (4096 levels).

14bit depth: When using hardware BIN2 mode, IMX492 will have 11.7Mega pixels, pixel size is 4.63um, and bit depth extends to 14bit (16384 levels) .

BIN1 and BIN2 will cause the full well, FPS, and readout noise to be changed.

Software BIN supports BIN3 and BIN4 mode (and we provide Sum BIN and Average BIN), while hardware BIN only has BIN2 mode (Average BIN).

*Sum BIN: Sum the values of the original pixels

*Average BIN: Calculate the Average value of the original pixels

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 8fps 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: 40℃ (±2℃), when ambient temp 30℃, fan speed 100%, dew heater 10%.

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

The rotation speed of the cooling fan is also adjustable, the default value is 70% 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 us ensures the safety of your camera and other equipment through overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanisms.

Performance

Hardware BIN2 mode:

At gain=0, the camera has 13 13-stop dynamic range and 65.8Ke full well capacity, readout noise is 7.8e.

HCG opens at gain=120, the camera has 12.97 stops dynamic range and 14.5Ke full well, readout noise drops to only 1.8e.

BIN1 mode

in BIN1 mode, Artemis-M PRO starts with Gain 110. (If using set gain value < 110, the camera will use gain 110 instant of it)

Frame rate

Under RAW8 mode, the Artemis-M Pro cooled camera can run 33 FPS @ Hardware BIN2 mode and 8FPS @BIN1 mode.

That’s much faster than existing models on the market.

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 provide 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 Frame

Artemis-M PRO camera has amp-glow. In BIN2 mode or using a higher gain the amp-glow will be more obvious. Please notice this before you buy the camera.

We provide 2 original dark frames of the Artemis-M PRO camera.

Dark frame 1: BIN1, Gain=110, offset=5, exposure=300s, Temp=-10℃: Download Dark frame1

STF auto-Stretch in Pixinsight 1.86

Dark frame 2: BIN2 mode, Gain=110, offset=5, exposure=300s, Temp=-10℃: Download Dark frame2

STF auto-Stretch in Pixinsight 1.86

Dark Current

The dark current is only 0.0004 e/s/pix at -20℃ and 0.0021e/s/pix at 0℃. In the entire curve, the dark current is almost like a straight line, which can prove that the Artemis camera has very good quality.

QE Curve

Mechanical Drawing

BFL Solutions

Package List

Specifications