Design for planetary imaging and EAA!
Now, a new member has joined in Mars series, its name is the Mars-C II (IMX662) camera. Uranus-C and Mars-C II is not only for planetary imaging but also very powerful for EAA!
Product Description
Mars-C II (IMX662) is a planetary camera developed by Player One Astronomy, which adopts the newest Sony IMX662 1/2.8” format sensor. The 2.9um pixel size accommodates a good depth of 54ke with a total of 2.1MP (the resolution is 1936*1100), and the diagonal is 6.44 mm.
STARVIS 2 Technology
Mars-C II (IMX662) and Uranus-C (IMX585) are based on Sony's newest STARVIS 2 technology, which is back-illuminated pixel technology used in CMOS image sensors.
Format
Mars-C II (IMX662) has a 1/2.8″ format, this size is quite suitable for planetary imaging.
Extend Full Well Capacity
Mars-C II (IMX662) has 54 Ke full well, it’s almost 4.5 times more than IMX462 (13Ke).
Highlights
Non-Amp-Glow
The biggest surprise of the Mars-C II (IMX662) camera is that its dark frame is totally “dark”, whatever we strengthen the curve, there is no AMP glow at all!
300s dark frame of Mars-C II camera(full size):
Non-Amp-Glow can give us a spotless background, much easier to get high-quality images. Mars-C II camera is also very good for lunar and planetary imaging.
Features:
The naming of Player One Astronomy cameras is unique. For example, we name the planetary cameras after planets (They are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, Earth is not included). The size of each planet to a certain extent represents the size of camera sensors. We will name Saturn with a 1-inch sensor camera, and for Mars, we will name it with a ½.8 inch sensor camera. All names will be engraved on the housing of the cameras.
Drivers and software download: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/software/
Manuals download: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/
Cutting-edge Design
The planetary cameras developed by Player One Astronomy use a scientific and technological regular hexagon to construct the main body line, supplemented by round chamfers to achieve both rigidity and flexibility. The positive red, similar to a summer fire, is matched with the low-key and steady black, and the super-fine frosting process on the entire surface makes the camera look elegant and cool, highlighting the style of high-end players, so much that you can't take your eyes off:)
2nd Gen – Sensor Tilt Plate
When taking deep sky objects, using a sensor tilt plate can get a much smaller field curvature of the telescope.
The built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from the side slits without any side leakage.
256M DDR3 Cache
Player One Astronomy cameras are the first one to adopt the DDR3 cache in all planetary cameras in the world! 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.
DPS technology
The planetary cameras from Player One Astronomy have DPS (Dead Pixel Suppression) technology. The DPS analyzes many dark frames to find out the fixed abnormal pixels and records the map in camera memory. In imaging, in each exposure frame, those positions of dead pixels will be given a median value according to the active pixels around that abnormal pixel.
Overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanism
Player One cameras produced by us ensure the safety of your camera and other equipment through overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanisms.
Data Port
When the camera is connected to the USB3.0 interface and full-resolution preview is used, it can reach 107 FPS in RAW8 mode (10bit ADC). 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.
Use the ST4 guide cable to connect the camera and the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount to do the guiding.
Performance
HCG open at gain=210.
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.
QE Curve
This relative QE curve is provided by SONY Co., Ltd. This data is authentic and authoritative!
Mechanical Drawing
Specifications
| Sensor | New SONY IMX662 1/2.8" CMOS (color) |
| Diagonal | 6.44mm |
| Total Pixels | 2.1 Mega Pixels |
| Max Resolution | 1936×1100 |
| Pixel Size | 2.9μm |
| Chip Size | 5.6mm×3.2mm |
| Frame Rate | 1936×1100 108FPS（10bit） |
| Bayer Matrix | RGGB |
| Shutter | Rolling shutter |
| Exposure Range | 32μs-2000s |
| Readout Noise | 6.7e~0.7e |
| QE Peak | ≈91% |
| Full Well | 54k e |
| ADC | 12 bit |
| Data Port | USB3.0/USB2.0 |
| Adapter | 1.25″ / M42X0.75 |
| Back Focal Length | 12.5mm |
| Protective Window | D21*1.1MM High Quality AR Plus (Anti Reflection) Multi-Layer Coating |
| Diameter | 66mm |
| Weight | 150g |
| Resolution and FPS | Under USB3.0 mode
Resolution 12bit ADC 10bit ADC
1936×1100 76.5FPS 108FPS
1920×1080 78FPS 110FPS
1280×720 114FPS 162FPS More resolution options could be setup in capture softewares! |
