QHY MiniCAM8M Planetary Combo - 110201

The QHY MiniCam8M Planetary Combo includes the MiniCAM8M and all its standard accessories, plus a LRGB filter set, a 20nm CH4 Methane filter, a 40nm UV filter, and a 10nm NA filter.

About the QHY MiniCAM8M...

So often, compactness in astroimaging is achieved at the expense of some other critical feature found in multi-component cooled systems, such as sensor quality or thermoelectric cooling, etc. Such is not the case with the miniCAM8. Based on Sony’s IMX585 8 MP sensor, the miniCAM8 includes full TE cooling capable of reaching a delta of -45℃ from ambient along with a built-in 8-position filter wheel for complete LRGB and narrowband imaging.

The Sony IMX585's Starvis II processor enables high sensitivity and high dynamic range (HDR). It also improves sensitivity in the near-infrared range by approximately 1.7 times* compared to the IMX485. The miniCAM8 has a maximum quantum efficiency of 60% in the near-infrared band and 92% in the visible wavelength band.

One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full-well capacity. This is particularly helpful for sensors with small pixels. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor.

In a back-illuminated sensor, the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case, the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photo-sensitive layer, and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency, the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons, and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

While the native ADC of the Sony IMX585 sensor is 12-bit, QHY merged the high and low gain to extend the data to 16-bit for better dynamic range. However, since this 16-bit depth is not native, a sudden shift in linearity might occur, affecting the smooth transition in images. To address this, QHYCCD developed the “Linearity HDR” mode, which uses an algorithm-based approach to correct image linearity through software, ensuring smoother transitions and richer color representation.

In the “Linearity HDR” mode, the full well is 46 ke-, while the read noise is only 1.0e-; the dynamic range reaches up to 46,300:1, equivalent to 93 dB or 15.5 stops.

The QHY MiniCam8 also offers zero amp glow, dual-stage TE cooling, and anti-dew technology with a built-in dew heater for the optical window and a silicon gel tube socket to control humidity in the sensor chamber.

About the Planetary Filter Set...

The filters included in this miniCAM8 Combo are custom-designed to match the specific characteristics of the MiniCAM8. The glass size is 19 mm x 12 mm x 1.1 mm.  They are made specifically for the QHY miniCAM8 by XiMei Filters.