NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
By cizucu ·
©︎ Sightron Japan
Sightron Japan Co., Ltd. has announced new CMOS cameras 'ZEUS 455C PRO' and 'ZEUS 455M PRO' for astrophotography. The release date is August 6, 2024. The expected market price is around 750,000 yen and 770,000 yen respectively.
Both 'ZEUS 455C PRO' and 'ZEUS 455M PRO' are equipped with Sony's 61-megapixel full-frame sensor 'IMX455'. These sensors use backside-illuminated STARVIS technology, boasting a high quantum efficiency of approximately 80% for color and 91% for monochrome.
Additionally, the dual TEC cooling system allows cooling down to -35 degrees Celsius below ambient temperature. This cooling system includes optimized sensor chamber structure and efficient heat dissipation with a heat sink, and also features a built-in heater to prevent condensation.
Both models adopt 16bit ADC, achieving high resolution. This provides 16 times the resolution of 12bit ADC and about 4 times that of 14bit ADC. They also feature 512MB of DDR3 cache memory to avoid frame drops, stabilize readout, and significantly reduce readout noise and amp glow.
Moreover, the dead pixel suppression technology automatically identifies and corrects hot and cool pixels. The body design is octagonal, emphasizing the orthogonality of the sensor's long and short sides, making angle adjustments easy during setup and composition changes.
The connection part with the telescope is circular to minimize the impact on diffracted light, adopting a tilt plate shape with adjustment screws on each side for intuitive squaring adjustments.
The new CMOS cameras operate with capture software compatible with ASCOM cameras (SharpCap, N.I.N.A, AstroPhotographyTool, etc.). A dedicated ASCOM driver is distributed for free by Player One, and this driver is required for camera connection. As of August 2024, refer to the supported models of each capture software for native compatibility.