Player One Apollo-M MAX IMX432 1.7MP Solar Mono Camera Astronomical Camera 256M DDR3 (with ACS)

Player One Apollo-M MAX IMX432 1.7MP Solar Mono Camera Astronomical Camera 256M DDR3 (with ACS)

Focus on Solar Imaging!
Apollo series is the world's first camera line specifically designed for solar photography. This series is named after Apollo.

The Apollo series features sensors for Sony with global shutters and a focus on monochrome sensors.


We have launched 4 models of Apollo cameras:
Apollo-M MAX (IMX432) monochrome camera with a 1.1" sensor.
Apollo-M MINI (IMX429) monochrome camera with a 2/3" sensor.
Apollo-M (IMX174) monochrome camera with a 1/1.2" sensor.
Apollo-C (IMX174) color camera with a 1/1.2" sensor.

* Note: The solar camera needs to be used with a device such as baader film or Herschel wedge prism for energy cut-off or light reduction. Do not use the camera directly on a telescope without a dimming device.

Product Description:
Apollo-M MAX is a solar camera developed by Player One Astronomy. It adopts the IMX432 1.1" format monochrome sensor for Sony. The 9um pixel size accommodates a well depth of 100ke with a total of 1.7MP (the resolution is 1608*1104), and the diagonal is 17.5mm.


Pregius Technology
Apollo-M MAX (IMX432) is based on Pregius 3rd Generation. But IMX432 is quite different. According to the introduction of technical documents, pixel size of 3rd Gen usually is 4.5um, and full well is 25Ke. But this sensor has 9um pixel, and of course the full well is up to 4x (100Ke).

Format
Apollo-M MAX (IMX432) has 1.1" format. It is pretty big. The area is almost twice that of the IMX174.


Pixel Size
9um pixel is 1.5 times the size of the IMX174 pixel, which shows that it is more suitable for long focal length and telephoto ratio shooting, such as the combination of SCT + filter (with 4.2X) for Daystar.


Full Well Charge
This camera has a 100Ke full well, which is more than three times that of IMX174. The super-large full well provides greater tolerance, which is very advantageous in astronomical photography, such as when we want to photograph the sun's surface and the dark edge of the prominence at the same time, or when we want to photograph the dark side and the bright side of the moon at the same time.


HCG Mode and Readout Noise
The HCG mode will be automatically turned on when the gain is > 145. The readout noise will be instantly reduced to 4.6e, and the dynamic range will be extended to 12drops.

At 380 gain, the IMX432 has a readout noise of 2.6e which is much lower than that of the IMX174. At this time, the full-well charge is still much larger than that of the IMX174.


Highlights:
New Solar Ha imaging and post-processing tutorial (Demonstrate with Apollo-M MAX)
https://player-one-astronomy.com/solar-imaging-and-processing-tutorial-demonstrate-with-apollo-m-max/

No Banding
Row noise problem is a big trouble in solar imaging. When we use IMX174 or IMX178 cameras, banding occurs sometimes. Although we can make it slight in post-processing, but it still does negative affects on the details.

The biggest surprise in testing Apollo-M MAX is that we found that images of IMX432 are so smooth, no annoying horizontal banding. So that, we can focus on collect details in any focal ratio, in any way (full disk mosaic or ROI). Never need to worry about banding issue in post-processing.


With a global shutter, Apollo-M MAX is very suitable for sun and space station imaging.


"The official recommended camera of The Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project"



Recommended Accessories:
Optional ACS (Active Cooling System)
ACS is an external air-cooled system. It is designed for solar and big format planetary cameras with PCS (Passive Cooling System). ACS can provide much better temperature control. When your camera has PCS + ACS, its temperature is only 7℃ higher than the ambient temperature. The camera body is a little warm, but it is not hot! ACS can be used in daylight for solar imaging and used at night for DSO lucky imaging.



User Reference Images:
The Sun in White Light
For better contrast, Player One Photosphere 10nm filter will be a good choice.

Apollo-M MAX with SW150APO, photo by Simon


Apollo-M MAX with SW150APO, photo by Simon

Demonstrate with ES127APO:

The Chromosphere in H-Alpha
Introduce new 1.25" ERF filter for Quark Chromosphere (Ha version), to reject energy and extend life span of your Quark.

Apollo-M MAX with SW150APO + for QUARK Chromosphere, photo by Simon


Apollo-M MAX with SW150APO + for QUARK Chromosphere, photo by Simon


Apollo-M MAX with SW150APO + for QUARK Chromosphere, photo by Simon


Apollo-M MAX with SW150APO + for QUARK Chromosphere, photo by Simon

Demonstrate with 80APO + for Quark Chromosphere:

Demonstrate with ES127APO + for Quark Chromosphere:

The Preminence in H-Alpha


The Sun in CaK

Lunt 152 + Calcium K module + Apollo-M MAX, Photo by Stephen W. Ramsden

Features:
The naming of Player One Astronomy cameras is unique. Solar camera line is named after Apollo, the god of the sun. The suffix of the name describes the camera's biggest feature.


Download drivers and software: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/software/

Download manuals: 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 orange, which is imply solar, is matched with the low-key and steady black. And the super-fine frosting process on the entire surface makes the camera look luxurious and cool, highlighting the style of high-end players.

2nd Gen - Sensor Tilt Plate
When you are taking photographs of the sun with a prominence telescope, the Newton ring will be annoying. Smoother solar images without Newton ring could be taken by adjusting the focal plate. Get a much smaller field curvature of the telescope.


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

Passive Cooling System
When solar cameras are working in daylight, their temperature will be much higher than the temperature at night. Heat of global shutter sensors will be a problem, especially for some big formats like IMX432. Player One adds one new feature called Passive Cooling System to conduct the heat from the sensor out.


256M DDR3 Cache
Player One Astronomy cameras are the first one of planetary cameras to use the DDR3 cache in the world! It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, effectively avoids frame dropping and greatly reduces read noise.

With the DDR3 cache, the cameras do not have high demands on computing any longer. But the cameras still have an excellent performance even if they are connected to a USB 2.0 port.

DPS Technology
The planetary cameras from Player One Astronomy have DPS (Dead Pixel Suppression) technology. The DPS can analyze many dark frames to find out those fixed abnormal pixels and record the map in camera memory. In imaging, each exposure frame and those positions of dead pixels will be given a median value according to the active pixels around the abnormal pixels.


Over-voltage and Over-current Protection Mechanisms
Player One cameras ensure the safety of your camera and other equipment through over-voltage and over-current protection mechanisms.

Data Port
When the camera is connected to the USB3.0 interface and full-resolution preview is used, it can reach 109FPS in 12bit (RAW16) and 126FPS 10bit (RAW8) mode. For recording images, 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 an ST4 guide cable to connect the camera and the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount to do guiding.


Performance:


Readout Noise
Regarding readout noise, we solemnly promise that all values are obtained from actual tests. You can use the software for Sharpcap 4 for testing. SC4 has a function called Sensor Analysis, providing a very simple way to test readout noise.

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

After many rigorous readout noise tests, this camera can get a low readout noise of 2.6e at a gain of 380.

If you are interested in readout noise testing, you can try it by yourselves because it is very simple.

QE Curve


HCG Mode
The Apollo-M MAX camera has a unique HCG mode which will automatically turn on when the camera gain setting is >145. The HCG mode can greatly reduce the readout noise and retain the same high dynamic range as the low gain.

Mechanical Drawing:

Package Included (with ACS):
- 1 x Camera and 1.25" T-mount
- 1 x 2M USB3.0 cable
- 1 x 2M ST4 cable
- 1 x 1.25" dust-proof cover
- 1 x Air blower
- 1 x M2 hex wrench
- 3 x M1.2 hex wrenches
- 1 x ACS (active cooling system)

Packaging Details (with ACS):
- G.W.: 1kg