Player One Saturn-C SQR IMX533 Color Planetary Camera

Sony IMX533: A 9MP, 1-inch Square Sensor

The core of the Saturn-C SQR is Sony's IMX533, a colour sensor based on Sony STARVIS back-illuminated pixel technology, with 9 megapixels on an 11.31mm x 11.31mm chip (16mm diagonal) and an RGGB Bayer matrix. The 1-inch format is quite big for imaging, and the 1-inch size and 9MP make it easier to capture the full disk of the Moon and the Sun, or make mosaics more efficient. The 11.31mm side holds the half-degree disk up to about 1,200mm of focal length, with no margin at that limit.

73k e- Full Well, 1.0e Read Noise, and 14-bit ADC

Player One technology extends the full well to 73k e-, almost 1.5 times the 50k e- of the basic IMX533. The 14-bit ADC gives 16,384 levels. Peak QE is about 80%.

Readout noise runs from 4.46e down to 1.0e, and HCG (High Conversion Gain) switches on at gain 125. All readout noise values come from actual tests, and SharpCap 4's Sensor Analysis function lets you test them yourself.

43 FPS at 3008x3008 with 256MB DDR3 Cache

Over USB 3.0 with a full-resolution preview the Saturn-C SQR reaches 43 FPS in RAW8. A smaller region of interest runs faster: 95 FPS at 2560x1440, 125 FPS at 1920x1080, 185 FPS at 1280x720 and 272 FPS at 640x480.

To ensure this high-speed data stream is stable and free from dropped frames, the Saturn-C SQR includes a 256MB DDR3 onboard cache. It stabilizes data transmission, effectively avoids frame dropping and greatly reduces readout noise, and with it the camera still performs very well on a USB 2.0 port. Recording speed also depends on your disk; a good solid state drive is recommended.

Non-Amp-Glow and Dead Pixel Suppression

The Saturn-C SQR's dark frame is totally dark, making it a Non-Amp-Glow camera, as a 300s dark frame shows. This gives a very clean background, which makes high-quality images easier to get.

DPS (Dead Pixel Suppression) stores a map of fixed abnormal pixels found from many dark frames and gives each one the median of the pixels around it in every frame.

Dual-Mode Readout for Planets vs. DSO Lucky Imaging

The Saturn SQR series has two sampling modes.

• Normal Mode: It has the faster frame rate and suits planetary imaging.
• LRN (Low Readout Noise) Mode: It has lower readout noise and higher dynamic range and suits deep-sky lucky imaging.

The Saturn-C SQR One-Shot-Color Advantage

As a one-shot-color (OSC) camera, the Saturn-C SQR uses an RGGB Bayer matrix to capture a full-color image in a single exposure, with no filters or filter wheel.

Its monochrome twin, the Saturn-M SQR, records every pixel through each filter but needs separate red, green and blue exposures for colour. The Saturn-C SQR gives a colour image from each exposure.

12.5mm Back Focus & 2nd Gen Sensor Tilt Plate

The Saturn-C SQR has a female M42x0.75 thread, comes with a 1.25" T-mount nosepiece and has a 12.5mm back focal distance.

Its 2nd generation sensor tilt plate gives a much smaller field curvature of the telescope when imaging deep-sky objects, and a built-in high-density sponge pad blocks light from the side slits. Three M2.5 screw holes on R27 let it bolt directly to Player One filter wheels and OAGs. To guide, connect the supplied ST4 cable to the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount. The camera has built-in overvoltage and overcurrent protection.

Passive Cooling with an Optional Active Cooling System

The Saturn-C SQR is uncooled. Its Passive Cooling System (PCS) conducts the heat from the sensor out of the camera.

The external air-cooled Active Cooling System (ACS), sold separately, gives much better temperature control: with PCS and ACS the camera runs only about 7°C above ambient. The ACS can be used in daylight for solar imaging and at night for deep-sky lucky imaging.