Player One Mars-M USB 3.0 (IMX290) Mono Camera

The nomenclature of the chambers Player One Astronomy is unique. For example, we name the planetary cameras as planets (They are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, Earth is not included). The size of each planet represents, to some extent, the size of the camera sensors. Saturn is named with a 1-inch sensor camera, and Mars is named with a ½.8-inch sensor camera. All camera names will be engraved on the camera housing.

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

Download manuals: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/

Highlights
Mars-M is a monochrome camera with higher sensitivity than color cameras, you can get brighter images when making planetary images. In addition, the monochrome camera can get a sharper image because it does not need layer transformation. It is suitable for close-ups of the Moon and sunspots.

With the Player One filter wheel (coming soon), you can use the Mars-M camera to obtain LRGB, NIR, etc. images (filters sold separately).

Connecting the Mars-M camera to a telescope with a 1.25″ T-mount, or adding a Barlow lens between the camera and a telescope to extend the focal length for more detail.

With a CS lens attached to the Mars-M camera, it can be used as an all-day camera or meteor tracking camera, the monochrome camera performs better than the color camera!

Cutting-edge design
Planetary cameras developed by Player One Astronomy use a scientific and technological regular hexagon to construct the main body line, complemented by round chamfers for both rigidity and flexibility. The positive red, which is like a summer fire, is combined with the discreet and stable black, and the superfine glazing process on the entire surface makes the camera look luxurious and cool, highlighting the style of high-end players, I can't take my eyes away .

2nd Gen - Sensor tilt plate
The built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from the side slits without any side leakage.

When taking solar photography with prominence telescope, the Newton ring is annoying. A smoother solar image can be taken without Newton ring by adjusting the focal plate. Achieve a much smaller telescope field curvature.

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

256M DDR3 cache
Player One Astronomy cameras are the first to incorporate DDR3 cache in all planetary cameras in the world. It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, effectively prevents frame drop and greatly reduces read noise.

With DDR3 cache, the Mars-M camera no longer has high demands on computing needs, it will still have excellent performance even when connected to a USB 2.0 port.

DPS technology
The planetary cameras from Player One Astronomy feature DPS (Dead Pixel Suppression) technology. DPS analyzes many dark frames to find the abnormal fixed pixels and record the map in the camera's memory. In image capture, in each exposure frame, the dead pixel position is given an average value depending on the active pixels around that abnormal pixel.

Overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanism
Player One cameras produced by number one ensure the safety of your camera and other equipment through overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanisms.

USB3.0 port and ST4 port
When the camera is connected to the USB3.0 interface and full resolution preview is used, it can reach 136 FPS in RAW8 (10bit ADC) mode, and the frame rate in RAW16 (12bit ADC) mode is 64 frames per second. When recording images, since the actual writing speed will be affected by the writing speed of the hard disk itself, when the writing speed of the hard disk is slow, the recording may not reach the theoretical speed. It is recommended to use a high quality solid state drive to record data in order to take full advantage of the camera's performance.

Use the ST4 guide cable to connect the camera and the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount for guiding

Readout noise
As for the readout noise, we solemnly promise that all values have been obtained from real tests. And for users, you can use Sharpcap 3.3 for testing. SC3.3 has a function called Sensor Analysis, which provides a very easy way to check read noise.

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

After many rigorous read noise tests, the Mars-C camera can achieve a low read noise of 0.73e with a gain of 350 and about 0.7e with a gain of 400.

If you are interested in performing read noise testing, you can try it yourself, which is very simple.

HCG mode
The Mars-M camera has a unique HCG mode, which will be automatically activated when the camera gain setting is ≥60. The HCG mode can greatly reduce the read noise and retain the same high dynamic range as the low gain.

QE curve
The maximum QE value of the Mars-M camera is about 80%, and it has very strong ultraviolet and infrared sensitivity. The actual QE value can be estimated by multiplying the ordinate of the official relative QE graph (below) by 80%.