Product Description
Neptune-C is a planetary camera developed by Player One Astronomy, which adopts 1/1.8" format Sony IMX178 sensor. The pixel size of 2.4um allows a well depth of 15ke with a total of 6.4MP (resolution is 3096*2078), and the diagonal is 9mm.
Neptune-C (IMX178 color sensor) does not need to highlight its infrared sensitivity (compared with the infrared sensitivity of IMX464, the point of IMX178 is very low). Therefore, we put an IR-cut UV protective glass on Neptune-C, return a world of pure true color to it.
Highlights
With a 1/1.8-inch sensor, the Neptune series is very suitable for sun and moon mosaic photography.
Attach the Neptune-C camera to a telescope with a 1.25" T-Mount, or add a Barlow lens between the camera and a telescope to extend the focal length for more detail.
With a CS lens attached to the Neptune-C camera,it can be used as an all-day camera or meteor tracking camera.
Features:
The nomenclature of the cameras Player One Astronomy is unique. For example, we call the planetary cameras as planets (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 will be named with a 1-inch sensor camera, and Neptune with a 1/1.8-inch sensor camera. All 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/
State-of-the-art design
The 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.
2nd Gen - Sensor Tilt Pad
Built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from 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 much smaller telescope field curvature.
256M DDR3 Cache
The Player One Astronomy cameras are the first to incorporate DDR3 cache memory in all planetary cameras worldwide. It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, effectively prevents frame drops and greatly reduces read noise.
With DDR3 cache, the camera no longer has high demands on computing needs, it will still have excellent performance even if it is 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 will receive an average value depending on the active pixels around that abnormal pixel.
Over-voltage and over-current protection mechanism
Player One cameras produced by number one 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 93 FPS in RAW8 mode (10bit ADC). 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.
Read noise
As for read noise, we solemnly promise that all values are obtained from real tests. And for users, you can use Sharpcap 4 for testing. SC4 has a feature called Sensor Analysis, which provides a very simple way to test read noise.
We have written a tutorial on our website: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/
After many rigorous read noise tests, the Neptune-C camera can achieve a low read noise of 1.34e with a gain of 350.
If you are interested in read noise testing, you can try it yourself, which is very simple.
QE curve
HCG mode
The Neptune camera has a unique HCG mode, which will automatically activate when the camera gain setting is >30. HCG mode can greatly reduce read noise and retain the same high dynamic range as low gain.
Mechanical drawing
