The QHY695A uses the Sony ICX695 ExView II CCD, a 1-inch, 6 megapixel sensor with a peak QE close to 80%. The read noise is as low as 4 electrons. The two-stage TEC, reducing the sensor temperature to -40C below ambient, and the extremely low thermal noise of this CCD, combine to give this camera its legendary clean images.
"A" series
All-In-One OAG Included
This camera belongs to the QHYCCD "A" Series camera family. "A" stands for "ALL-IN-ONE". The camera includes a built-in motor driven filter wheel and natively supports the QHYOAG while consuming a minimum of back focus, precious for some optical systems. The filter wheels available for the QHY695A accept 2" mounted filters, or 50mm unmounted round filters, in 5 or 7 position carousels.
The QHY695A has a built-in motor driven filter wheel for automatic sequencing of color or narrowband imaging. It supports both an 8-position, 1.25-inch filter carousel and a 7-position, 36mm filter carousel making it possible to install an entire deep sky filter set LRGBHaOIIISII at the same time.
Low Read Noise
4e- Typical 16-bit A/D
The QHY695A has very low read noise, typically around 4e-. Compared to currently available monochrome CMOS cameras, the QHY695A is a perfect camera for imaging deep space objects.
This camera uses a mechanical shutter that has a butterfly shape. The shutter is directly driven by a motor with no other moving parts. The working life is almost unlimited. The shutter has two sides that block light and open spaces in between. The fan shape of the blades create even-illumination when opening, and even-darkness when closing for dark frames. This feature is of great benefit when taking flat frames or making photometric observations.
Two-Stage TEC
The 2-stage TE cooling reduces the temperature of the CCD chip -45 degrees C from ambient, resulting in very low dark current noise and a clean image even in long exposures.
The QHY695A has a built-in hub that provides two extra USB host ports and two RS232 ports with 3-pin sockets. These can be used to connect the guide camera, focuser and mount.
Although the CCD chip has an electronic shutter for short exposure timing, the QHY695A camera also has a mechanical shutter for automatically capturing dark frames.