ToupTek Astro ATR533M Deep Sky Cooled Camera features a Sony IMX533 monochrome 1-inch square sensor, offering flexible composition. With a 3.76μm pixel size and 9 MP resolution (3008x3008), it offers an impressive 40 fps frame rate at full resolution in 8-bit mode.
The high full-well mode allows for a maximum full-well charge of 104.6Ke-, and both high full-well and low noise modes are switchable for added flexibility. Inherited from the ATR series' efficient and stable cooling technology, the front window features a built-in heating module, providing a cooling differential of up to 45°C. This makes it an ideal choice for capturing stunning images of the moon, planets, and deep sky.
1-inch Square Sensor
The IMX533 sensor has a 1-inch size with a diagonal length of 16mm and a pixel size of 3.76μm. The unique square sensor maximizes the use of the telescope’s projected field of view, reducing edge distortion and areas of image degradation. Even when adjusting or rotating front-end devices, there's no need to reframe the image. The target remains centered on the imaging plane, making composition easy and shooting smoother.
The ATR533M, when paired with a large-aperture, long-focus telescope, is ideal for capturing galaxies. With a short-focus or portable telescope, it excels at shooting nebulae, while with a long-focus setup, it forms a new combination for imaging the Sun and Moon. This versatility makes it well-suited for a wide range of celestial photography, including galaxies, nebulae, the Sun, the Moon, and planets.
Precise Temperature Control & Efficient Cooling
The ATR533M is equipped with a dual-stage TEC cooling system, controlled by a PID algorithm that precisely adjusts the TEC to the target temperature. This efficient cooling system achieves a temperature differential of 45℃ below ambient, enabling exceptional dark current performance at lower temperatures.
When the camera’s cooling temperature is set to -15 ℃, the dark current is just 0.00031e/pix/s; at 0℃, it’s 0.001619e/pix/s. This significantly reduces thermal noise, even during long exposures.
Anti-condensation Technology
The ATR533M includes a built-in heating module within the sensor's protective window, which can be controlled via software with four adjustable levels. This feature effectively prevents dew formation on the CMOS sensor and condensation on the protective glass inside the sealed sensor chamber. Even in environments with high humidity and significant temperature fluctuations, this technology ensures reliable performance.
High full-well & high dynamic range
In high full-well mode, the ATR533M achieves a full-well charge of up to 104.6Ke-. This high full-well capacity allows the camera to capture rich target details and a broad brightness range, resulting in more natural and refined contrast between bright and dark areas. This enhances the dynamic range for superior image quality.
Native 14-bit ADC
The ATR533M is equipped with a native 14-bit ADC chip, delivering high dynamic range output. It supports hardware binning and ROI mode, with frame rates increasing as the ROI size decreases. The high frame rate enables the camera to produce as many high-resolution images as possible per second, allowing for ample stacking in post-processing to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio.
Glow-free Technology
Traditional sensors often produce glow artifacts in images, with numerous speckles or radiating patterns in the background that significantly impact the signal-to-noise ratio and overall image quality. The ATR533M uses STARVIS sensor technology with glow-free processing, ensuring no visible glow even at long exposures or high gain. This keeps images clear and clean for higher-quality results.
Photosensitive Characteristics
The relative response of the ATR533M is represented by a continuous curve from 400nm to 1000nm. This Relative Response curve is based on the sensor’s maximum absolute response (quantum efficiency) across the entire wavelength range, set at 100%. Common emission lines in deep-sky photography, such as [Hα] located around 656 nm, and the [OIII] double emission lines located around 500 nm.
Performance Curve
The ATR533M supports a low-noise mode, which reduces the frame rate to achieve lower read noise. In this mode, the ATR533M achieves a read noise as low as 0.27-1.84 e-. It also supports switching between LCG and HCG modes, with a gain ratio of 3.05. In HCG mode, when high full-well and low noise settings are enabled, read noise is effectively reduced, while offering exceptional high dynamic range performance.
Compatible Software
The ATR series deep-sky cooled cameras can be controlled via the native ToupSky software, and are also compatible with ASCOM and DirectShow SDK. If third-party software is compatible with the aforementioned SDKs, the necessary drivers can be downloaded from ToupTek Astro’s official website and installed into the third-party software.
