The ToupTek ATR 533M monochrome cooled camera can be seen as an alternative to the popular ZWO ASI 533MM PRO monochrome camera, as the same sensor made by Sony is the heart of the camera and therefore the capabilities are almost identical. A built-in, efficient Peltier cooler can cool the sensor, which heats up during extended exposure times, by up to 45°C below ambient temperature, keeping noise during shooting to a minimum. To compensate for this high cooling capacity, the camera also boasts anti-humidification heating.
The 9 megapixel (3008 x 3008) Sony IMX533 sensor features one of the company's most sensitive sensors. The square-ratio slab is also very useful for sun and moon photography and allows free space when composing depth-of-field shots.
With longer shutter speeds, many cameras often experienced "flare" that could only be compensated for with post-processing. With the ToupTek ATR 533M monochrome cooled camera, longer shutter speeds can be recorded at low noise levels, while also eliminating the "amp glow" or "flare" effect that can occur when signal amplification is used. This result is greatly aided by the internal 512 MB DDR3 memory buffer, which also ensures stability of data traffic.
ToupTek's ATR 533M monochrome, cooled camera sensor with its 16mm image aperture also makes it suitable for depth-of-field photography with a wider field of view. The 3.76 μm pixel size with short focus, makes it an ideal choice even for high brightness optics. Also ideal for depth photography, it has a very high (QE >90%) sensitivity. Since the camera does not have a built-in UV/IR filter, it remains sensitive to these ranges as well.
Of course, you can not only take still images, but also videos if you want to use it as a planetary camera. At its highest resolution of 3008 x 3000, videos are taken at 20fps (frames per second). At a lower resolution of 1488 x 1500, 62fps can be achieved, which is a very high rate at this resolution. On the back of the camera, there's a USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 connectors on the body, and the 12V DC socket. A series of status LEDs informs the user of its operation.
For image capture, there are a number of free software downloads available from the internet, and for Windows we particularly recommend SharpCap and FireCapture, but it's also great to use with the manufacturer's own software (ToupSky). The popular PHD2 software also supports the camera, while the use of the ASCOM driver gives the device even broader support. The camera can be used with Windows, Linux and even Macintosh operating systems.
The package includes:
- ToupTek ATR 533M monochrome cooled camera
- Power supply + cable
- 12.5mm T2 adapter
- 16.5 mm T2 extension adapter
- 21 mm T2 extension adapter
- M48-T2 adapter
- USB 3.0 cable (1.5 m)
