QHYCCD cameras have a great reputation, but the latest QHY5 version, known as the QHY5III200M, features some useful refinements.
A dual-purpose, monochrome camera, it gives high performance for planetary images and acts as
a sensitive and reliable autoguiding camera.
The QHY5III200M is small and light, with a 1.25-inch barrel and four round fins that split the camera into two sections, the rear third of the body housing the connections, while the front two-thirds can be inserted into a 1.25-inch eyepiece holder.
The fins help to dissipate a bit of internal heat.
There’s a Quick Start card in the box, always a welcome sight, and following the five simple steps we had the PDF manual downloaded with the camera software in just a few minutes.
QHYCCD has its own camera control app called EZCap QT, which it recommends, but there’s also a copy of the more familiar and excellent SharpCap included in the software, and we chose that as our capture application.
Why fast planetary cameras are so effective
For planetary imaging, speed of capture is the key to getting good results.
When the seeing is poor, being able to quickly capture a large number of frames enables us to select only the best from the mix.
When the target is rotating relatively quickly too, as Jupiter does, it’s an advantage to be able to gather the best data in the shortest possible time.
With the QHY5III200M monochrome camera, RGB filters are required to produce colour images, so at least three sets of data need to be captured.
Possibly four if a luminance channel is required, so speed is of the essence.
With this in mind, we ran a few bench tests using our somewhat middle-aged i7 laptop with 16GB RAM.
In full-resolution, 1,920 x 1,080, 16-bit mode we got 60 frames per second (fps) with a 1ms exposure.
At the other end of the scale, using the ‘Region of interest’ feature with 320 x 240 resolution, a steady 245fps was achieved.
For our telescope setup, a setting of 640 x 480 provided a good compromise for the size of Jupiter in the frame and the context around the planet, and this gave us a useful rate of 130fps.
Naturally these results may vary depending on the computer used, but the QHY5III200M is a fast camera.
How the QHY5III200M performed
We matched the QHY5III200M with our 150mm refractor, using a 2x Barlow lens to increase the focal length to 2,100mm.
Later, when trying the IR850nm filter, we used an extra 2x Barlow to double the focal length again.
In all cases, the little camera was easy to control and we could quickly adjust the gain and exposure-length settings in SharpCap to make the most of the conditions.
When the Moon presented a chance to capture the famous Lunar X and V clair-obscur effects, features made by crater walls that appear on the terminator on a given Moon phase, we were able to photograph them in almost a grab-and-go manner.
The camera is very simple to use and it efficiently gathered the data.
Although sky conditions prevented us getting any top-drawer planetary images during our testing session, we were delighted to capture at least something of Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune, with a highlight being recording five of Uranus’s moons circling the milky-green planet.
As far as auto-guiding goes, the QHY5III200M is so sensitive that we could use PHD2 to guide even through a bank of low, thin cloud that obscured all stars from sight.
Integration with PHD2 was seamless. An ASCOM driver for the camera ensures it is compatible with your preferred capture software.
With the Sun displaying more sunspots than we had ever seen, we mounted a white-light solar filter and captured 5,000 frames to stack together.
The adjustability and range of the little camera again enabled us to gather exactly what we needed in real time to photographically record the event.
With the latest updates and features, the versatile and reliable QHY5III200M looks set to be the autoguiding and planetary camera of choice for some time to come.
High near-infrared sensitivity
QHYCCD describes the SC2210 sensor as a ‘domestic CMOS’ unit.
It isn’t entirely obvious what they mean by this, but that doesn’t detract from the excellent performance that the diminutive chip is capable of.
The 4μm x 4μm pixels are arrayed in a 1,920 x 1,080 grid for this 2MP camera, and exposure times between 15 milliseconds and 15 minutes are possible.
Being sensitive to near-infrared wavelengths adds an extra dimension to the QHY5III200M camera and opens up the possibility of imaging in less-than-ideal conditions using the IR850nm filter.
It could be a useful camera for capturing images of close double stars and similar objects that need a bit of manipulation to get around any issues with seeing.
To that end we used the high sensitivity to the red end of the spectrum to get a close-up image of Orion’s delightful Trapezium region, which is rich in bright hydrogen and sulphur emissions.
This ‘domestic’ CMOS chip is capable of revealing the secrets of deep-sky objects too.
QHY5III200M best features
Rings and accessories
A well-thought-out selection of useful mount adaptors, spare filter holder, focus adjustment ring and even a couple of Delrin spacers are included. These thin spacers are great for preventing the various adaptors from getting stuck together.
IR850nm filter
The clear CMOS chip cover can be replaced with the included IR850nm filter, which allows near-infrared light to pass through while filtering out other wavelengths. This can allow for sharper lunar and planetary images on nights with poor seeing, as infrared light is less affected by atmospheric turbulence.
512MB DDR3 RAM
A hefty half-gigabyte of fast onboard memory enables the QHY5III200M to charge through data capture as fast as it can, buffering the data as the images are produced, thereby reducing the pressure on the recording computer to keep up with the high speed of the camera.
USB connection
It’s nice to see the new standard USB 3.2 Type-C fitting on the rear of the camera, as this offers a solid and dependable connection that’s easier to insert in the dark. A good-quality 1.8-metre QHYCCD-branded USB cable is included in the package.
Handy tin
The camera is supplied in a handy storage tin that is foam-lined, with cut-outs to protect the unit in storage. There’s room for the camera, a USB cable and the various other accessories, including the ST4 guiding cable and filter box.
Vital stats
- Price: £319
- Sensor: SC2210 CMOS
- Sensor size: 1,920 x 1,080
- Frame rate: Full resolution 96.5fps at 8 bit; 60fps at 16 bit
- Exposure range: 15ms–15 minutes
- Memory: 512MB DDR3 RAM
- Connectivity: USB 3.2, ST4
- Size: 77mm x 40mm
- Weight: 90g
- Extras: IR850nm filter, storage tin, USB cable, ST4 guiding cable, spacer rings
- Supplier: Modern Astronomy
- Tel: 020 8763 9953
- www.modernastronomy.com
This review appeared in the March 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine
