The ZWO ASI2600 Pro USB3.0 Cooled Color CMOS Camera is perfect for the avid astrophotographer wanting a high-grade camera with an APS-C style sensor. The Sony IMX571 sensor used in this camera is back-illuminated, allowing better light acquisition than front-illuminated sensors of the same style. This is because back-illumination by design has fewer obstructions to the sensor which provides a more efficient imaging experience overall.

Complete with extremely effective cooling technologies and USB 3.0 connection, this camera is a powerhouse to work with. The Resolution is 6248 x 4176 pixels at 3.76-micron pixel size and a Quantum Efficiency reaching over 80%! 

The max frames per second at full resolution are 3.51/fps and has an exposure range of 32 microns to the 2000s, which means you have a great variety in what you will be able to image.

Features of the ZWO ASI2600 Camera

ASI2600MC Pro uses Sony’s latest back-illuminated IMX571 APS-C format native 16-bit ADC sensor. It has an ultra-high 14 stops dynamic range, ultra-low 1.0e readout noise and an innovative breakthrough resulting in zero amp-glow. It is a camera born from the appeal of astrophotography lovers.

Amazing Craftsmanship, Lightweight body, Solid image quality:

ZWO have been working hard to reduce the weight of the camera while improving the performance of the camera. After years of technical accumulation and repeated weight loss experiments by ZWO engineers, ZWO finally concentrated the ASI2600 to 0.7KG.

APS-C format:

The ASI2600MC Pro uses APS-C format, the sensor length and width are 23.5 mm x 15.7 mm and the diagonal is 28.3 mm. This is a 26MP camera with a small pixel size of 3.76 microns that can accommodate a large well depth of 50 ke.

Anti-dew

ASI2600MC Pro comes with the polyimide heater. The anti-dew heater which completely fits the protective window will heat it to avoid any dew problems. The heat anti-dew heater power is around 5W and can be turn off in software to save power.

Native 16bit ADC:

ASI2600MC Pro is our first batch of CMOS astronomy cameras with 16-bit ADC. This 16-bit ADC is not a CCD 16-bit ADC, and it can really achieve a dynamic range output of 14 stops. This significantly improves the image sharpness and contrast, and the color changes are smoother and more natural.

IMX571 backlit sensor:

Sony’s back-illuminated CMOS image sensor improves sensitivity and noise reduction – the key factors to enhancing image quality, while radically realigning their fundamental pixel structure from front-illumination to back-illumination. It has retained the advantages of CMOS image sensors such as low power consumption and high-speed operation.

With a conventional front-illumination structure, the metal wiring and transistors on the surface of the silicon substrate that form the sensor’s light-sensitive area (photo-diode) impede photon gathering carried out by the on-chip lens. A back-illuminated structure minimizes the degradation of sensitivity to optical angle response, while also increasing the amount of light that enters each pixel due to the lack of obstacles such as metal wiring and transistors that have been moved to the reverse of the silicon substrate.

Sony has developed a unique photo-diode structure and on-chip lens optimized for back-illuminated structures, that achieve higher sensitivity and a lower random noise without light by reducing noise, dark current, and defect pixels compared to the conventional front-illuminated structure.

Camera Performance

The ASI2600MC Pro has excellent performance with a dynamic range of up to 14stops. When the gain value is 100, the magical HCG high gain mode is turned on, the readout noise is greatly reduced, and the dynamic range is basically unchanged. It is recommended to set the gain to 0 or gain 100 in deep space.

Zero Amp Glow

Traditional CMOS sensors produce a weak infrared light source during operation quite often seen in the corner of uncalibrated images as the tell tale signs of 'amp glow'. As the ASI2600MC Pro uses zero amp glow circuitry, you won’t have to worry about amp glow even when using high gain, long exposure imaging.

With amp glow – exposure 300 second exposure

ASI2600 frame with no amp glow – Exposure 300 second

Two-stage TEC cooling, ultra-low dark current:

Like the ASI6200, the ASI2600MC Pro also uses two stage TEC cooling and can lower the CMOS sensor temperature to more that 35-degrees C below ambient, which can greatly reduce dark current generation and sensor noise even with extended exposure times.

The unique dark current suppression technology can even further reduce dark current noise.

At a cooling temperature of 0 °C, the dark current noise is only 0.003e/s/pix. Which means 300s exposure can only cause 0.9e dark current noise, which is less than the readout noise. While at a cooling temperature of -20 °C, the dark current can even reduce to 0.00021e/s/pix, which is completely negligible!

DDR3 Memory Buffer

The ASI2600MC Pro is equipped with a USB 3.0 transmission interface and a built-in 256MB DDR3 cache to ensure stable and secure data transmission. Under long exposure, it effectively avoids frame dropping and greatly reduces the glow effect caused by slow reading speed.

Mechanical Diagram

Options for Precise 55 mm Backfocus

Connecting Diagram

• Nikon-T2 adapter
• EOS-T2 adapter
• 2-inch filter (optional)
• Nikon lens
• Canon lens