ToupTek AE676M: Is This the Only Astronomy Camera You Need?

An astronomy camera usually has a particular focus. Planetary cameras have high frame rates, and deep-sky cameras put more emphasis on cooling and low read noise. ToupTek Astro has tried to bring several of these features together with its new AE676M astronomy camera. It uses a 12.5MP monochrome Sony IMX676 sensor with a square imaging area. ToupTek lists the Moon, Sun, planets, deep-sky objects, meteors, and the Milky Way among its intended subjects. It also says the camera can work with telescopes, guide scopes, tripods, and wide-angle lenses.

A square monochrome sensor

ToupTek has built the camera with Sony’s IMX676 monochrome CMOS sensor, which has a 3536 × 3536-pixel recording area and about 12.5 million pixels. It is a 1/1.6-inch sensor. A square sensor gives astrophotographers the same amount of space horizontally and vertically, which can be useful when they need to build a mosaic.

ToupTek also sees the square sensor as useful for wide-field astrophotography. The company says photographers can pair the AE676M with fisheye and wide-angle lenses for meteor detection, all-sky monitoring, and Milky Way photography.

The monochrome sensor brings another advantage. Unlike a one-shot color camera, it does not place a Bayer color filter over the pixels. The sensor records the light reaching each pixel without first assigning that pixel to red, green, or blue.

With this sensor, an astrophotographer can use separate RGB filters for colour imaging or switch to narrowband filters for wavelengths such as H-alpha, OIII and SII. The same camera can then serve different targets without changing its sensor.

High H-alpha response and near-infrared sensitivity

The camera maintains more than 95% relative response between 600 and 750nm. It also quotes 80–88% response from 800 to 850nm. The first range covers H-alpha, where many emission nebulae produce strong hydrogen emission.

The response beyond 800nm takes the camera into near-infrared imaging. ToupTek suggests using IR825 or IR850 filters with the AE676M. The company highlights infrared planetary photography and Milky Way imaging through light pollution as possible applications.

Infrared planetary imaging is also an option with this camera. Earth‘s atmosphere does not behave the same way at every wavelength. Planetary photographers can use infrared-pass filters to record images under conditions where visible-light images may suffer more from atmospheric turbulence.

A detachable cooling fan

ToupTek has made the AE676M’s cooling system removable. Its rear cooling fan attaches magnetically, so photographers can take it off when they want a fanless setup.

The camera uses a single-stage thermoelectric cooler. Without the fan, its temperature-control system can bring the sensor to as much as 5°C below ambient. The company quotes ±0.1°C temperature stability in this mode.

The fan can become more useful when the camera is used with a deep-sky telescope. ToupTek claims that attaching the cooling fan can lower the sensor temperature by up to 20°C below ambient.

The removable design lets photographers choose between those two options. They can leave the fan off during planetary work and attach it when moving to longer-exposure deep-sky work.

993fps Mode for planetary imaging and other features

The AE676M also has a very different specification at the other end of the exposure scale. It has a maximum frame rate of 993fps using hardware region of interest at reduced resolution in 8-bit mode.

The figure, however, does not indicate that the camera can record 12.5MP images at nearly 1,000fps. The high frame rate comes from reducing the captured area. This will suit planetary imaging because the target often occupies a small part of the sensor at high magnification.

The AE676M also carries 512MB of DDR3 onboard memory. The camera records at 12 bits and supports both software and hardware binning. Software binning ranges from 1×1 to 8×8, while hardware binning supports 1×1 and 2×2. Photographers can use these modes to change the balance between resolution, sensitivity, and capture speed.

There are three gain modes. HCG mode targets lower read noise while maintaining dynamic range. LCG mode handles brighter subjects. HDR mode combines the two and provides 16-bit output, according to the company.

Users can also mount the camera on tripods and pair it with wide-angle or fisheye lenses. This opens up meteor photography and all-sky monitoring. The square sensor also gives a wide-angle lens plenty of room to cover the sky.

Price and availability

The Touptek AE676M is priced at $409. The camera is available for ordering via ToupTek’s official website.

Would you prefer such a multipurpose astronomy camera, or would you lean towards specialized cameras?

Clear skies!

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