• The ASI2600MM Pro camera uses Sony's newest back-illuminated IMX571 APS-C crop sensor with a pixel size of 3.76um and a resolution of 26mp.
• The camera features a 16-bit ADC, which offers higher dynamic range, better signal-to-noise ratio, and more accurate color representation in frames.
• Back illuminated CMOS sensors, such as the IMX571, are preferred for long exposure astrophotography due to their higher sensitivity and reduced noise to pick up dimmer objects.
• The camera has impressive performance with a dynamic range of up to 14 stops and zero amp glow circuitry.
• It includes a polyimide heater for anti-dew protection and a two-stage TEC cooling system to reduce sensor noise during long exposures.
• The camera also incorporates a unique technology for suppressing dark current noise even further, and it has a USB 3.0 transmission interface with a 512MB DDR3 cache to ensure stable data transmission.

The ASI2600MM Pro camera uses Sony's newest back illuminated IMX571 APS-C crop sensor which has a number of advantages including but not limited a 16-bit ADC which results in high dynamic range up to 14 stops, ultra-low 1.0e- readout noise and avoidance of oversatured stars with its 80% QE peak.

With a pixel size of 3.76um, the camera features a 26mp sensor resolution with a large well depth of 50 ke-. The sensor measures 23.5mm by 15.7mm, with a diagonal length of 28.3mm.

A 16-bit ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) offers several benefits for astrophotography purposes. Some of the benefits consist of the following:

A much higher dynamic range of up to 14 stops, compared to an 8-bit ADC which offers only 8 stops. This means the camera can capture more detail in both the bright and dark areas of an image which can come in handy with emission and dark nebulae for example.

A higher bit depth ADC provides better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), resulting in cleaner images with less noise.

In the case of color sensors such as the Sony IMX571 in the ASI2600MM Pro, a 16 bit ADC is capable of capturing a broader range of colors, which leads to more accurate color representation in the final image and less editing post processing.

A back-illuminated CMOS sensors such as the IMX571 is preferred for astrophotography, in particular deep sky observation because it offers several advantages over traditional front-illuminated sensors. Among these are higher sensitivty since the layout of the photosensitive layer is reversed compared to front illuminted, whereby obstruction caused by the wiring is no longer an issue, thus allowing more photons to be captured and processed. This is particularly important when viewing deep sky due to lower magnitude of these objects when compared to planetary. This same sensor layout also reduced readout and dark current noise resulting in sharper and more accurate frames.

The ASI2600MM Pro camera delivers impressive performance, featuring a dynamic range of up to 14 stops. Enabling the HCG (High Conversion Gain) mode with a gain value of 100 further reduces readout noise and provides excellent image quality. Deep sky imaging thrives by establishing the gain to either 0 or 100. The HCG mode reduces readout noise while stabilizing dynamic range.

Standard CMOS sensors often suffer from "amp glow," a weak light source that appears as a glow in uncalibrated images. This is often caused by poor and cheap sensor circuitry. In the case of the ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, zero amp glow circuitry that eliminates this effect. This means that even when using high gain or long exposure imaging, amp glow is not a concern, allowing for cleaner and more accurate images.

With amp glow at 300 second exposure

Without amp glow at 300 second exposure.

The ASI2600MM Pro camera includes a polyimide heater that functions as an anti-dew heater, preventing any dew problems. The anti-dew heater completely fits the protective window, heating it to avoid dew condensation from accumulating. With a power of approximately 5W, the anti dew heater can be turned off through the camera's software to save power when not needed.

The ASI2600MM Pro camera has a two-stage TEC cooling system that can decrease the temperature of the CMOS sensor by more than 35°C below the ambient temperature. This cooling system significantly reduces dark current generation and sensor noise, even during long exposure sessions. This helps ensure heat noise isn't generated in the frames as well as hot pixels that need to be removed in post processing situations.

The ASI2600MM Pro camera incorporates a unique technology for suppressing dark current noise even further than typically. At a cooling temperature of 0°C, the dark current noise has a low value of 0.0024e/s/pixel. This implies that a 300s exposure would only result in 0.7e dark current noise, which is lower than the readout noise. If the cooling temperature is set to -20°C, the dark current can be reduced even further to 0.00012e/s/pixel, which is so negligible that it can be ignored.

The ASI2600MM Pro camera is equipped with a USB 3.0 transmission interface and includes a 512MB DDR3 cache. This ensures stable and secure data transmission, even during long exposures, as it helps prevent frame dropping and reduces the glow effect that can result from slow reading speeds.