| The QSI 500 Series is a family of medium format, thermo-electrically cooled CCD cameras designed to produce high quality images with extremely wide dynamic range, excellent linearity and very low noise. Five different models are available employing a comprehensive range of scientific grade CCDs. A variety of options and accessories are available to meet your specific astronomical, medical or industrial imaging objectives.
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The superb imaging performance of 500 Series cameras is wrapped in an attractive, compact design with outstanding power efficiency and investment protecting upgradeability. The refined engineering and impressive fit, finish and attention to detail will surpass your highest expectations.
The 500 series sets a new benchmark for compact design and power efficiency in a high performance, full-featured scientific CCD camera. With optional features and upgradeability, the 500 series can be tailored to fit your needs today and in the future.
The 500 camera system is supported by industry leading image acquisition software and development tools are available for creating custom Windows or Linux imaging applications.
Small enough to practically hide behind a CD-ROM, the medium format QSI 500 Series family sets new standards for full-featured, high performance scientific CCD cameras. The striking appearance, refined design and superior fit and finish only hint at the advanced technical performance lurking inside. Some have described it as a work of art.
A defining feature of the 500 Series is the flexible design that permits three progressively configured body styles with a minimal impact on overall size. The relative sizes of the three body configurations, Slim, Medium, and Full, can be seen in the image to the right. A camera's body size depends on the internal features installed. The Slim body is the thinnest version and can be used with CCDs incorporating an electronic shutter. The Medium body provides addition space for an internal mechanical shutter. The Full body allows the installation of both the shutter and a five position filter wheel with interchangeable filters.
Engineered with extensive use of sophisticated CAD-CAM design tools, the 500 Series is CNC machined from aircraft grade aluminum alloy. The finely finished anodized body components are assembled with corrosion resistant stainless steel hardware throughout.
Small, Light-Weight and Thin
The 500 Series is designed to support image sensors with a maximum diagonal measurement of 20mm, characterizing the family as Medium Format cameras. For this class of camera they are surprisingly compact. At just 4.45" square, the Slim body camera is just 1.68" deep, occupying less than 30 cubic inches and weighing in at under 26 ounces. Even a Full body camera with shutter and color filter wheel is only 2.5" deep and a mere 40 ounces. In fact, the small footprint is the practical limit for a camera with a 5 position filter wheel using standard 1.25" interchangeable filters.
Keeping the depth of the camera to a minimum was an early design goal. Not only is backfocus minimized, but the camera moment-arm is reduced resulting in greater stability. Tight spaces, like through the forks of an SCT telescope, are no longer a problem. The shutter and filter wheel were placed inside the body, very close to the image sensor reducing backfocus and overall depth. The motion control electronics are actually buried in the 0.12" thick shutter/filter mounting plate to reduce depth further. Pulling the cooling fans and heatsinks into the body resulted in another significant reduction in depth. Finally, having all electrical cables and the optional liquid heat exchanger recirculation hoses exit the body in the same direction and perpendicular to the optical axis insured an interference-free fit in tight spaces.
Shutter and Filter Subsystem
The 500 Series achieves its compact size and unique configuration flexibility though an innovative shutter/filter subsystem. Both the mechanical shutter and filter wheel can be installed internally while keeping the growth of the camera dimensions at a minimum. This results in minimal loss of backfocus as these features are added. The compact design also reduces vignetting with fast optical systems.
Shutter
The Model 504s camera incorporates the internal mechanical shutter in the 'mid-size' camera body configuration . The shutter is not only used for timing exposures, but can be left closed to produce 'dark frames' for subsequent image processing. Exposures can be as short as 0.03 seconds or as long as 240 minutes.
Filter Wheel
The Model 504ws adds an internal five position filter wheel to the camera in a 'full-size' camera body. The filter wheel accepts any standard 1.25" filter and is normally supplied with a four filter LRGB color filter set. Various other filter configurations are available. Optionally, the camera can be supplied without filters allowing you to use any filters you choose. The filter wheel can easily be removed and replaced to change or clean the glass filters. Additional filter wheels can be purchased allowing quick interchange of different filter set configurations. (Note how the RGB filters reflect the complimentary color in the picture at the right.)
LRGB Filter Set
Astronomik Type IIc LRGB filters are available at special price (filter sets from other manufacturers are available by request and we offer discounts when purchased with the camera.) The Astronomik filters are optimized for astronomical color imaging and the bandpass is designed to accurately match the color sensitivity of the human eye. Infrared cutoff down to 1150nm is integrated into each filer eliminating the need for an extra IR filter. These thickness-matched filters are par-focal with excellent transmission to nearly 100%. The chart below illustrates the bandpass characteristics of each filter.
Comprehensive Software Support
Every 500 Series camera is accompanied by a collection of software applications and tools that allow you to begin imaging immediately or develop custom camera control applications to precisely match your requirements.
MaxIm LE Included
MaxIm LE CCD camera control software is included with all QSI 500 Series cameras. MaxIm LE is based on the award winning MaxIm DL version 4.5 from Diffraction Limited providing the fastest and easiest way to image the night sky. All QSI Series 500 cameras are supported for imaging and auto-guiding, plus most popular guider cameras are supported as well. You can upgrade to MaxIm DL/CCD for an attractive price at the time of purchase. Details >>
Drivers for Software Bisque's CCDSoft
Realizing that one shoe doesn't fit all, QSI also supplies the necessary drivers for CCDSoft, the popular Image Processing and Camera Control Software from Software Bisque.
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