The high performing STC-428-P from SBIG is the ideal scientific camera package for quality imaging. This CMOS technology, compared with CCD models (STF-8300M), features higher sensitivity, drastically lower read noise, and 20x faster readout! The STC-428-P provides low noise 7 megapixel imaging with support for commonly available UBVRI filter sets. You'll want to re-take your images of the night sky once you see what the STC-428-P is capable of producing!
IMX-428 CMOS Sensor
The STC-428-P utilizes the sophisticated SONY IMX-428 CMOS imaging sensor, giving you higher sensitivity, lower read noise, and much faster readout. It is able to produce extremely clean images with few hot pixels. Due to these features, the STC-428-P is best used with shorter sub-exposures than for comparable CCD cameras. A typical sub-exposure will be only 30-60 seconds (versus 5-10 minutes) while achieving the same or better noise performance and overall dynamic range after stacking your images. The advantages to this includes your ability to take unguided exposures without trailing, as well as imaging lunar and planetary objects at high resolution.
Stack Pro
The revolutionary Stack Pro feature will perform image stacking inside of the STC-428-P CMOS camera! While the IMX-428 sensor has dynamic range that is on par with its CCD predecessor, it is limited to 12 bit data and has far lower read noise, meaning you can stack several more shorter exposures without degrading signal-to-noise ratio. This, in turn, results in a lot of extra disk usage and post-processing. Stack Pro performs the stacking automatically inside of the camera. It subdivides your exposure into up to 16 individual sub-exposures and stacks them inside the camera prior to download, eliminating the excessive amounts of data cluttering your hard drive.
8-Position Filter Wheel
The STC-428-P package includes an FW8-STC filter wheel, which supports standard unmounted 36 mm filters. If you wish to use the more commonly-available 1.25" mounted UBVRI filters, a set of five 10105 36 mm to 1.25" mounted filter adapters is also included with this package. You will also receive an "opaque" filter, which acts as a dark frame shutter for efficient image calibration. The STC-428-P will automatically select filter slot 8 when a dark frame is requested, eliminating the complexity of a separate mechanical shutter. However, if you need to fill the eighth filter slot with another, non-dark frame filter, you can disable this feature.
MaxIm LT Software
Included in this imaging package is MaxIm LT Software, which provides users complete camera control and image calibration functions. This software can also be upgraded to MaxIm DL Pro for full photometric analysis capability.
