Starlight Xpress Trius PRO 694 Mono CCD Camera 25% Price Reduction
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Starlight Xpress Trius PRO 694 Mono CCD Camera 25% Price Reduction

£1,399.00
  (3 Reviews)
✓ 2 year warranty

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Out of stock due 1-2 working days

About this product

Model:  Trius-SX-694-PRO-Mono
Part Number:  100-0055

Starlight Xpress TRIUS 694 Pro available at a Special Price - limited availability. 

The TRIUS range of cameras were the first on the market to incorporate a powered USB 2.0 hub in the rear of the camera. This enables users to connect their USB filter wheel and guide-camera directly to the camera rather than multiple cables back to the computer, for simplicity and convenience. 

The new Blue Edition TRIUS PRO series follows on from that success. Starlight Xpress has redesigned the electronics for even lower read-noise figures and faster downloads. The Sony CCD cameras are achieving read-noise figures that are better than CMOS cameras (when used at unity gain), along with 16-bit data and, thanks to the impressive cooling, significantly better dark-noise figures. Dark frames really are a thing of the past, making calibration frames optional rather than compulsory, giving you more time to capture data and process your images. 

MAJOR FEATURES

  • Medium-sized, high-resolution 'Exview' CCD chip, with 6,050,000 x 4.54uM square pixels in a 15.98mm diagonal array.
  • Exceptionally low dark signal - No dark frames are necessary for most deep sky objects.
  • Excellent QE of 77% peak in yellow light, 65% at Hydrogen alpha (656 nm).
  • Three port powered USB hub built-in. You can drive a Lodestar or Superstar guider + SX filter wheel.
  • High performance two stage cooling for better than -40C delta T
  • Dry Argon CCD chamber fill for improved cooling performance.
  • Exceptionally effective anti-blooming with minimal effect on linearity and no lost active area.
  • High-speed USB 2.0 interface for approx. 5-second downloads.
  • Built-in triple-powered USB hub for guider and filter wheel control.
  • Single USB cable control for all features - get rid of that dangerous cable tangle!
  • Very low power consumption. Less than 1.5 amps at 12v DC.
  • Compact and lightweight - only 75mm in diameter x 70mm long - less than 500 grams load on the telescope.

Specifications

CCD typeICX694AL Exview CCD with ultra low dark current and vertical anti-blooming
CCD Full resolution pixel dataPixel size: 4.54uM x 4.54uM, Image format: 2750 x 2200 pixels
Megapixels6.1
CCD Image area12.5mm (Horizontal) x 10mm (Vertical)
CCD qualityGrade 1 or better - No bad columns, no dead pixels, no more than 50 'hot' pixels (saturated in <10 seconds)
Spectral ResponseQE max at 580nM (~77%), 50% roll-off at 360nM and 770nM
Readout Noise3  electrons RMS (at unity)
Full-well capacityGreater than 17,000 e- (unbinned)
Anti-bloomingOverload margin greater than 800x
Dark currentLess than 0.002 electrons/second @ - 10C CCD temperature
Data format16 bits
System gain0.3 electrons per ADU
Computer InterfaceBuilt-in USB 2.0 compatible interface
Image download timeTypically 2.5 seconds at full resolution
Power requirements115VAC / 240VAC @ 12VA, or 12VDC @ 900mA max
Cooling systemRegulated set-point cooling supply with thermoelectric cooler to give a minimum CCD temperature of approximately -45C below ambient
Size75 x 70mm black anodised aluminium barrel with 42mm 'T2' thread at the CCD window end & input/output plugs at rear. CCD alignment screws are provided for setting the chip parallel to the focal plane
Weightapprox. 450g

Customer reviews

Average Rating (3 Reviews):  
Write a Review and share your opinions!

Rating (max 5):  
Very Pleased and can recommend 694, Loadstar and filter wheel combination.
24 October 2021  | 

One reviewer had trouble with using USB 3 sockets, I must say that I had no issues when using my laptop with either the USB 2 or 3 sockets with or without a powered USB 2 hub! A 12 or 13 volt supply is a MUST, anything even slightly below causes me problems with loosing contact with the camera. I use the regulated variable camera socket set at 12v on a Pocket Powerbox. I know when I have voltage issues because the temperature display in Astro Art shows silly readings like 500 deg! Also connecting the filter wheel can be problematic in that on occasions that looses contact, unplugging and and re-plugging quickly solves it. I'm really pleased with the picture quality on a 11" Edge, the motorised filter wheel makes colour pictures a doddle and black and white Ha and or unfiltered pictures are also very pleasing, sometimes I prefer them to colour.


Rating (max 5):  
5 star customer service
08 June 2020  | 

I have the SX Trius 694 combo with 7 position filter wheel. I have had it long enough to produce my first HaLRBG image of M101 which I was pleased with. I had some issues in getting things up and running. The power supply is fussy. The supplied mains to 12V works as intended but I had problems with 12V supplies from other sources. I had RF interference on some subs which was solved with adequate separation of power and data cables and the addition of Ferrite clamps. Warming the camera in SGPro is problematic in that it will not warm to ambient. I tried longer warming time and this works to a degree. This is to do with the Ascom camera driver. I found solutions to these issues by contacting Terry at Starlight Xpress. He has been absolutely fantastic. He gets back to you quick and knows the answer. I cannot overstate what a difference this sort of customer service makes. I am now waiting for clear weather to finish LRGB M13.
In conclusion, once you are set up this gear looks good. The resolution of the Lodestar OAG is impressive. The customer service is rare and is like gold dust. Try contacting ZWO in China..


Rating (max 5):  
truis pro first light
23 July 2019  | 

I decided to upgrade to this camera after years of using the Kodak8300 and trials with ASI1600MMC. Service from FLO was as good as ever and well boxed with quick deliver direct from SX.
I have only given it 4 stars as the drivers are a right pain to install and will not work on a USB3 port. Painful as many modern PC's don;t have USB2 any more so I have to buy a USB2 card for my master PC.. Yes this is a USB2 camera but surely the drivers should be designed to run on a USB3 port as well!!

Anyway after it installs the camera is a real treat to use. Very low (almost non existent) noise and no saturated hot pixels after 15 seconds at minus 20C
Narrow band sensitivity is great especially Sii - exceeds everything else I have ever tried.
The master advantage is that you do not need dark frames as the noise is so low that darks would only add to the overall noise. A single bad pixel map; flats and BIAS do the job just fine.
I am using this on Edge HD800 with 0.7 reducer and can get full narrowband image of the Wizard Nebula in 2hrs15mins (could easily shorten that as this was equivalent to about 4hrs of data with the ASI1600

Clusters are even easier with a single 10 minute exposure in each channel being more than enough for a quality image of C16 (BTW even at 10 mins there are very few hot pixels and only 2 saturated

If you are looking to upgrade this is definitely the camera to have

Update October 2019: I have now used this camera for some months and found that On a usb3 port the camera body carries 600mA which causes the instability mentioned in the review.
Earthing the case overcomes this and makes the camera very stable and reduces the noise still further. 5stars once earthed

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