QHY715C Review - The Best Uncooled Astro Camera for Under $200?
The QHY715C is a color planetary camera with the low price tag of $199. It has a 1/2.8″ sensor, a resolution of 8.4 Megapixels, and can record videos in 4K.
Like other planetary cameras, it is small, light, and easy to use on most telescopes.
In this review, we try out the QHY715C camera with our small refractor telescope as well as a much larger C11. We'll image not only the moon, but also a nebula!
Table of Contents
Introduction
What's in the Box?
Imaging the Craters of the Moon with the QHY715C
QHY715C Specs & Price
Imaging a Nebula with the QHY715C
Final Thoughts
QHY715C - What's in the Box?
The QHY715C camera comes with all the accessories you need to start imaging. The box and its contents are very similar to what's included with other QHY planetary cameras. Below is an image of all the individual pieces that you will find in the box:
Here is what is included with the QHY715C:
The QHY715C camera
2X Focusing adapters
CS to C mount adapter
1.25" to CS mount adapter
Front window ring
A USB 3.0 cable
An ST4 cable
The Manual
A focus lock ring and screw
Cover for the camera
The only thing we needed to make sure we had was an extender for our telescope. If you cannot see anything when attaching the camera to your telescope, be sure to increase the back focal distance using extenders until the stars appear!
You can watch our unboxing and first-light video on our YouTube channel.
Imaging the Craters of the Moon with the QHY715C
The first target we decided to shoot with the QHY715C camera is, of course, the moon. This is the best thing to image with a planetary camera especially when the planets are currently not visible in the sky.
We shot the moon with two telescopes, a small refractor that allowed us to fit almost the entire moon in the field of view, and a much bigger instrument, the Celestron C11.
We attached the camera to our Askar FRA500 refractor telescope and aimed at the moon. In 4K, we were almost able to include the entire moon in the frame. Using SharpCap, you are able to select any ROI from 240p to 4K. The higher the resolution, the slower the camera will be able to capture data and so the FPS will be lower. At 4K, the FPS was approximately 30-35 fps.
It was then time to get a close-up view on the craters, using our much larger telescope, the C11.
The long focal length paired with the small pixels of the planetary camera offered us some really nice close-up views of the craters of the moon. You can see below two images, and both look great especially considering the low cost of the camera! There are nice details and a good range of contrast no matter if the moon was fully lit or if the region shot was near the shadow side.
GEAR USED:
Camera: QHY715C
Telescope: Celestron C11
Mount: ZWO AM5
Power: Jackery Lithium Battery
Processing: AutoStakkert, Pixinsight
QHY715C Specs & Price
The QHY715C has a 1/2.8" sensor with a pixel size of 1.45µm, a resolution of 8.4MP, and can record videos up to 46.9FPS. It does not have amp glow, and the Bater pattern used is GBRG.
General Specs
Sensor: 1/2.8″ CMOS Sony-IMX715
Max FPS: 99fps
Full well: 5.7Ke
Resolution: 8.4 Mega Pixel | 3840*2192
Pixel Size: 1.45µm
Exposure Range: 11us-900sec
ADC: 12bit
And below is a drawing showing the technical drawings of the QHY715C! The camera is very light as it only weighs 90g.
To attach the QHY715C camera (and any other planetary camera) to a telescope, simply do the following:
Telescope > Compression Ring Adapter (comes with most telescopes) > One or two extenders > [Optional] Atmospheric Disturbance Corrector (ADC) > Camera
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Pricing
The QHY715C camera is one of the most affordable planetary cameras available, being only priced at $199 in the United States.
This is a fantastic price for a beginner astrophotographer who would like to take their first steps into planetary and lunar imaging, while avoiding investing too much.
Deep Space Astrophotography with the QHY715C
With such a cheap camera, it is easy to assume that you'd be very limited as to what to shoot, which is why we decided to try imaging a deep-sky object with it! The idea came from Cuiv the Lazy Geek, who made a video about imaging M101 with the QHY715C and it surprisingly turned out great!
M101 is actually a great target choice, it is one of the largest apparent galaxies and its surface brightness makes it show easily on cameras. We didn't want to shoot the same object, and so tried our luck with Messier 27, the Dumbbell Nebula. We spent a full night on it but only got 2 hours of usable data, which was more than enough since the exposure times were 10 seconds, and stacking the 900+ files already took 9+ hours!
The end result, once processed, looks impressive! Especially considering that this was taken from Borlte 9, with an uncooled sensor in Las Vegas during a night with 100F temperatures and without filters...
GEAR USED:
Camera: QHY715C
Telescope: Askar FRA500
Mount: ZWO AM5
Power: Jackery Lithium Battery
Processing: AutoStakkert, Pixinsight
QHY715C - Final Thoughts
The QHY715C camera is a low-cost planetary camera that can achieve impressive results on anything from the craters of the moon to deep sky objects millions of light years away. The price of the camera makes it great for beginner astrophotographers who do not yet have the budget for a cooled more expensive sensor.
Some key points about the QHY715C to summarize this review are:
It is a color planetary camera dedicated but not limited to planetary and lunar
It has a resolution of 8.4MP, a 1/2.8" sensor, and a pixel size of 1.45µm
The max FPS for this camera is 46.9fps
The price is $199
If you would like to purchase this camera, you can do so at Agena Astro.
Clear Skies,
Antoine & Dalia
Galactic Hunter
