For visualization applications, it does not make sense to view the RAW image stream from the CMOS STARVIS chip. It must be interpolated, before it may be viewed or saved in common formats. IC Capture.AS perform color interpolation, thus reducing the load on the DBK 33UX178.AS's processor. Should, on the other hand, you prefer that the camera itself performs color interpolation, you can select the appropriate option in IC Capture.AS. This enables the transfer of data to reach the camera's maximum of 60 FPS. Finally, if you do not require color interpolation at all, you can turn it off completely and the image stream is written to disk in RAW format.
The DBK 33UX178.AS ships with the color Sony IMX178LQ progressive scan CMOS STARVIS chip. With its 1/1.8 " format, the CMOS STARVIS chip produces a resolution of 3072 x 2048 pixels. Thanks to this extremely high quality, the Sony IMX178LQ CMOS STARVIS chip is also often used in other scientific, industrial and medical image processing applications.
The DBK 33UX178.AS does not compress the video stream it outputs - the video data that is captured by the CMOS STARVIS chip is outputted directly by the USB 3.0 connector. Similarly, the camera does not have an IR cut filter, a color filter, nor an other kind of electronic filter. The camera is, therefore, ideally suited to capturing very true-to-life images of the night sky.
In order to transfer the vast amount of data created by the stream of uncompressed and lossless color images to the host PC, you need a very high speed bus. Hence, the DBK 33UX178.AS is fitted with a fast USB 3.0 connector.
The DBK 33UX178.AS ships with the device driver and the camera control and image acquisition application IC Capture.AS. Both of these run on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP (32 and 64 bit).
Software for Mac OS and Linux is available from third parties.
| Technical details are subject to change | |
| General Behavior | |
| Video output format | 8-Bit Bayer (RG), 16-Bit Bayer (RG), YUV 4:2:2, YUV 4:1:1, RGB24 |
| Dynamic range | 8/12 bit |
| Optical Interface | |
| IR cut filter | no |
| CMOS STARVIS specification | IMX178LQ |
| Type | progressive scan |
| Format | 1/1.8 " |
| Resolution | H: 3072 pixel, V: 2048 pixel (6.3 MP) |
| Lens mount | C mount |
| Electrical Interface | |
| Connector type | USB 3.0 |
| Supply voltage | 4.5 VDC to 5.5 VDC (via USB 3.0 cable) |
| Current consumption | approx. 250 mA at 5 VDC |
| Mechanical Interface | |
| Dimensions | H: 29 mm, W: 29 mm, L: 43 mm |
| Mass | 65 g |
| Manual Adjustments | |
| Shutter (exposure time) | 1/50,000 to 60 seconds |
| Gain | 0 dB to 48 dB |
| Environmental | |
| Max. temperature (operation) | -5 °C to 45 °C |
| Max. temperature (storage) | -20 °C to 60 °C |
| Max. humidity (operation) | 20 % to 80 % non-condensing |
| Max. humidity (storage) | 20 % to 95 % non-condensing |
