Clear in low light
Thanks to the back-illuminated sensor structure and advanced pixel technology, the camera has very low readout noise and has an ultra-high sensitivity. Especially in low light conditions, the camera performs very well and is able to capture very clear images of celestial objects.

STARVIS 2
ASI678MC can be regarded as an upgrade of ASI178MC. It adopts the latest SONY IMX678 sensor with advanced STARVIS 2 technology. Compared to ASI178MC, this camera features zero amp glow, lower readout noise and higher sensitivity. The dark current noise is greatly decreased; the performance of near infrared is greatly improved.

USB 3.0 & 256M DDR3 Memory
The camera is equipped with a USB 3.0 transmission interface and a built-in 256MB DDR3 cache to ensure stable and secure data transmission. Under long exposure, it effectively avoids frame dropping and greatly reduces the glow effect caused by slow reading speed.

Upgraded Model
The ASI678MC is an upgraded product of the ASI178MC. Compared to the ASI178MC, the ASI678mc has lower read noise, lower dark noise, and no amp glow.

No Amp Glow
ASI678MC exhibits zero amp glow, no matter how long the exposure and how high the gain value. Since it is implemented directly at the hardware level, it does not require software control.

HCG Mode
The camera has a built-in HCG mode, which can effectively reduce readout noise at high gain. This allows the camera to maintain the same high dynamic range as it does at low gain. When the gain is 182, the HCG mode is automatically turned on. The readout noise is as low as 0.8e, and the dynamic range can still reach a level close to 12bit.

Quantum Efficiency
The QE curve and readout noise are very important parameters to measure the camera's performance. Higher QE and lower readout noise are necessary to improve the image signal-to-noise ratio.

Dark Current Noise
ASI678MC has much lower dark current noises than ASI178, bringing it has better image signal-to-noise ratios. If we compare the darks frames captured with these two cameras, it can be easily found that the frame from ASI678 has much less noise and looks much smoother.