QHY183C
A 20-megapixel cooled colour camera at an accessible price, a lot of resolution and regulated cooling for a first serious deep-sky camera, best paired with a short focal length.
A deep-sky camera whose small, dense pixels reward short, fast optics and good guiding. Its high resolution can also do double duty on the Moon.
Lowest in 90 days
Price tracked by PolarisObserved 28 timesTracking since Mar 2026
Same camera. Different telescope. A completely different photograph.
A camera has no field of view of its own, the telescope in front of it decides everything. Pick a target and watch the same 20-megapixel frame become three different images.
What it's best at — and the trade-offs.
The numbers, in plain English.
What it shines on.
Everything you'd actually buy.
How it scores, and why.
Excellent resolution and cooling for the money, held back only by small pixels and some amp glow that demand careful technique.
Polaris weighs how well the camera does the job it was designed for — image quality, sensitivity, versatility and value — never list price or brand.
An honest fit check.
Full specifications.
The IMX183 packs 20 megapixels into a 1-inch sensor, so the pixels are tiny. That means high resolution on short scopes, but it wants accurate guiding and a fast focal ratio to shine. Watch for amp glow, which calibrates out with dark frames.
For a different goal, start here.
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A square 1-inch sensor with bigger pixels and no amp glow to calibrate out
QHY268C
Step up to an APS-C sensor for a larger field and 16-bit depth
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Larger pixels drink more light on faint nebulae with a wider field