IMX571 APS-C cameras from ZWO, QHY, Player One and ToupTek compared

Sony’s IMX571 is the APS-C sensor shared by more cameras in our data than any other: four ZWO bodies, two QHY, two Player One and three ToupTek. All of them list 3.76 µm pixels and a 16-bit ADC. If you are choosing between them for framing, you can stop early: the field and the image scale are the same within rounding. The useful comparison is everything else.

The field is the same within rounding

Makers publish slightly different active arrays for this sensor: 6248 × 4176 (ZWO), 6252 × 4176 (QHY and Player One) and 6224 × 4168 (ToupTek). Multiplied by 3.76 µm, the widths are 23.49, 23.51 and 23.40 mm. At 600 mm that is 2.24°, 2.24° and 2.23° across; at 1000 mm, 80.8′, 80.8′ and 80.4′. Pixel size sets image scale, so every row reads 1.94″/px at 400 mm and 0.78″/px at 1000 mm. For targets that fill most of the frame, check the framing calculator with the exact array, but a brand choice will not decide whether an object fits.

What the makers publish differently

Bodies	Cooling as published	Back focus	Full well as published	Read noise as published
ZWO ASI2600MC/MM Pro	more than 35 °C below ambient, tested at 30 °C	17.5 mm	50 ke⁻	1.0–3.3 e⁻
ZWO ASI2600MC Duo, MC Air	30–35 °C below ambient, tested at 30 °C	17.5 mm (Air: 12.5 or 17.5)	50 ke⁻, 73 ke⁻ extended	0.9–4.2 e⁻
QHY268M/C	35 °C (exposures over 1 s) or 30 °C (under 1 s), tested at +20 °C	14.5 mm	51 ke⁻, 80 ke⁻ extended	1.1–3.5 e⁻
Player One Poseidon-C/M Pro	40 ± 2 °C below ambient	17.5 mm, 12.5 without tilt plate	71.7 ke⁻	3.9–1.0 e⁻
ToupTek ATR2600C/M	up to 42 °C below ambient	17.5 mm	51 ke⁻, 100 ke⁻ high full-well mode	0.883 e⁻ (HCG)
ToupTek SkyEye26AC Plus	up to 43 °C below ambient	17.5 or 12.5 mm	51 ke⁻	2.6–1.14 e⁻ (LCG), 1.18–0.79 e⁻ (HCG)

Read the cooling column with care. ZWO states its delta at a 30 °C ambient, QHY at +20 °C, and QHY splits long and short exposures; Player One and ToupTek state no test ambient in our data. These are the makers’ own test conditions, not a side-by-side measurement, so a 5 °C gap on paper is not a measured 5 °C difference.

Full well is the column most shaped by readout mode. Player One’s Poseidon-C Pro page describes its 71.7 ke⁻ as more than 1.4 times the 50 ke⁻ of an “IMX571 basic” setting. ZWO’s series page lists that 50 ke⁻, yet ZWO’s P25 page puts the figure at 73 ke⁻. QHY and ToupTek quote around 51 ke⁻ as standard and much higher numbers in extended modes. Read noise has the same issue: ToupTek’s product pages give a single high-conversion-gain value, Player One writes its range from high to low, and the others give a low-to-high range. The gain and read noise guide explains why one sensor can have several honest answers.

Back focus is the practical difference

The 3 mm gap between QHY’s 14.5 mm and everyone else’s 17.5 mm is the spec most likely to change what you buy alongside the camera. Many Petzval astrographs in our telescope data, such as the Askar SQA series, list 55 mm of back focus. Behind a 17.5 mm body that leaves 37.5 mm for filter wheel, adapters and spacers; behind the QHY268 it leaves 40.5 mm. Player One (without its tilt plate) and the SkyEye26AC Plus also list 12.5 mm, which leaves 42.5 mm. The back focus guide walks through building that stack.

Variants that change the workflow, not the field

The ZWO ASI2600MC Duo and Air put a 4 µm guide sensor inside the same body, and the Duo page says that with it you need no separate OAG or guide camera. The Air also adds built-in control and Wi-Fi. Our table includes the color Duo and Air, but ZWO’s pages and manuals cover mono versions of both as well. Every brand here sells a mono and a color IMX571 body; the mono vs color guide covers what that choice means for filters and integration time.