AE676C

I bought this AE676C Camera from a German dealer (TS) and my primary interest is deep-sky imaging.
The download of the driver was peanuts, installation in NINA as well and the camera was recognized correctly. The cooling with the additional add-on system works fine and obtains about 15 degrees difference to ambient temperature during operation of the camera.
The nights where I live were quite warm - around 20-25C at the beginning of the test period, later then it was cooling down to about 18C. I achieved sensor temperatures around 10C at the beginning and later down to about 3C - which was fine.
Thermal noise was existing but no problem after stacking images and cleaning them with a low impact setting of BlurXterminator.
My target was a bit difficult, NGC6951, a galaxy residing in an IFN network. I collected in total about 800x120" and used 683x120" subs for integration in the newly released program Stacking Wizard (with darks, biases and flats). The result was very good, I transferred it to PixInsight and Photoshop for finalization.
I am very pleased with the result of the inexpensive camera!
A more detailed image can be found on Astrobin here: https://app.astrobin.com/u/gnnyman?i=3ls1az

I have only been able to test it since my mount is still in the UK with DarkFrame, but so far so good. It is a really cute little kit with the AE676C mounted on the SV535. The camera works perfectly with ASCOM drivers in both APT and NINA. I think the TEC works better in APT - IMHO. A more versatile choice than the one from the red company that uses the same sensor.

ToupTek AE676C is my first dedicated cooled astronomy camera, paired with the Askar FRA300 and Askar N160, it allows me to get some nice deep-sky images

Pros:

- Lightweight and compact body
- Low USB power requirements, which makes it possible to use a compact power source in the field. In my case, the entire imaging setup consumes no more than 18 watts with the camera's cooling running at maximum power.
- Low noise level, even with the sensor cooled to +9°C.
- Good image detail despite the relatively small sensor size.

Cons:

- The fan mounting doesn't seem very well designed, in my opinion. In my case, it has already fallen off around 15 times, as even a slight bump is enough to dislodge it. The only good thing is that it has survived all of this so far and is still working without any issues.
- A large number of hot pixels. The camera is quite demanding when it comes to dark-frame calibration and regular dithering between exposures.

This is a highly interesting and excellent versatile camera. I’ve been trying it out on various targets, and thanks to ToupTek's fantastic shipping service, I received the product safely and in perfect condition. Thank you, ToupTek, for helping me explore so many different targets and achieve such great results!

good camera system, specially for small objects like planetary nebula or globular clusters, or even for planets, moon, sun. i used it on a c8, better is a newton with smaller focal lenght, i would say.

I test my new Camera AE676E, I can’t believe the image that I got in Bortle 8, Temperature outside was 25c , camera cool down to 10c fast, I point M8 and took pictures for for 85 minutes,90 seconds exposure using sv240 filter and I had this amazing picture, I don’t have experience editing am trying to edit pure basic with Siril.
I Always was looking for cooling camera with small sensor because some times we need small sensors to photograph small targets like galaxies o smaller nebulas without needing to be cropped it and don’t loose quality.
I wish in the future with they come out with another fan cooling camera with smaller sensors like IMX715.
They said that the camera could cool down 20c from outside temperature, I will try to go down to the maximum maybe 5c to see what can I get.
Thanks ToupTek.

I bought the AE676C as a second camera to collect RGB data alongside my ATR585M. It has a very compact design, and the cooling drops the temperature by 18°C below ambient when the fan is enabled! The first tests are very promising. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a completely clear night to perform a full test yet, but so far, everything is just perfect. I’ll test it on colder nights to see if any dew issues pop up when pushing the temperature below 0°C!

Super matériel

The camera comes with an M42F-M42F adapter. This can be used in combination with an M42M-M48 adapter to insert the camera into a widespread 2 inch Press Ring.
Strangley the provided M42F-M42F adapter measures 52mm.
I have used a turning lathe machine to reduce the outer diameter of the M42F-M43F adapter to 50.8mm. Now I can stick the camera into the 2 inch press ring of my telescope without any further adapter.
Why does Touptek provide this adapter with a non 2 inch outer diameter?

Top quality, sharp images, fair price. A very good astro camera with detachable cooling fan

Nice small camera doing a Grat Job.
Very satisfied and clearly recommend this camera.

Great camera.

This is the camera I was waiting for! Cooled and affordable.
The performance of the Sony Starvis 2 IMX 676 is stunning.
The design (with the fan (which mounts and holds perfectly)) is superb! The "low power" cooling is more than enough! (There is no need for a -30°C cooling for such a low dark current sensor, if you do the read noise vs. darknoise math.)
State of the art electronics design (no horizontal banding). Absolute vibration free fan.
Well done, Touptek!

Astro camera interessante per rapporto qualità prezzo applicabile in tutti i campi(DSO e Planetario), il formato quadrato la rende perfetta per i mosaici.

Touptek claims that this camera is to be used for astronomy.
Telescopes have M28.6, M48 and M42 threads.
This camera provides
- IR pass filter cap that only fits the supplied camera lens (incompatible to 1.25 tubes or filters)
- IR cut filter with 1.25 inch outer diameter and C-mount thread (incompatible to 1.25 filters)
- M42 adapter wih 52mm outer diameter (incompatible to 2 inch adapters)
- M42 to C-mount adapter (requires supplied 1.25 extension tube to adapt to M28.6)

So you cannot
- combine any of the provided filters with your own 1.25 or 2 inch filters
- use an 1.25 inch filter/ reducer in a 2 inch eyepiece holder
- use a 1.25 inch filter/ reducer closer than 27mm to sensor

Why does Touptek use so many different measures and threads on this camera?
Why not to use 1.25" M28.6 or M48 as standard thread on camera and provide adapters to C-mount, CS-mount and M42/M48?

the camera itself is okay, I have used it for lucky imaging, the fan on the other hand is a good idea that's a little fragile, if you bump or justle the rig with the fan on the camera, you're going to be looking for it in the dark. other than that, I can say it's okay.

Fan started making noise after 1 week and finally quit working. I am using this with a Stella Vita. It is new and software is up to date. Trying to get camera set so it will stack without dropping a a but of frames.

What a great choice! The AE676C is a real gem, and I’m delighted with it. It’s one of those purchases that justifies itself from the very first shot.