Is the Apollo 428M MAX Pro a global shutter camera?

Yes. Player One builds it on Sony's IMX428, a third-generation Pregius global shutter sensor.

Does the whole Sun fit on the Apollo 428M MAX Pro's sensor?

At 630 mm, yes: through the Heliostar 76Ha the disc spans about 1,300 of the sensor's 2,208 rows. With an amplifier at about 1,180 mm, as in my capture here, the disc still fills the width but loses a little of its top and bottom limb.

How cold does the Apollo 428M MAX Pro get?

Player One quotes 35 to 40 C below ambient. At midday in September, pointed at the Sun, the cooler ran at full power and reached -2.8 C against my -10 C target.

What power does the Apollo 428M MAX Pro need?

12 V DC through a 5.5 x 2.1 mm socket from an adapter rated at 5 A or more, plus USB 3.0 through the USB-C data port (Player One's figures).

Where can I buy the Apollo 428M MAX Pro?

The prices I recorded: £1,045 at Dark Clear Skies (UK), in stock; $999 at Player One Astronomy (US), in stock.

What have I not tested on the Apollo 428M MAX Pro?

I have not used the Apollo 428M MAX Pro on the Moon, the planets or deep-sky targets yet, and I have not measured its read noise, dark current or sensor tilt.

Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro review: a cooled solar camera

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 29 cameras on my board, against price
Rank	Camera	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	SVBONY SV705C	93 out of 100	£229
2	SVBONY SC571CC	90 out of 100	£1,029
4	ZWO ASI2600MC Air	88 out of 100	£2,149
13	Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro	76 out of 100	£1,045
15	Player One Uranus-C	76 out of 100	£395
17	ZWO ASI120MM	75 out of 100	£199
27	ZWO ASI6200MC	59 out of 100	£3,999
28	ZWO ASI183MC	38 out of 100	£549
29	Nikon COOLPIX P1000	32 out of 100	£787

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 The rig on the mount
05 How good is it? Here is what it captured
06 Raw against finished
07 Should you buy it?
08 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 76/100

Reviewed 22 Sep 2026 Updated 24 Sep 2026

Rank: #13 of 29 cameras
Verdict: Damon recommends

Written by Damon Scotting 4 min read

Buy it if

you image the Sun in hydrogen-alpha and want a cooled camera that holds the whole disc at around 600 mm
you want a global shutter mono camera for fast solar and lunar video

Skip it if

you want the most pixels for deep-sky money: a cooled IMX533 or IMX571 camera gives more
you image planets at modest focal lengths: 4.5 micron pixels need a long focal ratio
you want guiding and control in one box: the ZWO ASI585MM Air carries both

Specifications and features

Against the cameras I have reviewed

Compare with

Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro reviewed #13 of 29	ZWO ASI585MM Air #9 of 29	ZWO ASI533MM #24 of 29
Recorded UK price	£1,045	£1,099	£999
Stars for Your Buck	76/100	83/100	66/100
Sensor	Sony IMX428, mono CMOS, global shutter	Sony IMX585 mono, plus an SC2210 mono guide sensor	Sony IMX533, mono CMOS
Format	1.1 inch, 14.5 x 9.9 mm, 17.5 mm diagonal	1/1.2 inch, 11.2 x 6.3 mm, 13.2 mm diagonal	1 inch square, 11.31 x 11.31 mm
Colour or mono	Mono	Mono	Mono
Resolution	3216 x 2208, 7.1 MP	3840 x 2160, 8.3 MP	3008 x 3008, 9 MP
Pixel size	4.5 um	2.9 um	3.76 um
Cooling	Regulated TEC, 35 to 40 C below ambient (30 C in video mode), heated window	Two-stage TEC, 30 to 35 C below ambient	Regulated two-stage TEC, 35 C below ambient
Read noise	1.4 to 5.5 e-	0.7 to 6.4 e-	1.0 to 3.8 e-
Full well	25.3 ke-	38.7 ke-	50 ke-
ADC	12-bit	12-bit	14-bit
Weight	420 g	620 g	470 g
Back focus	17.5 mm	12.5 mm or 17.5 mm	17.5 mm
Interface	USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 compatible), USB-C, 512 MB DDR3 buffer	Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5 GHz), four-port USB 2.0 hub, USB-C, 256 GB eMMC	USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 compatible), 256 MB DDR3 buffer
In the box	Camera, carbon-fibre zip case, cables and adapter rings	Camera, camera bag, external antenna, 1 m DC cable and 1.5 m DC extension, two 0.5 m USB 2.0 cables, 21 mm T2 extender, 16.5 mm T2 to M48 extender, M42 to M48 tilter, 1 m hook-and-loop strap, 2 mm hex wrench, quick guide	Camera, lens cover, T2-M48 16.5 mm extender, T2 21 mm extender, M42-M48 adapter ring, T2-1.25 inch adapter, four spacer rings, 1.25 inch nosepiece, two USB 2.0 cables, USB 3.0 cable, padded bag, quick start guide

In the hand

The IMX428 behind its window

Carbon fibre and the gold ring

IMX428, 1.1 inch, 12-bit, 7.1 MP

The back: fan, USB 3.0 and 12 V

On the Heliostar 76Ha

The carbon-fibre case

The rig on the mount

On the JUWEI-17, then on six other mounts

How good is it? Here is what it captured

One target

The Sun, Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro, Hydrogen-alpha

Integration: 299 of 1,199 frames at 20.3 ms
Field: 0.71 x 0.48 degrees
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Heliostar 76Ha
Camera: Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher SolarQuest
Target: The Sun
Type: The Sun in hydrogen-alpha
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

Raw against finished

Should you buy it?

The 1 target, the unprocessed side against my finished image, each with its integration, the camera and the palette:

The Sun: 299 of 1,199 frames at 20.3 ms of light, Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro, Hydrogen-alpha, the stack of the best 299 frames, before any sharpening

76/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

A global shutter IMX428: every pixel is exposed at once, so fast solar and lunar video frames do not skew
At about 1,180 mm the 14.5 mm-wide sensor still spans the whole width of the Sun
Regulated cooling, 35 to 40 C below ambient, with a heated window against dew
51 frames a second at full resolution in 10-bit over USB 3.0, with a 512 MB buffer

Cons

In the midday sun the cooler ran at full power and reached -2.8 C against a -10 C target
7.1 MP at 12-bit, where a cooled IMX533 camera gives 9 MP at 14-bit for about the same money
The cooler needs a separate 12 V supply rated at 5 A or more
Neither First Light Optics nor Agena Astro sells it: Dark Clear Skies in the UK, Player One's own store in the US

The Apollo 428M MAX Pro is a cooled mono camera built for the Sun: a global shutter IMX428 with big 4.5 micron pixels, on a sensor that holds the whole disc at 630 mm.

Who the Apollo 428M MAX Pro is for

Hydrogen-alpha solar imager

Buy

The 1.1 inch sensor holds the whole disc near 630 mm and the global shutter freezes every frame.

Solar imager working at long focal lengths

Buy

At about 1,180 mm the sensor still spans the Sun's width, so the limb and the surface share one frame.

Deep-sky narrowband imager

Skip

My recommendation is the ZWO ASI533MM Pro: 9 MP and 14-bit for about the same money.

Planetary imager

Skip

Planets want smaller pixels; a 2.9 micron IMX585 camera needs far less focal length to sample them.

Imager who wants everything in one box

Skip

The ZWO ASI585MM Air carries its own guide sensor and ASIAIR, so there is no separate guide camera or computer.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Six questions, answered

Questions about the Player One Apollo 428M MAX Pro

Reviewed 22 September 2026 ·Updated 24 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. How this site is funded

Is the Apollo 428M MAX Pro a global shutter camera? Yes. Player One builds it on Sony's IMX428, a third-generation Pregius global shutter sensor. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Does the whole Sun fit on the Apollo 428M MAX Pro's sensor? At 630 mm, yes: through the Heliostar 76Ha the disc spans about 1,300 of the sensor's 2,208 rows. With an amplifier at about 1,180 mm, as in my capture here, the disc still fills the width but loses a little of its top and bottom limb. What I captured ↓
How cold does the Apollo 428M MAX Pro get? Player One quotes 35 to 40 C below ambient. At midday in September, pointed at the Sun, the cooler ran at full power and reached -2.8 C against my -10 C target. What I captured ↓
What power does the Apollo 428M MAX Pro need? 12 V DC through a 5.5 x 2.1 mm socket from an adapter rated at 5 A or more, plus USB 3.0 through the USB-C data port (Player One's figures). The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Where can I buy the Apollo 428M MAX Pro? The prices I recorded: £1,045 at Dark Clear Skies (UK), in stock; $999 at Player One Astronomy (US), in stock. A record, not a live price The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
What have I not tested on the Apollo 428M MAX Pro? I have not used the Apollo 428M MAX Pro on the Moon, the planets or deep-sky targets yet, and I have not measured its read noise, dark current or sensor tilt.