SVBONY SV405CC Cooled Camera – Delivery, Unboxing and First Impressions

A while ago, SVBONY announced their first TEC cooled camera: the product has the name  “SV405CC”. In order to improve this new product, SVBONY was looking for ‘reviewers’ or ‘testers’. Since I do have a background in testing – I have been working for more than 20 years as a test engineer for Eurofins Digital Testing in Belgium – I decided to apply for the opportunity and eventually got selected.

I recently received my SVBONY SV405CC color camera, and the following is an overview of the delivery, the unboxing of the camera and my first impressions.

I ordered the camera in the middle of April, even though it wasn’t in stock at that time since the production was in the early phases and COVID-19 was still causing delays in everyday life. The release date has been postponed a few times but in the middle of May I received an update that the SV405CC was in stock and that it would be delivered soon.

When the product arrived it was really well packed in a sturdy shipping cardboard box and this box had a thick layer of bubble wrap in it. All sides of the box were sealed with thick tape, making it extra safe for transport from Hongkong (Asia) to Belgium (Europe). The package was underway for nearly 14 days, and I could easily follow its’ trajectory because a tracking number and a parcel tracking website were supplied by the excellent SVBONY customer care.

In my case, the duties and taxes were already paid up-front so the package didn’t have to go through a long customs clearance routine. This means that I didn’t have to pay any extras in order to import the camera to the European Union.

Upon opening the shipping box, there were 3 items: an SVBONY keyring with SVBONY logo, the main SV405CC color camera box that also contains accessories and another box holdng the 12V 5A power supply with European power cord. It was really nice of SVBONY to include the correct cord! The main box that holds the camera was also wrapped in an extra layer of bubble wrap. The power supply wasn’t wrapped in bubble wrap but the box had no dents or marks so the shipping had been really good.

The main camera box has the well-known SVBONY logo printed on it. After opening the box I could see a little pouch that contains the camera, a USB cable (USB 3.0 type B) and a bag with accessories. After taking the pouch, the cable and the bag out of the box I could also see the product manual that contains all of the necessary information in multiple languages.

The pouch that holds the camera is nicely made and has a zipper to open and close the pouch. When opening the pouch you can see the backside of the camera, which has a USB-port, a 12V DC 5A connector and vents for the fan that helps to cool the camera. The camera itself has a dark-grey color which I think looks really nice. On two sides of the camera you can see air vents that allow for better cooling of the sensor. This camera has a TEC cooling, meaning that there is a Peltier element in the camera that can be automatically controlled by imaging software in order to let the camera cool for more than 30°C below ambient temperature. The capability to cool the camera sensor allows astro-photographers to capture long-exposure images with a minimum of thermal noise, and to capture calibration frames with very similar thermal properties.

The bag with accessories contains a large series of adapters, rings and spacers:

• 1.25″ T-adapter
• 2 inch cover (this is already on the camera in the pouch to cover the sensor)
• T2 adapter
• M42-M48 ring
• T2 1.25″ ring
• M42M-M42F-21L
• M42M-M48F-16.5L
• 3 thin spacers (thickness not measured) to allow for fine-adjustment of optical spacing

And like mentioned earlier, there’s also a 12V 5A power supply included, and a USB 3.0 cable.

All in all my first impressions are really good: the shipment occurred fast and secure and it was easy to track. The packaging itself was really good and all of the promised items were in the box. To be honest: at the time that I ordered the camera, there wasn’t a power supply foreseen and I purchased one myself just to make sure that if the camera would arrive I would have a power supply in order to be able to use the 2-stage cooling of the SV405CC. Afterwards, SVBONY changed this so that a power supply is always included when purchasing the camera. To conclude: this has been a hassle-free experience so far, thank you SVBONY! 

If they’d ever like someone to test their newly released SV550 triplet telescope with SV209 flattener in combination with this new SV405CC, then I’d be willing to be a candidate again since the new telescope and the new camera would be a perfect match.

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