excerpt from excellent blog of Piotr Malinski , planetary cameras and equipment for 2016 and censys3d white paper in longer version CMOS sensors have advanced tremendously recently, and its quantum efficiency and readout noise is as good as, or even surpass, CCD sensors. CMOS is more affordable. Various manufacturers, especially Sony, has been launching a vast list of CMOS sensors for low light condition. Their applications in digital cameras, surveillance, and some good for astrophotography too. They have STARVIS and PREGIUS trademark Starvis is a BSI pixel design optimized for surveillance cameras with improved sensitivity and noise reductio n, typical sensitivity of more than 2000mV per 1 μ㎡ (color, F5.6, 1s accumulated conversion), and improved light utilization by including the NIR range. Pregius is global shutter pixel technology for APS CMOS image sensors that use a low-noise CCD structure, and realizes high picture quality. Good for hi speed...