CAMIRAS, the Saclay ground-based mid-IR camera, was built in 1990. At the time it was equipped with a 64 X 64 pixels Si:Ga array, developed by LETI/LIR, as a by-product of the detectors for ISOCAM. CAMIRAS has been intensively used at CFHT and at the Nordic Optical Telescope since 1991. In 1995, LETI/LIR delivered 192 X 192 Si:Ga arrays. Such a detector has been integrated in CAMIRAS in March 1995, and its acquisition system has been upgraded. The instrument is very versatile; several configurations allow to optimize it either at 10 microns or at 17 microns. CAMIRAS was mounted with the new 192 X 128 detector array at CFHT in July 1996. THis paper gives a full instrumental description of CAMIRAS. A particular attention is given to the spectro- imaging capability of the instrument achieved with a circular variable filter. Results from the last 3 observing campaigns carried out at the TIRGO observatory and at the Nordic Optical Telescope illustrate this paper. Spectra of comet Hale-Bopp showing the silicates features in the 8-13 microns wavelength range are presented.
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