ZWO ASI533MC review
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- I've used this camera for close to a year now. I cover some features and how the images look. Both with broadband and narrowband filters.
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#astrophotography #zwo533
This might be the best review for the 533mc online. I'm seeing this 2 year after publishing. Congrats!
Thank you! One of my earliest videos too. Im still using that camera. :)
@@DSOImager Would you still recommend it? I'm on a DSLR, star tracker, auto-guider. I'm thinking to go for this camera or for a decent mount.
@@alexolariu9335 Yes, i still recommend it at its price point. If your budget allows, a camera based on the imx571 gives you the same tech but at a much larger sensor size as it's a crop sensor. The zwo camera with that sensor is the asi2600.
wow ! I have same camera that i run on a sharpstar 94mm and Celestron 8" xlt and you got me beat on those images, well done!
Thank you! :)
Amazing Images!!! Wow!!! I never thought of multiple nights of data for one object. I just bought the 533mc today and look forward to shooting with it.
Yes! Doing so.. adding more data was a game changer for me. :)
These are amazing man! Your channel is very underrated
Thanks!
Great video, I would like to see the Pixinsight processing and the mosaic video when you have time to do them.
Thanks! I think my next video will be processing SHO images with the 533. I can do the Pixinsight Mosaic one after that.
Nice review! I'm a little surprised at the noise for such long exposure times, but I've never used a 533MC before. Anyway, enjoyed the video and the great images, love your processing!
Thanks Joe. My processing still needs some improving. I'm still learning :)
Thanks for this review. You steered me here from Cloudy Nights. I was the one asking about a good astro dedicated camera. I like this.
Awesome! Glad you liked it :)
Awesome video and nice shots! What was your gain and exposure length for the Crab Nebula?
Thanks! On that shot I used gain 100 with an exposure of 420".
Great informative, no waffle, video.
Thanks. Nice to get just some solid information regarding this camera. I've been thinking of getting it.
Great demonstration.
Thanks
Thanks!
Hi, I have a 533MC and got some hot pixels on the Jellyfish Nebula using Deep Sky Stacker but when I used Astro Pixel Processor they were gone. Good review 👍🏻
Nice. Ive heard good things about APP. I'll have to check it out.
Great video. Helps me with my camera and filter selection. Thanks for posting.
Glad it helped!
I found your video fascinating because you explored combinations I haven't seen before. I have to go camping in order to get that much integration time because of restricted views from my small backyard and neighbor's tall trees. What average sub exposure times did you use? I'm finally back on track after struggling with a mount for the past three years with guiding issues, I could never achieve round stars. The manufacturer finally admitted the mount was defective and exchanged it with a new "open box" unit. My first tests have been very positive so far.
I like what I have read about the 533, but I have to work around the smaller square sensor by learning how to do a two-panel mosaic, for example, the Andromeda Galaxy. Wouldn't dithering resolve the hot pixel issue? I like the fact the ASIAIR PRO/PLUS will allow you to alternate dithering frames and not be stuck with every image being dithered.
In regards to halos, I watched a video featuring the Antlia filter line with side-by-side comparisons and it was impressive how the Antlia filter did very well at blocking halos. It was impressive.
Thanks John!
On sub exposures.. it depended on the scope and target. Typically for broadband i'm somewhere between 60-120s in my bortle 5 skies.
Dithering should.. but some were still getting through. Turns out it was a stacking issue. With deepsky stacker.. it was doing odd things to the stars unless I disabled cosmetic correction. With cosmetic correction disabled.. i would get those hot pixels. Stacking in pixinsight with cosmetic correction enabled worked perfectly. I'm sure the settings in DSS could be tweaked to make it work.. but since it worked for me on pixinsight I didnt worry about it.
In regards to filters.. I have used ZWO, Astronomiks, and Astrodons (plus the l-extreme from optolong). I've heard good things about the latest Antlia filters. I think their first version of NB filters did have some halo issues... worth researching.
Glad to hear you are back on track. CS!
great video,buying this camera soon :"D
Thanks! It's an awesome camera. Clear Skies!
Great review! I liked all of the final images especially the Lagoon and Trifid, solid!
Thanks Sendhil!
Very helpful, thank you, clear skies
You're welcome :)
Thanks. Nice video. I had similar results with my Canon 6Da and L-Extreme filter. I found I needed 10+ hrs in a bortle 7-8 sky to get reasonable results.
Thanks! Sounds about right... adding integration time helps a lot. I typically aim for 10+ hours on almost all of my targets and honestly, I prefer to push it up to 20 hrs. Helps a lot with the noise.
Nice review James I really enjoy my 533 it's an awesome little camera. I tend to just use flats and Bias as my calibration frames. I need to try some mosaics with this camera, I tend to be a bit lazy with Mosaics.
Thanks Ollie.. Mosaics are a bit of work. If you keep it to just 2 or 4 panels its not so bad. I've been shooting a bunch of 2 panel mosaics lately.. I just can't help myself, lol.
Great video 👍🏼. Very interesting to see the different results with using the various options of doing narrowband with an OSC. Definitely agree that the L-eXtreme works best with OIII rich targets. One problem I’ve had with this filter is halos around the brightest stars with my refractor.
Thanks! I've heard of others having issues with Halos and this filter. It's interesting... I've never had the halo issues with it. I wonder if it might be related to the filter location in the image train. Mine is in zwo filter wheel and is mounted right in front of the sensor. I know a lot of folks use the 2" version and have it mounted in front of the reducer/FF.
@@DSOImager I’ve been using the zwo filter drawer and admittedly it wasn’t as close to the sensor of the asi294 as I would have liked as I was using the 11mm connector to get it too attach to the camera. Maybe I could try getting it closer and see if it makes a difference.
@@LogansAstro Would be interesting to see if there's an impact. A local astro buddy of mine was having light leak issues with his zwo filter drawn.
This was great. I really wish there was something like this for the 294!
Thanks! The other camera's use is the asi1600mm and the 294mm. I've only had the 294mm for a few months but do plan on doing a similar review.
Excellent video... Great explanation of the information. I am using pretty much the same setup with a Meade 80mm scope on a EQ6-R mainly for EAA but a video on your processing techniques would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to it.
Thanks! I should get something out shortly.
DSO Imager. Wow!!!! Great Video. Like your communication style. Can you continue with some follow on videos. Pixinsight Processing ZWO 533 Images. Also liked the idea of the mosaic 2 panel approach. When is the next video?????
Thanks! I should have the next one up soon, maybe a week?
Excelente vídeo.
Tengo la ASI533, sería muy interesante ver tutoriales de dual band.
saludos.
Thank you, stay tuned!
I am a beginner and just ordered this camera. Could you do a video on shooting. Like what software, how to's and is there anywhere to go to learn the language? Half the words you used I don't understand what they mean.
Hi Jason, congratulations on the new camera.. it's an excellent camera to learn on.
There's a number of videos on other astrophotography channels that cover getting set up with software and capturing so I didn't think there would be any interest in me doing one... but I can put one together. Would take me a few weeks. :)
The cloudynights forum is a good place to hang out and pick up on the language and terms. They have a dedicated forum for beginning astrophotography. Just reading through the different posts will get you up to speed on a lot of the basic terms.
@@DSOImager Thanks!, I am in the beginner stage and will be getting my camera soon and will need a step by step to even begin using it lol. I bought the Celestron Nexstar SE8 to go along with it. Do you have a video about what flats, darks, biases and all that are and how to take them? Or how to set up the camera to automate taking the photos and bring in the data?
@@DSOImager I got the camera. I was trying to shoot Orion Nebula for my first object. It looked good in the live view. But I cant figure out how to take Fits files. It takes them in PNG and PNG.Txt files. And they are black and white looking when it was color in my live screen. And when I zoom in it looks like it was taken on a canvas texture? I did it on ASI Studios Planetary Imaging ASI. I tried Deep Sky Imaging ASIImg but All I could see was a black screen? These where the first problems I ran into, so any suggestions as to solved this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
@@jasonmathias5343 I've not used the ASI software.. but it sounds like you need to debayer. Color camera's have a filter called the bayer matrix.. its a pattern of red, green, and blue pixels. For every 4 pixels, one is red, one is blue, and two are green. Different camera's can use different patterns. If you stack the image in a program like "deep sky stacker" with the correct bayer pattern, it should convert the grey image with the texture to a color image.
As far as getting it to output the image files as a FIT.. there should be an option somewhere in the software where you specify the file format.
@@DSOImager I have a Mac so I have to use ASI Deepstack, or ASI Live stacking, or Siril. Siri looks pretty good but I still don't know how to use it, Im first trying to get some proper data to use it with so I am trying to figure that part out first.
I figured out that I had to turn off raw data for it to take a color picture but it has to be on the Raw8 which makes PNG files. When I switch it over to Raw16 it takes a Fit file but its back in black and white.
One more issue I had last night was the live display was very slow and delayed. For example when I focused my telescope or moved it, it would take at least 20 seconds for it to happen on the live view so it wasn't in real time which made it difficult to get the right focus. When I set it up during the day it did not do this, only at night?
Wow I think I need to buy one of these!
Nice review. Regarding hot pixel issues, do you employ dithering between exposures?
Yes, usually I will dither every frame for exposures 120" or longer.
The hot pixel thing may be an issue with DSS. I have to turn cosmetic correct off otherwise it creates weird artifacts in small stars.
I believe that with good dithering you really don't need the calibration, tested over last 6 months. Great camera, wouldn't go back to 294MC, would love 2600MC because the only problem with 533MC is the small size. It's great however for 6-9" telescopes for planetary and emission nebulas, it's big enough.
It is a solid little camera :)
Very informative video, thanks. Would you recommend a UV/IR cut filter for this camera?
Yes.. the zwo ASI533MC does need a uv/ir cut filter. You can use a uv/ir cut filter.. or a luminance filter as they also block uv/ir.
Thank you! Very useful.
Glad it was helpful!
Great Depth Review Of The Camera !! 👍🔭
Thanks!
Great information
Thanks!
Impressive pictures. How much clear skies do you get!! Do you shoot from your backyard?
Thanks! I am shooting from my backyard. I am NE of Austin TX. Last year was good as far as clear nights go, better than average. Summers in particular are pretty clear here.
Very helpful
Thanks!
Great video! I want to buy a deep sky camera with a newton f5 what do you recommend between the 294 and this 533?
Thanks! Tough choice.. both have pros and cons but either one is a great choice :) The 294 fov is larger, and the larger pixels will make it a little more forgiving with guiding, but the 533 is so easy to use in terms of calibration files and puts out very clean images. I personally give the edge to the 533 provided you are okay with the smaller fov and square sensor. One thing to consider.. hows the coma on your newt? If you find yourself having to crop the image down, then the 294s biggest advantage evaporates.
Nice job!
Thanks Benton!
Lagoon image is amazing. Is that through a refractor or sct?
Thanks! That Lagoon image was with the refractor.
Very good video. Have you or anyone compared this to the ACI183mc?
Thanks! I've had a chance to play with some asi183mc data... and my asi178mm is the precursor to the asi183 (same small pixels, just smaller chip).
The asi183mc is a good camera but I would put the 533 ahead. Both cover the same amount of sky.. just one is square and the other is rectangle. The 533 has less noise and the slightly lager pixels are more versatile. The 183 has some significant amp glow.. and while it calibrates out fine.. getting the calibration frames just right can sometimes be tricky. On the 533.. I don't want to say calibration files are optional... but you can get away without them. Overall the 533 the more forgiving (of the two) camera to run.. IMHO :)
Whats your full optical train? Great images!
Thanks! Two different image trains/rigs. With the Edge 8" I have the .7 Reducer from Celestron > zwo OAG > Zwo filter wheel (1.25 filters) and the camera. For the guide camera I'm using an asi178mm. The mount is an eq6r.
The sv70t has the .8 matched reducer, zwo filter wheel and the camera. The guide camera is a 50mm I picked up off of amazon.. astromania I think is the brand. The guide cam is an asi224mc. The mount is an avx but will be soon swapped out with a 2nd eq6r.
Both mounts are run by cheap/old laptops running SGP.
I just picked up a 294mm, going forward the plan is to run the 294 on the Edge and have the 533 on the sv70t doing mosaics.
What are your results when you make 30sec subs with the 533C
Hi Marnix, I don't recall ever trying 30" subs. I believe the shortest I've tried was 60".
Fantastic work! When you say 17h of data, how many nights on average would that mean?
Thanks! 15 hours can be anywhere from 3-5 nights depending on the target and time of year. More if a night is cut short by clouds.
@@sandb1867 Two words: Plate solving. The image acquisition software I use is "sequence generator pro" and it has the ability to use plate solving to point the telescope/camera.
I have mine configured with an error of +/- 30 pixels. This allows for very consistent pointing, night after night. I can even revisit the same target a year later and have it perfectly aligned.
Many different imaging programs include a platesolving capability but I am only familiar with Sequence Generator.
@@DSOImager Awesome! I had no idea this feature exists. Was plate solving also involved in making mosaics?
@@sandb1867 Yep.. in fact plate solving helps greatly with mosaics.
on the edge are you using OAG ?
Yes, the .7 celestron.
@@DSOImager the celestron off axis guider ?
@@ninjageezer6802 zwo oag.. the original one. ASi178mm for the guide cam.
If I could do it again.. I'd go for a oag with a larger prism. Chose this one because it's thin.
@@DSOImager many thanks