ZWO ASI 183MC Pro

ZWO ASI183MC Pro - cooled Color CMOS Camera for astrophotography

The cooled ZWOptical ASI183MC uses the modern SONY Exmor R BSI IMX183 color sensor. With about 20 million pixels, this camera belongs to the large CMOS astro cameras. Due to the pixel size of only 2.4 µm, the resolution of the camera is sensational. With this, the ASI183 becomes attractiv especially for sharp and fast telescopes and camera lenses.

One of the outstanding features of the ASI183 is the sensational light sensitivity. The QE of 84%, due to the BACK ILLUMINATION technology, and the very low amplifier glow make the camera very well suited for all astronomical applications, but above all for deep-sky astrophotography.

The "single shot" color camera offers more comfort, compared with monochrome cameras. Not everyone wants to follow through the laborious L-RGB technique for beautiful colored nebula or planetary images. The color cameras offer a possibility to obtain beautiful images without changing filters. In direct comparison to the DSLR camera, the ASI183MC convinces with much higher light sensitivity, a smoother image and more depth. Stars become saturated less fast.
 

Further advantages and features of the ASI 183MC Pro color camera:

• USB 3.0 for quick download - can also be used with USB 2.0
• DDR3 memory buffer to help improve data transfer reliability. Additionally, the use of a memory buffer minimizes amp-glow, which is caused by the slow transfer speeds when the camera is used with a USB 2.0 port.
• Powerful Peltier cooling up to 45 °C below environment.
• One of the most light-sensitive CMOS sensors from Sony with 15.9 mm diagonal - 20 megapixels
• Extremely high resolution through 2.4 µm pixels - ideal for fast and sharp telescopes like apos, Hyperstar, Celestron Faststar, fast Newtonian telescopes, ...
• Comes with AR protect window - full transmission also in infrared. If IR should be blocked, an IR block filter is needed.
• Distance T2-thread (female) to camera sensor: 17.5 mm
• High sensitivity - QE up to 84% - ideal astronomy camera for dim objects
• 12 bit ADC

 

Application ranges of the camera:

• Deep sky images (nebulae and galaxies): Due to the high sensitivity, nebulae and galaxies are captured after only a few seconds. By cooling down the camera up to 45 °C below ambient, the already low noise can be further reduced. By increasing gain (like the ISO setting of DSLR cameras), you can reduce exposure times below 30 seconds. Effects from seeing or inaccuracies of the drive are eliminated.
• Solar, lunar and planetary images: extremely short exposure times (due to high sensitivity) freeze the seeing. Through the high resolution of the sensor, many details can be reproduced even at shorter focal length. Video astronomy is also possible.

 

Important: external power supply required!

Please notice that all ZWO cameras with cooler need to be connected to an external 11-15 V power supply to work.

Even when the cooler is not being used the power supply must be used for the camera to be reliably recognized.