I'm thinking about upgrading my Astrophotography Camera, is the ZWO ASI585MC Pro a good choice for upgrading. Right now i'm using a Fibonax Nova 800 Camera.
Any Thoughts on this?
Any Thoughts on this?
Camera Upgrade
I use it and I love it! You just have to get used to the tight framing
If you don't mind the small sensor size the 585 is an excellent chip and a great value. I use a 585 uncooled for my guide cam and have both the cooled color and cooled mono versions. When you look at the Minicam8 and the Touptek atr585 package it's eve a bigger bargain. My Touptek setup included the cooled camera, an 8 position filter wheel and L,R,G,B,Ha,Oiii and Sii filters. All for under $1000 US. The other factor is, it's still a very capable Lunar/Planetary camera so you can really do a lot with a single sensor. I highly recommend it.
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I have it for cca half year and absolutely love it! amazing value for that price, definitely recommend and would buy it again.
I think the imx585 is a fine sensor, but I CAN NOT recommend the cooled ZWO version; either the regular one or the "duo" version.
The IMX585 chip has a 12-bit ADC ( [0-4095] possible ADU values). ZWO for some crazy reason has decided to turn on the High Gain Conversion (i.e. low read noise mode) at a gain that only has 2000 electrons full-well. This means that ZWO is only using 11-bits of the 12-bit ADC and because of this the camera will saturate the stars very quickly.
Other vendors like PlayerOne have chosen to turn on HGC at 4070 ADU
Both ToupTek and QHY have implemented a 16-bit mode that's even better.
The IMX585 chip has a 12-bit ADC ( [0-4095] possible ADU values). ZWO for some crazy reason has decided to turn on the High Gain Conversion (i.e. low read noise mode) at a gain that only has 2000 electrons full-well. This means that ZWO is only using 11-bits of the 12-bit ADC and because of this the camera will saturate the stars very quickly.
Other vendors like PlayerOne have chosen to turn on HGC at 4070 ADU
Both ToupTek and QHY have implemented a 16-bit mode that's even better.
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For a just little more get an IMX533 based sensor which is a much better sensor and essentially doubles the sky area covered. And better sensitivity too (larger pixels).
John Stone:
I think the imx585 is a fine sensor, but I CAN NOT recommend the cooled ZWO version; either the regular one or the "duo" version.
The IMX585 chip has a 12-bit ADC ( [0-4095] possible ADU values). ZWO for some crazy reason has decided to turn on the High Gain Conversion (i.e. low read noise mode) at a gain that only has 2000 electrons full-well. This means that ZWO is only using 11-bits of the 12-bit ADC and because of this the camera will saturate the stars very quickly.
Other vendors like PlayerOne have chosen to turn on HGC at 4070 ADU
Both ToupTek and QHY have implemented a 16-bit mode that's even better.
I would agree with that. Touptek's 16 bit mode works extremely well. I only use that mode plus the lowest gain of 100. Not sure I know how they do it but it certainly delivers. Extremely low noise and great dynamic range.
I like my PlayerOne Ares with an IMX533 sensor. The square sensor makes framing extremely easy, file sizes are easy to work with, and very forgiving of backspacing and tilt.
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