Everything began with a Canon 1000d, i borrowed from a colleague to capture Polar Lights in Norway early 2013. This gave the last impulse to buy an own camera, a Canon 5d MKii. Having this camera, it didnt take long and i took my first Orion, and bought my first astro modified camera (a Canon 1000 da). I also bought a used ATIK 383L+ cooled camera with a CCD sensor.
My first camera i bought new was a QHY 183m, and after that some more followed. The 183 have still been 12 bit ADC with heavy amp glow, and technology did a huge step since. All of my camera gear has been QHY gear since, and i have long been fancy getting a full frame CMOS mono camera (IMX455) since it came out some years ago.
Now i think the time has come. However, QHY seems to withdraw from European market. At least that’s what i’ve been told. I want to pick a brand which produces durable quality and also has a customer service which is available and responding. So, i’m not sure if QHY is still the brand i should choose. But if it isn’t QHY, what are the alternatives? ZWO ASI? Most of the other camera manufacturers seem to produce in China, or have their gear rebranded.
So i would be very interested in your thoughts about camera gear!
Switch to a different camera brand - but if, to which one?
andrea tasselli:
Moravian if you can afford it. If you can't, PlayerOne.
100% agree, just remember you get what you pay for.
Bob Lockwood · Nov 16, 2025, 05:22 PM
andrea tasselli:
Moravian if you can afford it. If you can't, PlayerOne.
100% agree, just remember you get what you pay for.
Although, in PlayerOne’s case, it’s cheaper than Zwo and Qhy for a great product and great support.
I would say you get the best bang for your buck with either Touptek or PlayerOne.
In the past 2 years I’ve moved from
SBIG (Old ST8300M) to Player One Artemis-C
Player One Artemis-C to ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro
ZWO ASI1600MM Pro to ToupTek ATR2600M.
Build quality wise :
SBIG was the best of them all, without question. However they don’t really cater to the consumer market any more.
Player One was certainly a strong second.
ToupTek and ZWO were largely the same, however, the ToupTek is certainly better than the ZWO though this could be the generational difference between a 1600MM ZWO and a 2600 series ToupTek.
Software wise:
The SBIG was a pig to use on modern PC hardware. I used a beta driver from SBIG with a hand rolled ASCOM driver (Being a software engineer has its perks in this hobby)
The Player one caused me NO issues, Neither has the ToupTek.
The ZWO had a weird issue in NINA where it would sometimes appear like it wasn’t connected.. I had to cut power to the camera then turn it back on for NINA to detect it.
Accessories wise:
SBIG was again SOLID when it came to the 8×36mm filter wheel… Flawless implementation - except again - custom ASCOM driver required to work on modern PC hardware.
ToupTek’s AFW/OAG setup that bolts together and is ROCK SOLID is pretty brilliant… It would be great if they supplied a MUCH shorter cable with it, as the cable only needs to be about 30cm to go from the back of the camera to the AFW, however they supply a solid 6ft of cable which is unsightly to manage.
Player one’s OAG is nice, not as nice as the ToupTek one, but it is nice, and the fully bolted together solution for the filter draw → oag → Camera was pretty lovely.
ZWO’s EFW + OAG setup for the 1600MM was… well.. it sucked. Having to use a series of shims to ensure the OAG lined up how you wanted it to with regards to the EFW/Camera body, and again between the EFW and camera body to make sure everything was ‘square’.
Marketing - you know what - Player One wins this round. The cameras come in high quality, printed boxes, with a hard shell case, an air blower, all the required adapters/screws etc all neatly packaged… Unboxing a new Player One camera is a very smooth experience that wreaks of quality.
SBIG - well, it came in a hard plastic case - which is awesome, but once you bolt the filterwheel to the camera body, the case is a paperweight as nothing fits inside it anymore.
Touptek’s packaging is utilitarian, but it works… They are nicely packaged and come with everything you’re going to need..
I’ve had better experiences unboxing shoes than I have with ZWO products…
I can’t comment to QHY as the last time I bought a new QHY camera was in 2008 when I bought a QHY8…
Overall…
If you’re looking for the best overall product, buy a PlayerOne.
If you’re looking for a brilliant product that fits into a tighter budget - ToupTek are amazing.
If you’re wanting to have a red camera like 90% of other astrophotographers and don’t care about after sales support, QA etc - ZWO are right there for you…
Another vote for Player One from me. I have used ZWO, QHY, and Player One. My Player One Poseidon-M has really impressed me, especially for the price. The included tilt adapter is very easy to use if you ever need it, however my imaging train came together without any appreciable tilt on the first try!
If you are in Europe and want a step up in quality, then Moravian.
All of these are great suggestions and cameras, especially Player One. Had I known about the company when I was moving over from a DSLR, I would’ve gone with their products.
However, for what they are, I have been extremely pleased with my SVBony 405CC, even with the amp glow and no frills design.
I differ on zwo customer support, or at least in the one case I had to use it. They were quick to respond to camera problem, and provide an RMA number. The repair turnaround was also very quick, so maybe my experience was an outlier, but they were good when I needed them. Of course you could argue that a higher quality product wouldn’t need repair after 2 years!
I've had the entire ZWO optical system since 2021.
I have an ASI 2600mm with EFW36 and OAG-L (with ASI 174mm mini).
After 4 years, everything still works perfectly.
I don't even remember how they were packaged when they arrived, and I find it quite sad to judge a product by its packaging because the more unnecessary stuff there is in the packaging, the more environmental pollution it causes. I'd like to point out this small but important detail.
Moreover, ZWO products, which are packaged very minimally, truly include everything you need in terms of cables and adapters.
- Build quality well beyond anything else
- Ability to choose 'Pro' or 'consumer' sensors. Pro stands for 'designed for intensive use', without much further qualification.
- Built-in shutter (keeps dust out, easy darks)
- No fiddling with tilting sensor, it's just straight.
- Built-in filterwheel (if you so desire)
- Large cooling capacity
- Very responsive and helpful customer service
- Europe-based if that is important to you
Just FYI Player one Zeus uses “Industrial grade” sensor too, like the Moravian equivalent at a fraction of the cost. Compared to the ZWO 6200mm, the PO cooler is significantly better and more efficient. There is also a higher level of control and settings to adjust on the PO compared to the ZWO.
Here my view - I have cameras from ZWO, QHY, QSI and I had cameras from Player One, Atik and from Starlight Express.
Player One - good value, reasonable price, good support
Starlight Express - very good camera, attractive price if you buy direct
Atik - nothing to complain, good support
ZWO - leading brand, support not really convincing, quality is OK
QHY - excellent quality but a bit like a diva - sensitive to whatever maybe disturbs them, support where I live, excellent
QSI - a workhorse, reliable and support from Atik very responsive
Currently I am using ZWO, QHY and QSI - QHY (600, 286 and 294 - both C and M) - if they work, then they are very fine, 294 - not really a recommendation, 600 - both excellent but a bit sensitive to possible disturbances, 286 - more reliable
ZWO - 2600MC, 585MC and 183 M and C - all work fine, 2600 had serious grease problems, but now solved, 183 - work and no complains
QSI - 583 wsg/ws - workhorse, switch it on and forget it - it works
My personal recommendation would be to look at Touptek (many brands get their cameras from them rebranded) or if you can afford it at Moravian (too expensive for me)
CS
Georg
I can confirm
Georg N. Nyman · Nov 17, 2025, 09:40 PM
[…] QHY - excellent quality but a bit like a diva - sensitive to whatever maybe disturbs them, support where I live, excellent […]
QHY (600, 286 and 294 - both C and M) - if they work, then they are very fine, 294 - not really a recommendation, 600 - both excellent but a bit sensitive to possible disturbances, 286 - more reliable […]
CS
Georg
I can confirm that.
In the beginning i owned a QHY10. That was this camera with the external amp box. This concept didnt establish for some reason. It was sometimes very unreliable, there were nights when i couldnt get it to work at all. And it couldnt reproduce amp glow, since that amp box wasnt cooled. So calibrating my frames never did work properly.
At the moment i use a QHY 268 with filter wheel. It is the 2nd filter wheel with this camera. The first one suddenly stopped working during a precious clear night nearly 2 years ago, and i finally got a replacement via Astrolumina, the retailer. However, it took several months to get the replacement.
Astrolumina seems to be inactive now, i guess i wont get any service this way anymore. And other shops here sell QHY gear at reduced prices, i think they might remove them from their repertoire.
If anyone wants to resurrect a dead QSI 6162, I have one in the cupboard - it's dead because Atik refuse to provide firmware updates for legacy cameras.
Yep - seriously, and it's the same one they sent me as a prize! - Atik has since become a swear word in this house.I purchased a ZWO 2600mm instead, which worked straight out of the box, no issues whatsoever. I went down that path because my astrobuddy also has one, which has also worked flawlessly for the past three years.
+1 for Moravian. I just had a ZWO 2600MM die for the second time. (Oil leak first time and daughterboard the second time). I had it repaired and ZWO was fast and did a good job but I decided to sell it used and go Moravian since the other Moravian I have has been flawless.
I also went with the C3 since although it is heavier and bulkier, it also has a shutter and can be bought with better cooling. That plus the backfocus is a bit less than most of the others if you get the 26000 with the internal filter wheel. It is now on my older FSQ and seems happy.
I have everything from ZWO and I would not change it for nothing. Newer had single issue with that system.
I don’t want to say that other brands are not good or some like Moravian better but as complete setup to me it works flawlessly.
andrea tasselli · Nov 16, 2025 at 05:07 PM
Moravian if you can afford it. If you can't, PlayerOne.
Player one has very good cooling, high quality build and stable drivers. I can recommend it.
The repeated mentions of Moravian got me curious, so I went on an excursion to Moravian.
While there, I was reminded of why I use much of the equipment I do, NINA.
I decided to go remote with my equipment and in doing so I chose to use NINA as my control, Stellarium as my planetarium. And the equipment lists in NINA to help me decide what would work within NINA’s sphere.
So, I tended to groom my purchases to easily work with NINA. ZWO ASI I already had and those cameras worked fine with NINA. (3 different cameras) When I decided to go back into one-shot-color I found many liked the ZWO ASI2600MC Pro with its big sensor for my 130mm refractor telescope. And it has worked great for me. I did have a very unpleasant experiance with ZWO Service over a faulty EAF unit. But my cameras all have worked great for me for years now. I use ASI290MM for guiding, ASI1600MM Pro for Monaural, and the ASI2600MC Pro (OSC) as my main camera now.
So, while I hesitate to recommend anything, I would caution to consider what will work flawlessly with your preferred controlling choices. If NINA, I would look at the equipment listed in its platform. I can highly recommend Pegasus Astro for focusing (Focuser2) and their rotator (Falcon2). But they don’t offer cameras.