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Zwo asi120mc-s


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Several members have the ASI120MM-S, and it is getting very good reports. USB3 really boosts performance. I have managed up to 128 FPS at 1936x1216 with the ASI174MM, and higher at lower resolution (depending on exposure time of course). I only manage that for short bursts, and then the hard disk limits performance, especially for solar (with its much bigger image sizes)

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For planetary imaging you need a very bright planet to easily do imaging at > 60-80 FPS at max telescope resolution. For lunar/solar imaging fast full frame imaging is very handy but that prefers mono sensors instead of color.

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Hi,

Not to put a spanner in the works, but I bought that camera also, and it will not work on my USB three ports on my new laptop, I have been exchanging emails with Sam at ZWOptical and the conclusion is that these cameras will not work with all USB 3.0 chipsets, so it is pot luck really.

I managed to get it to work on a 50cm USB 3 lead, but any longer and it throws an error, also the lead that came with the camera will work if plugged into a USB 3.0 powered hub, and then the short 50cm lead to the laptop, so it is down to lack of powers supplied through the USB port.

I have kept the camera and will just use on USB 2 as the frame rate is stil a bit better than the dedicated USB 2 camera, not sure why.

So good luck and hope you have a good laptop, mine is a Lenovo so I would not bother with one of those. I am a computer technician by trade and I have tried everything with no luck, I needed it to work on a 3m cable so I could use on my pier and sit in my warm room, but if I wanted to sit outside next to the pier, with a powered hub and get freezing cold, then all is good.....:)

Regards

AB

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Hi,

Not to put a spanner in the works, but I bought that camera also, and it will not work on my USB three ports on my new laptop, I have been exchanging emails with Sam at ZWOptical and the conclusion is that these cameras will not work with all USB 3.0 chipsets, so it is pot luck really.

I managed to get it to work on a 50cm USB 3 lead, but any longer and it throws an error, also the lead that came with the camera will work if plugged into a USB 3.0 powered hub, and then the short 50cm lead to the laptop, so it is down to lack of powers supplied through the USB port.

I have kept the camera and will just use on USB 2 as the frame rate is stil a bit better than the dedicated USB 2 camera, not sure why.

So good luck and hope you have a good laptop, mine is a Lenovo so I would not bother with one of those. I am a computer technician by trade and I have tried everything with no luck, I needed it to work on a 3m cable so I could use on my pier and sit in my warm room, but if I wanted to sit outside next to the pier, with a powered hub and get freezing cold, then all is good.....:)

Regards

AB

Must admit, I've not used any cable other than the supplied one ... Freaky though as my laptop is a lenovo too [emoji3] its an X10 netbook type thing .

Curiouser and curiouser

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I have kept the camera and will just use on USB 2 as the frame rate is stil a bit better than the dedicated USB 2 camera, not sure why.

Because it has a bigger on board buffer so less frames will get dropped.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Must admit, I've not used any cable other than the supplied one ... Freaky though as my laptop is a lenovo too [emoji3] its an X10 netbook type thing .

Curiouser and curiouser

Mine is an x20/30 11.6" screen netbook/ laptop, sort of in between the two.

It won't work at all with the supplied cable unless I use my powered USB 3.0 hub in between camera and PC.

I have tried the camera on my daughters HP laptop and work superbly mega fast frame rates, in fact on that it will give maximum FR.

So I know the camera is fine, I had only just got the Lenovo laptop too, so that made it worse as my budget would have allowed me to get pretty much any laptop, but wanted one with the smaller screen for more portability.

Still you live and learn, and just wanted to point this out to any potential buyers of these new USB 3.0 cameras.

Regards

AB

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That is very interesting. I thought getting a cam with USB 3,

would be a step up from my USB 2 one. After the trouble U

have had AB, I wont bother :confused: .

Steve

Well, best to try one on your laptop first, if at all possible, if you know someone with the camera in question.

They are supposed to be fine on any laptop with the Intel USB 3.0 chipset.....which mine has got,....so go figure. :(

AB

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Thanks for this info. I know a bit about computers but not all the technical stuff. I have a Acer Aspire which cost the top end of £300 so hoping that the camera it works ok with it. If not I'll have to get a hub. If its a distance thing?? I might be ok as my laptop is next to the scope when I image

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All seems very flakey ! I have a Windows 8.1 Lenovo M30-70 which uses the USB3 eXtensible controller.

Yes mine is the Intel eXtensible USB 3.0 controller, but still no good, so other things must come into play also, it can't be just down to the controller, I wish I could figure it out, and as mine will work on a very short 50cm cable, but nothing else, the only conclusion I can come to is a lack of power issue, from the port itself.

AB

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Have you tied a Y cable (plugs into 2 ports, 1 for power, 1 for data)

Actually that's not a bad idea, I only have one USB 3.0 port but could get the power from USB 2.0 port, and completely confuse the camera as to which port to send the data down!!

AB

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Well the camera has come today thanks to top class service from Tring Astronomy. Had to download the driver as I have no cd drive on this new laptop. Just tried it with Firecapture 2.4 and Sharpcap 2.5 and it seems to work so far! Here's a couple of pics..

Paul.

post-18095-0-98391600-1430243132_thumb.j

post-18095-0-76160500-1430243160_thumb.j

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Hi,

I am glad it is working for you, and you had no issues as I did, there is nothing worse than buying a bit of kit and then finding it is not compatible with your existing kit.

You should get near the maximum frame rate on USB 3.0, which for that camera is about 65 fps at full resolution and Debayering enabled, more if you turn the Debayering option off in FC or Sharpcap, and then Debayering when processing, this option is much better in my opinion.

If you are dropping any frames just nudge the USB traffic setting down a little, I think the default is around 85%, which for some laptops is a little high, the fps will drop slightly but all frames will be captured.

Have fun and clear skies

:)

AB

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Thanks for the tips AB. Will admit I was slightly concerned after you said you'd had problems. Will try the debayer off and add it in processing. I think PIPP does this.

Looking forward to trying it out. Weather doesn't look great for the next few days..

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