ASI290MM Mini

[Kaliska]

I used this for the first-time last night along with my new ZWO OAG.

Having had an Altair Astro GPCAM previously, I wanted something with better sensitivity to pick off guide stars with my F5.8 TSQ100ED as the GPCAM sometimes struggled with just a separate F4 guide scope. When I fired up PHD for the first time I was amazed at the number of stars available in the FOV all with great SNR. As I was only really testing my setup I tried it in a few different locations and not once did I have to move the scope to find a suitable guide star. This is a fantastic, very sensitive, little guide camera and worth every penny in my view.

[Adam J]

3 hours ago, Kaliska said:

I used this for the first-time last night along with my new ZWO OAG.

Having had an Altair Astro GPCAM previously, I wanted something with better sensitivity to pick off guide stars with my F5.8 TSQ100ED as the GPCAM sometimes struggled with just a separate F4 guide scope. When I fired up PHD for the first time I was amazed at the number of stars available in the FOV all with great SNR. As I was only really testing my setup I tried it in a few different locations and not once did I have to move the scope to find a suitable guide star. This is a fantastic, very sensitive, little guide camera and worth every penny in my view.

 

Its great for lucky imaging of galaxies too, 2000 x 4 second exposures.

[Kaliska]

13 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Its great for lucky imaging of galaxies too, 2000 x 4 second exposures.

Anything you could share to see what it can do?

[Adam J]

Nothing personally but its the reason I have a wanted advert for one on Astrobuysell, 

some examples in this thread:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/566338-m1-colorngc-7662m82ngc-7217horsehead-short-exposures/

 

[Ikonnikov]

13 hours ago, Kaliska said:

I used this for the first-time last night along with my new ZWO OAG.

Having had an Altair Astro GPCAM previously, I wanted something with better sensitivity to pick off guide stars with my F5.8 TSQ100ED as the GPCAM sometimes struggled with just a separate F4 guide scope. When I fired up PHD for the first time I was amazed at the number of stars available in the FOV all with great SNR. As I was only really testing my setup I tried it in a few different locations and not once did I have to move the scope to find a suitable guide star. This is a fantastic, very sensitive, little guide camera and worth every penny in my view.

 

I concur, I'm using this as a guide camera with an OAG on a 10"RC and it works significantly better than the ASI120MM it replaces. The 1.25" barrel format has also allowed me to incorporate a 0.5x reducer into the light path to give a wider selection of guide stars and better signal to noise ratio at this quite long (2m) focal length. And this combo is quite a lot cheaper than the IMX174 based cameras whilst still providing a decent field of view (with the reducer).

 

Paul