Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Is ZWO Asi224mc a smart choice for Mac OSX and Celestron 8SE?

Sedna

By Sedna
in Getting Started With Imaging

Recommended Posts

Sedna

Sedna

Posted
Posted

I have a Celestron 8SE with EQ mount, and I'm looking to buy a dedicated planetary imaging camera. I already use a Canon 70D for imaging, which can record 60 fps compressed video. I'd like to improve on this with a dedicated camera that can record raw video at a higher frame rate. I also have Mac OSX, which seems to be a huge thorn in the side of all imagers. Yes, I have bootcamp Windows installed on a partition, but with only 32 GB of HD space allocated. I'm not sure if this will work for video capture with a planetary camera. Right now, I have my eye on the ZWO Asi224mc camera, but I have a few questions, if someone on here is kind enough to answer them for me :)

1) Does the ZWO Asi224mc work well with Mac OSX? I know that it is technically compatible with Mac, but does anyone know if it really runs smoothly on Mac? I also know that Orion sells a planetary imaging camera that definitely runs on Mac, but its max framerate is only 51 fps?! (So my Canon 70D could easily outperform this at 60 fps).

2) How much improvement can I expect from the Asi224mc over my Canon 70D? I have included a few of my best images shot using the Canon 70D below for reference (stacked in AS!2 and sharped in RegiStax). I believe the main advantages are that the Asi224mc shoots at a higher frame rate and in raw, but the Canon has 20 megapixels versus 1.2 megapixels for the Asi224mc.

Thanks all!

 

 

halfmoon_halfmoon_g4_ap22_conv(1).jpg

Malibu_MARS_EP_1000_sharp.jpg

Saturn_edited(1).jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

I can try the ASI224MC out on my Mac, but possibly not for a couple of days.  I see no reason why it wouldn't work reasonably well with the Mac though.  I've not had problems in the past that I recall when I've been using it to test oacapture.  Please do remind me if I forget -- I appear to be trying to do far too many things at the same time at the moment.

The Orion camera spec looks very similar to the Neximage 5.  I wonder if they're pretty much the same?

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sedna

Sedna

Posted
  • Author
Posted
3 hours ago, JamesF said:

I can try the ASI224MC out on my Mac, but possibly not for a couple of days.  I see no reason why it wouldn't work reasonably well with the Mac though.  I've not had problems in the past that I recall when I've been using it to test oacapture.  Please do remind me if I forget -- I appear to be trying to do far too many things at the same time at the moment.

The Orion camera spec looks very similar to the Neximage 5.  I wonder if they're pretty much the same?

James

Thank you James, that would be great if you could try it for me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sedna

Sedna

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

I am really quite impressed with this camera. Here is a thread that shows something of what it can do on a 8SE. That was done with the uncooled version.

Thanks, I think you forgot the link though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Owmuchonomy

Owmuchonomy

Posted
Posted

All the ZWO ASI cameras I own or have owned work fine on a MAC using @JamesF OA capture.  The only slight snag that I have reported to James is the ability to fit the capture window on my MacBook Pro. There is a workaround. I currently have the 174 and 290 but have never tried the 224.  The pixel size will be different to your DSLR so make sure you can match the 224 to your scope. As a rough guide you need to aim for a f/ of 4 or 5x your pixel size. My MacBook Pro ensures a much higher frame rate than my daughters PC running Firecapture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sedna

Sedna

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 29/12/2018 at 19:30, Demonperformer said:

Most worrying is that one of the questions asks this very thing and they have answered it (correctly), but not changed the description ...

Yep, I also asked on there. As to why they never updated it, go figure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

Just to close out on this, I have just tried an ASI224MC on my 13" MBP running Mojave and oacapture v1.5.0 appears to handle it just fine.  I do know of a problem saving 16-bit SER files which will be fixed in the next release, but I couldn't see anything else immediately wrong.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sedna

Sedna

Posted
  • Author
Posted
4 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Just to close out on this, I have just tried an ASI224MC on my 13" MBP running Mojave and oacapture v1.5.0 appears to handle it just fine.  I do know of a problem saving 16-bit SER files which will be fixed in the next release, but I couldn't see anything else immediately wrong.

James

Thanks James! How much of a showstopper is the issue with saving SER files? I imagine I would want to save mine as AVI, in which case it shouldn't matter?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.