NEW ZWO ASI 533MC-PRO

[Starflyer]

On 26/11/2019 at 19:03, Dinglem said:

I understand all that but these are produced in China so won't importing them into the USA also incur similar charges?

US retail prices don't include tax, it's always added at checkout.

Imagine that over here, how many poor abandoned shopping carts would there be every day if you got to checkout only to find the price had gone up significantly 😕

[cletrac1922]

Same Down Under

10% Goods and Service Tax added at checkout (GST)

The ZWO ASI 533 is available my local astronomy shop for A$1499 plus 10% GST

Been looking at the ZWO ASI 290MC, which retails for A$420 plus 10% GST

John

 

[Allinthehead]

On 26/11/2019 at 19:37, FLO said:

Oops.

The ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro is also due to arrive end-Dec 🙂 

Any update on this camera? Seems it's now available for pre order from Zwo. Interested in price. 

Regards,

Richard.

[FLO]

1 hour ago, Allinthehead said:

Any update on this camera? Seems it's now available for pre order from Zwo. Interested in price. 

As far as we know ZWO's ETA for the ASI 2600 MC Pro (end-Dec) hasn't changed, though I wouldn't be surprised if Christmas pushes that into early-Jan. 

We have everything we need to make the camera available for pre-order from our website when we reopen Mon, possibly Tue 🙂 

Regarding price, our UK price will be based on ZWO's $ price ($->£ + Duty & VAT). It is the weekend so I am not at my desk but, looking at today's currency exchange-rate, I am predicting it will be around £1,900. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[SamAndrew]

The 6200 is also available for preorder via ZWO but no details on matching filter wheel or filters for it yet.

[noah4x4]

There is something I don't quite get with this camera. Why embrace a 1" SQUARE sensor with 3008 x 3008 pixels when most other high resolution CMOS astro cameras in a similar price range have rectangular, larger sensors and hence offer a wider FOV? I can see how a square naturally fits the typical cylindrical shape of a telescope OTA. But will the Andromeda Nebula fit? Then, what about display (for EEVA etc)? How will an image appear on screen or in a browser?

The typical width/height/pixel ratio of a regular HD or UHD monitor is 1.7 : 1.  The typical ratio of photo frames is 1.4 : 1. These are UK standards (which appear to be universal except for some US print standards).

Most astro cameras in this price range are 1.4 : 1.  So their output nicely fit a 1.7 : 1 screen allowing for typical software controls alongside (or  will fit A4/A5 for print, which are also 1.4 : 1 etc)  Yet this camera sensor ratio is merely 1 : 1.  Won't this square image have wide black vertical bands to its left and right on most regular HD or UHD monitors?  Or will the horizontal pixels stretch/distort to fit? No doubt somebody can explain the justification? 

[Adam J]

30 minutes ago, noah4x4 said:

There is something I don't quite get with this camera. Why embrace a 1" SQUARE sensor with 3008 x 3008 pixels when most other high resolution CMOS astro cameras in a similar price range have rectangular, larger sensors and hence offer a wider FOV? I can see how a square naturally fits the typical cylindrical shape of a telescope OTA. But will the Andromeda Nebula fit? Then, what about display (for EEVA etc)? How will an image appear on screen or in a browser?

The typical width/height/pixel ratio of a regular HD or UHD monitor is 1.7 : 1.  The typical ratio of photo frames is 1.4 : 1. These are UK standards (which appear to be universal except for some US print standards).

Most astro cameras in this price range are 1.4 : 1.  So their output nicely fit a 1.7 : 1 screen allowing for typical software controls alongside (or  will fit A4/A5 for print, which are also 1.4 : 1 etc)  Yet this camera sensor ratio is merely 1 : 1.  Won't this square image have wide black vertical bands to its left and right on most regular HD or UHD monitors?  Or will the horizontal pixels stretch/distort to fit? No doubt somebody can explain the justification? 

Its not something that concerns me very much. Its that shape because that is the shape that Sony made, these sensors are not intended for astronomy, we just get what we are given. This exact sensor is designed for use in 360-degree video cameras and so its a very efficient shape for that application. Yes for M31 you would like a different aspect ratio ideally, but that is one target and I would never base my choice of camera on one target. 

The image will not be stretched into the monitor corners. You will end up having space either side, but then after processing and cropping and doing mosaics it hardly ever fits the monitors aspect ratio perfectly anyway.  

Adam

 

[DaveS]

For scientific imaging the square format makes total sense. It uses the most of the imaging circle and is orientation agnostic. Printing square is fine, just trim off the borders before mounting (You can buy square mounts if you don't want to cut your own).  Photographers have, and some continue to, photograph and print square from the 6x6 (12 on 120) format.

I do agree that the pixel count is a bit low at 3008 each way, but it's still better than the 2750 x 2200 I have currently with my SX694. Better too than the old KAI 4022 sensor at only 2k each way. I just wish there was a mono version of this as I'm not into OSC. Could do with something about 20mm or so square with 4k+ pixels on a side.

Edited December 9, 2019 by DaveS