ASIair Pro with a DSLR

[greealilee]

Morning people,

Thinking of getting a ASIair Pro and want to use it with my Cannon 800D. I can see that the ASI does support this camera but would like to know if anybody has experience in using ASI with a DSLR camera. Have looked on YouTube but all seem to be using dedicated astro cams. Things I would like to know is how do you go about setting the ISO, can you power the camera via ASI.

Another question is does your guide cam have to be ZWO or will my Altair work?

Thanks.

[StevieDvd]

Yes the Canon DSLR will work well with the ASIAir Pro, needs to be on manual setting and Bulb mode - worth a read of the manual for all the settings needed.

No other camera make is allowed except the listed DSLR (limited) the same goes for focus motors and filter wheels - it's ZWO or No!

 

 

 

[SmokeyJoe]

Use my Asiair with a cannon 450d with no problems, not sure about powering the camera but controlling it is no problems as long as its on bulb setting as StevieDvd says, you are restricted to Zwo hardware for everything else but we'll worth it for ease of use IMHO. 

One quick tip, the focusing part of the ASIair ap doesn't work well with DSLRs so just stick a focusing mask on the scope and zoom in using the preview function to achieve focus. 

Got to say best bit of kit I have bought. Highly recommended. 

[greealilee]

Thank guys,

What about plate solving and guiding any problems?

[Rich1980]

Using the original version with a 550d here. Simplifies everything, best purchase I ever made. I power my camera and everything else (except the mount) via a pocket powerbox.

[SmokeyJoe]

1 hour ago, greealilee said:

What about plate solving and guiding any problems?

No problems plate solving, very fast, polar align in under 10 minutes on a bad night using the inbuilt routine (platesolving).  Not tried guiding with it yet, got a asi 120mm ready to go but not had a clear night and opportunity since I got the camera.  Don't envisage any probs though 

[Newforestgimp]

On 25/01/2021 at 19:40, Rich1980 said:

Using the original version with a 550d here. Simplifies everything, best purchase I ever made. I power my camera and everything else (except the mount) via a pocket powerbox.

Hi Sorry for dredging this post up again, but I'm interested to understand why you do not power your mount from the Power Box ? I'm considering purchasing a power hub and now wondering if its worth it if i cant power the mount ?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

For me the reason would be that if I mount the box on the scope (which then eliminates a lot of cables having to go on loops to allow movement to get them back to power sources) then I would have to run a power cable  back from the power box to scope which means I still have an unnecessary trailing cable that has to have loops to allow movement.
I would prefer just to have a cable direct to mount that does not interfere with the movement of the scope.

There will already be a 12V power source that goes to the power box, that's unavoidable, but to then bring the same power back down in another cable back to mount doesn't make sense to me. The only gain is being able to monitor the current to the mount (maybe).

Perhaps in this day and age of more imagers using a small RPi or similar small PC actually on the mount more manufacturers should have power connectors on the clamp part of the mount as well as the base, similar to IOptron mounts ?

Steve

Edited March 15, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[iapa]

My preference is to always power the mount separately, keeps it down to a single cable to the OTA

This ensure that if you are slewing and the dew heaters come on you reduce the overall demand on the PSU feeding the power box. Generally speaking power boxes suggest 12 5A supplies, although Pegasus do recommend 12V 10A for their newest product.

[Rich1980]

8 hours ago, Newforestgimp said:

Hi Sorry for dredging this post up again, but I'm interested to understand why you do not power your mount from the Power Box ? I'm considering purchasing a power hub and now wondering if its worth it if i cant power the mount ?

No problem, yes it's pretty much just for ease of use. I could've combined it with the serial cable from the mount to the asiair I guess. I'm not sure if I've a cable long enough to stretch from the mount to the powerbox but if I have I might actually do that the more I think about it. Any technical benefits are beyond my knowledge although sounds like there could be having a separate power cable to the mount. 

[iapa]

41 minutes ago, Rich1980 said:

No problem, yes it's pretty much just for ease of use. I could've combined it with the serial cable from the mount to the asiair I guess. I'm not sure if I've a cable long enough to stretch from the mount to the powerbox but if I have I might actually do that the more I think about it. Any technical benefits are beyond my knowledge although sounds like there could be having a separate power cable to the mount. 

I agree to powering the mount separately, even though the (Pocket Power Box?) can provide a total of 10A - given a suitable power supply.

The simplification of just one cable up to the OTA - assuming ASIAir/Pro and PowerBox are on the dovetails - makes it easier to swap rigs. 

Allows you to have e.g. an SCT with ASIAir/Pro, powerbox etc attached, remove, leave all cables in place, transfer to, say, your refractor with it’s own cabling.

You could also have an ASIAir/Pro, powerbox etc. on each OTA - at a cost