I "Accidentally" bought the asi533mc-pro, did I make a grave mistake?

[Quetzalcoatl72]

There was 1 left, and as I've always done with limited stock on things throughout my life without hesitation I bought it. I have a canon 600da currently and I'm sick of the noise, amp glow and bending my spine trying to look at the screen and having to take darks when I want to go to bed. So I thought I'd buy the 533 because I've seen so many people mostly youtubers who have used this camera and have had incredible results, I wanted some of that pie. It ticks all the boxes, but then i saw the Altair Hypercam 183C PRO TEC, and saw that it had 20 mp instead of 9 which is what the 533 has + amp glow reduction too, and it's cheaper. I wanted a camera set for life under £1000 to go with my set for life scopes which I already own. A skywatcher 80ED and a stellar lyra RCT 8" f/8. I want the camera to image anything, apart from planets as I soon found out. What do I do?

[nfotis]

The 533 is generally considered a quite superior sensor compared to the 183.

Megapixels is not the only measure.

The 533 (and 2600 and 6200, if we speak about the ZWO range) are the latest generation of Sony sensors, with high dynamic range, deep well, no amp glow, etc.

N.F.

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by nfotis

[Craney]

The 533 has different pixel size and well depth, so has different characteristics that may better suit the AP rig you are running.

"amp glow reduction too"   means that there will still be some visible in your subs and you still will have to get rid of it. The 533 is supposedly amp-glow-free.

Some people do not get on with the 533's square sensor.

As per normal with astro-decisions, there is no perfect choice. You have to balance out the pro's and cons..

 

[Skyline]

keep the 533.

[Paul M]

I didn't make the best choice in camera for using with my Skywatcher 250P-DS, the ASI178MC. Small chip, small pixels and blinding amp glow. I'm getting results and enjoying the journey.

I did study this tool and still made a less than excellent choice! http://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability  My problem was that I didn't really believe the real world significance of oversampling! With your 80 ED you are just withing the upper bound of ideal arc sec/pixel so all is good in that respect. It's not so well matched to the RCT though.

I see your 533 would still be oversampling on my scope, so I'll withdraw my charitable offer of £200 without even offering it..

 

[Quetzalcoatl72]

9 hours ago, Craney said:

Some people do not get on with the 533's square sensor.

That's the only thing I'm concerned about, It would be something I'll get used to or something that will annoy me If I want to get multiple objects in one frame but I suppose I could use a focal reducer

Edited April 28, 2021 by Quetzalcoatl72

[DaveS]

A square format means you aren't constantly changing the orientation of your camera. Unfortunately all the square sensor cameras that might make sense for me are stupidly expensive.

[Stuart1971]

ZWO all the way, don’t bother with AA cameras...there is no comparison....👍🏼👍🏼

[Avocette]

6 hours ago, Quetzalcoatl72 said:

That's the only thing I'm concerned about, It would be something I'll get used to or something that will annoy me If I want to get multiple objects in one frame but I suppose I could use a focal reducer

Don’t worry about the square sensor - as @DaveS says, it means you don’t have to keep rotating the camera through 90°. No astro cameras presently offer golden ratio sensors........

When you want to get multiple things in one frame, do it by making a mosaic.

My only question after owning my 533 for most of a year is, now that the 2600 is out, should I buy the big brother and sell the 533 to help offset some of the cost? 

[Adam J]

20 hours ago, Quetzalcoatl72 said:

There was 1 left, and as I've always done with limited stock on things throughout my life without hesitation I bought it. I have a canon 600da currently and I'm sick of the noise, amp glow and bending my spine trying to look at the screen and having to take darks when I want to go to bed. So I thought I'd buy the 533 because I've seen so many people mostly youtubers who have used this camera and have had incredible results, I wanted some of that pie. It ticks all the boxes, but then i saw the Altair Hypercam 183C PRO TEC, and saw that it had 20 mp instead of 9 which is what the 533 has + amp glow reduction too, and it's cheaper. I wanted a camera set for life under £1000 to go with my set for life scopes which I already own. A skywatcher 80ED and a stellar lyra RCT 8" f/8. I want the camera to image anything, apart from planets as I soon found out. What do I do?

No you made the correct choice the 533mc is the better camera by a wide margin and has no amp glow to need reducing in the first place. The only possible use case for the 183 over the 533 is in hyperstar or other very fast large aperture optics. But even then I might still chose the 533. 

[CCD-Freak]

I decided on the ASI-533MCp over several other cameras.  I personally like the square sensor because most objects fit the square field without a lot of wasted field.  I have used the 533 with my AT10RC at 2000mm down to my SharpStar 150mm F2.8 Hyper Newt at 420mm FL with great results.  I have not regretted getting the 533 and I am drooling over the ASI-2600MCp.   If ZWO would come out with a mono version of the ASI-533 I would be very happy to get one of those to pair with the OSC version.

 

[GalaxyGael]

On 28/04/2021 at 03:17, Quetzalcoatl72 said:

There was 1 left, and as I've always done with limited stock on things throughout my life without hesitation I bought it. I have a canon 600da currently and I'm sick of the noise, amp glow and bending my spine trying to look at the screen and having to take darks when I want to go to bed. So I thought I'd buy the 533 because I've seen so many people mostly youtubers who have used this camera and have had incredible results, I wanted some of that pie. It ticks all the boxes, but then i saw the Altair Hypercam 183C PRO TEC, and saw that it had 20 mp instead of 9 which is what the 533 has + amp glow reduction too, and it's cheaper. I wanted a camera set for life under £1000 to go with my set for life scopes which I already own. A skywatcher 80ED and a stellar lyra RCT 8" f/8. I want the camera to image anything, apart from planets as I soon found out. What do I do?

No, its a great camera. Square sensor is something I wish more cameras would do. It has a similar chip to the 2600MC Pro, but 14 bit, but with a decent amount of subs it approximates 16 bit depth quite easily, and has a good full well capacity, backlit with high QE and sensitivity - overall a really great camera for its price. I've never taken a 2600MC image that I've not cropped, for any focal length, and the 533 runs inside most so-called flat or corrected image circles for a range of scope types and speeds. Great camera. If the AA version runs the same sensor, it will be almost identical, although ZWO do play with their full well and gain values a little differently in some cameras. Omegon and touptek sell these too, they are all the same really. ZWO version is handy for the ZWO compatibility, and with a zwo guidecam and focuser, you get a lot of future integration possibilities if you choose it from a single software or ASIAir option. But these new sony sensors, in whichever vendor you go for, and really good. And to boot, no need for dark frames. You can mix exposure lengths without issues also, which was a nice option I thought.

[bottletopburly]

It’s a superb camera I’m using with a 200pds at 2x2 bin 👍