Altair Astro Hypercam 533c - New to astro cam user

[Ratlet]

I purchased an Altair Astro Hypercam 533c.  this is the Altair astronomy camera using the colour IMX533 sensor.  For an overview of the camera, you can proceed here:  

https://www.altairastro.com/altair-hypercam-533c-colour-camera-9239-p.asp

In essence it is Altair's version of the ZWO ASI 533c.

Part of the reason for me buying it was that Margerine Thatcher had tanked the value of the £ and I could see it only getting more expensive if I waited.  I purchased it for £799, approximately £220 less than the equivalent ZWO model.

The camera arrives with a hard shelled case with pick and pluck foam which has been picked and plucked to hold the camera.  It also comes with a power adapter, a USB 3.0 cable and a 2" Nosepiece adapter so it can be attached to a standard 2" Focuser.  The power adapter does not fit in the hard case easily.  It also arrived with a pack of Haribo and a nice hat.  It also came with a 1 year subscription to Sharpcap Pro.

The camera itself appears well made and my wife and daughter very much approved of the purple colour.  The camera has 2 x USB 2.0 ports on the back of the camera and a 12V DC in power socket.

Setting up the software was straightforward.  Just download the Altair capture software from https://www.altairastro.help/ and install it.  After that I plugged in the camera and it was recognised by both The Altari Capture software and Sharpcap.  Once I had the pro licence running on Sharpcap I ran a sensor analysis.

I'm not an expert but it is interesting that the unity gain is 300 vs the ZWO 100, however the full well, read noise and dynamic range is almost exactly the same.  Perhaps someone who knwos what they are talking about would be able to comment.

The camera ran well in NINA so I fired it up, set the cooling to -5C which it reached with minimal effort and then proceeded to take 20 dark frames each at (90s and 180s using 300 gain and 192 offset, which NINA had defaulted to.  I then stacked these in SIRIL to produce my master darks.  I have attached the master dark from the 180s exposures which has been stretched using Autostretch.  There is a tiny bit of glow in the lower left, however the rest of the sensor looks very clean to me.  Again though, I'm not an expert so perhaps someone else can provide more insight.

 

[Ratlet]

I purchased the camera to use with my vintage glass however lacked any way of connecting the camera to my lenses.  Fortuantely I picked up a ZWO Canon EOS to T2 filter drawer from the forum, but in the mean time I used the supplied adapter to set it up on my 130PDS (without a coma corrector).  This was mounted on a GEM 28 with a TS optics 60mm guidescope and ZWO 120mm guide camera.  Everything was controlled by NINA running on an i5 Intel NUC.

Setting everything up was fairly simple.  I connected the iPolar on the GEM28 via the USB hub on the camera, all other connections were direct to the NUC.  I had no issues during polar alignment.  I was surprised that I couldn't achieve focus with the focuser fully extended.  I adjusted the bite depth on the T2 nosepiece and got focus.

Focusing was a revelation with the USB 3.0 connection.  My previous camera was a canon T3i which was crushingly slow.  The Altair transferred its pictures incredibly quickly and made focusing a breeze.

For a test I ran 20 x 90s exposures of 3 targets:  M27 first (it was the first DSO I sketched, so seemed appropriate), NGC 281 and Stephan's Quintet/The Deerlick Group.  I have attached the images of M27 and the quintet below.  I was VERY happy with the quality of images it produced.  BIAS, Darks and flats were taken for all images.  I forgot to upload NGC 281, but will update later.

These are lightly processed in Pixinsight (free trial) using Lukomatico's M45 Tutorial processing guide.  I'm certain the quality of images produced are better than my ability to process them.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Ratlet

[Ratlet]

Later in the week the Canon to T2 adapter arrived.  I used this to hook up the camera to a Takumar SMC 200mm via an M42 to canon adapter.  The lens was stepped down to F5.6 using a stepdown ring.

This time a side by side setup as used with a 30mm SVBONY guidescope.  I also powered the camera from the 12V output on the GEM 28 mount.  Again 90s exposures were used at -5C.

This time and with the wider field of view I imaged the heart nebula and decided to image for longer as the moon was about 95% illuminated.

This was about 2 hours of data and was again processed using the same method as before.  I think I butchered this one a bit more than the others in processing.  I have attached the Autostretched output from Siril as well.  I think the stars turned out very well given the age of the lens and the undersampling from the camera itself.

 

Conclusions:

As a relative newbie I had relatively few issues with the camera.  It is a bit light on adapters vs the ASI533, however I wonder how many of the adapters actually get used in most setups.  Given I've got 2 young kids the hard case is far more useful I think.  I think the camera represents a great alternative to the ZWO ASI 533, even though since my purchase the cost has increased to £899.

It plays well with NINA and honestly I've not had any issues thus far.  I would like to try some livestacking with it at some point and will update the review once I do.

I look forward to doing more imaging with this lens

Edited October 12, 2022 by Ratlet

[SteveNickolls]

Thanks for this report on your new camera. Didn't expect you would find the glow at the bottom left, is this usual? 

Your images are lovely, can I ask what conditions you image under (SQM value or Bortle value)?

Pleased the camera is working well with your software.

Best wishes for the future.

Steve

[Ratlet]

On 12/10/2022 at 20:02, SteveNickolls said:

Thanks for this report on your new camera. Didn't expect you would find the glow at the bottom left, is this usual? 

Your images are lovely, can I ask what conditions you image under (SQM value or Bortle value)?

Pleased the camera is working well with your software.

Best wishes for the future.

Steve

Sorry for the delay in replying.  I did a bit of digging with help from some people at Cloudy Nights and the glow isn't normal.  I spoke to Altair, who were very helpful who also said this is not normal.  Just sent back the camera and should hopefully be getting a replacement soon.

I'm imaging under bortle 4-5 skies.  

[SteveNickolls]

Hi Ratlet, thanks for your reply. Sorry to learn you have had to return the 533C but you certainly need to have the glow sorted out. Ahh, I had suspected a better Bortle scale sky in your neck of the woods, enjoy the better conditions. 👍

Cheers,

Steve

[Ratlet]

5 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

Hi Ratlet, thanks for your reply. Sorry to learn you have had to return the 533C but you certainly need to have the glow sorted out. Ahh, I had suspected a better Bortle scale sky in your neck of the woods, enjoy the better conditions. 👍

Cheers,

Steve

Fortunately I'm at work for the next 2 weeks with no chance of imaging so the impact will hopefully be minimal.

Weird thing about the glow is that it doesn't show up in the images.  Like you say though it needs to be sorted as there is no guarantee that it won't develop and is indicative of a problem.  Altair were very helpful though so hopefully will be resolved before I get back out imaging.

[SteveNickolls]

22 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Altair were very helpful though so hopefully will be resolved before I get back out imaging.

Yes let's hope its all sorted pretty quickly for you, even a swap with a new camera does not seem out of place.

Cheers,

Steve

[The Admiral]

On 12/10/2022 at 19:08, Ratlet said:

There is a tiny bit of glow in the lower left,

You don't say how you took the darks (unless I missed it). Was the camera attached to your scope at the time, or did you just try it with a cap on? Did you do it in daylight or at night? Bit of a longshot this, but could it possibly be a tiny light leak from somewhere, particularly as you don't see it on the subs, which will obviously be in the dark?

Bit late of course, as it's been returned, but worth thinking about with its replacement.

Ian

[Ratlet]

31 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

You don't say how you took the darks (unless I missed it). Was the camera attached to your scope at the time, or did you just try it with a cap on? Did you do it in daylight or at night? Bit of a longshot this, but could it possibly be a tiny light leak from somewhere, particularly as you don't see it on the subs, which will obviously be in the dark?

Bit late of course, as it's been returned, but worth thinking about with its replacement.

Ian

Did them with the silicone bung on and the lens cap.  Tried different usb cables and power supplies.

The glow is definitely there, it's just very faint so doesn't show up.  But it shouldn't be there at all.  If it had turned out it was just a design decision in how they built the camera it would have been okay by me.  But it shouldn't be there.

[Ratlet]

Replacement unit arrived today.  Quick test with a 5 minute exposure and no sign of the glow.  Delighted.  Very good service from Altair and the problem was quickly resolved.  Now for some clear skies to get some imaging done woop!