2600mc vs AA 26c

[Anthonyexmouth]

Has anyone seen a good comparison for these 2 cameras? I've seen a few comparing the ASI to QHY but none directly comparing the ZWO to AA. On the face of it it's hard to justify the additional £600+ for the ZWO. Anyone know a good reason to spend the extra? 

[fwm891]

54 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Has anyone seen a good comparison for these 2 cameras? I've seen a few comparing the ASI to QHY but none directly comparing the ZWO to AA. On the face of it it's hard to justify the additional £600+ for the ZWO. Anyone know a good reason to spend the extra? 

I bought the AA 26C in Jan this year and its a great camera. Currently selling only because I'm after a duo chip'd 2600MC.

[Anthonyexmouth]

3 minutes ago, fwm891 said:

I bought the AA 26C in Jan this year and its a great camera. Currently selling only because I'm after a duo chip'd 2600MC.

Duo chip sounds nice but would want to see how the guiding copes with a dual band filter in front of it. 

Whats the 26c lacking to make it £600 cheaper? Or is ZWO just taking the P now they've trapped so many into the ASIair ecosystem? 

[Gary Clayton]

There is very little difference if any as far as picture quality goes and this is to be expected considering that they both use the same sensor, the AA 26C seems to be a bit more finicky regarding it's USB port preferring USB 3 over USB2 but apart from that you can't go wrong with either camera, it depends if your stuck with the ASIair ecosystem or not.

[tomato]

I could be wrong but I assume the AA camera is essentially the Touptek item, as is the Risingcam version. I have the RC and QHY versions and you can’t put a cigarette paper between the quality of the images captured even though there was close on £800 difference in the asking price when I purchased them.

Just my 6 penny worth.

[ONIKKINEN]

3 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Duo chip sounds nice but would want to see how the guiding copes with a dual band filter in front of it. 

Whats the 26c lacking to make it £600 cheaper? Or is ZWO just taking the P now they've trapped so many into the ASIair ecosystem? 

I think you hit the nail on the head here with the ASIAIR. Its a very effective business strategy, although not very consumer friendly. Hook people in with a well priced ASIAIR + 120MM guider combo and swim in the profits later when that consumer upgrades to the 2600.

The guide chip on the new duo camera is the same as in the new-ish 220MM. I have the 220MM in an OAG and its been very good. Have imaged through an Antlia Triband RGB filter with 3x approx 30nm passes and OAG guiding is no trouble at all at f/5. Typically guidestar SNR is at least 100, but could be as much as 1000. So safe to assume a tighter filter would be at least workable if not good since the SNR really doesnt need to be so large for guiding.

[Anthonyexmouth]

18 hours ago, tomato said:

I could be wrong but I assume the AA camera is essentially the Touptek item, as is the Risingcam version. I have the RC and QHY versions and you can’t put a cigarette paper between the quality of the images captured even though there was close on £800 difference in the asking price when I purchased them.

Just my 6 penny worth.

I did see a ZWO QHY comparison and although only a single sample of each the ZWO was consistantly able to cool better but I think that was the only thing. I was really tempted by the RC version after seeing Cuiv using one but wasnt sure if I'd get hammered on import duty. 

[fwm891]

Re: Cooling. My AA 26C has kept very well to temperature even during this hot spell ± 0.1C with a pull down of circa  -20°C below ambient and the 0.1°C was only ever momentary

[Anthonyexmouth]

1 minute ago, fwm891 said:

Re: Cooling. My AA 26C has kept very well to temperature even during this hot spell ± 0.1C with a pull down of circa  -20°C below ambient and the 0.1°C was only ever momentary

Ah, the cooling test in the review didn't really criticise the QHY, just happened to say the ZWO was able to get a little further below ambient than the QHY. 

What temp do you usually run the 26c at?

[tomato]

I run my RC and QHY cameras at -10 deg C. Given the low noise characteristics of these sensors and exposure times of 180s or less I don’t see the point of running them lower.

[fwm891]

42 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Ah, the cooling test in the review didn't really criticise the QHY, just happened to say the ZWO was able to get a little further below ambient than the QHY. 

What temp do you usually run the 26c at?

Usually -10 although with these warm nights -5 is enough.

[Adam J]

On 20/06/2023 at 15:45, Anthonyexmouth said:

Duo chip sounds nice but would want to see how the guiding copes with a dual band filter in front of it. 

Whats the 26c lacking to make it £600 cheaper? Or is ZWO just taking the P now they've trapped so many into the ASIair ecosystem? 

Exactly can it guide with short exposures as required by some modern harmonic drive mounts while using a narrow duel band filter. 

I think that the AA will work out just fine. But I would make sure its the latest version as rising cam have a new version of their camera and it will inevitably filter down to the clones. 

Adam

[Anthonyexmouth]

17 hours ago, Adam J said:

Exactly can it guide with short exposures as required by some modern harmonic drive mounts while using a narrow duel band filter. 

I think that the AA will work out just fine. But I would make sure its the latest version as rising cam have a new version of their camera and it will inevitably filter down to the clones. 

Adam

Yeah, I saw Cuiv's latest video on that. Whats the best option, AR glass or the IR Cut? RC give you the option. 

[Adam J]

32 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Yeah, I saw Cuiv's latest video on that. Whats the best option, AR glass or the IR Cut? RC give you the option. 

I would never consider anything but AR coated. Better to be in full control of what gets to your sensor. Looking at AAs 533m it is the newer version most of the other cameras are not pictured as such yet. 

Adam

Edited June 22, 2023 by Adam J

[Anthonyexmouth]

1 hour ago, Adam J said:

I would never consider anything but AR coated. Better to be in full control of what gets to your sensor. Looking at AAs 533m it is the newer version most of the other cameras are not pictured as such yet. 

Adam

Whas the clue that the AA 533 is the newer version? The AA cameras come with IR Cut don't they?

[Adam J]

6 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Whas the clue that the AA 533 is the newer version? The AA cameras come with IR Cut don't they?

Shape of the heatsink cut away. Not sure on options for AA I know Rising Cam offer both. 

Adam

[Anthonyexmouth]

19 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Shape of the heatsink cut away. Not sure on options for AA I know Rising Cam offer both. 

Adam

Don't think anyone other than RC give the option.

Anyone here ordered a rising cam? Did you get hammered on import duty?