ZWO ASI482 USB3.0 Color CMOS Camera Instruction Manual

ZWO ASI482 USB3.0 Color CMOS Camera Instruction Manual

1. Instruction

Congratulations and thank you for buying one of our ASI Cameras! This manual will give you a brief introduction to your ASI camera. Please take some time to read it thoroughly. If you have any questions, please feel free to submit it on the ZWO support site:
https://support.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/

ASI482 is one of the new OSC planetary cameras developed by ZWO and released in 2021. Packed with Sony sensor IMX482, this camera has some very great highlights, including a large pixel size of 5.8um, USB 3.0 interface, large full-well depth of 51.5ke-, extremely high sensitivity and super low read out noise, etc. It can achieve great image quality at low illumination, and the value of SNR1s can be as low as 0.08lx. Thus, some people also call it “The King of the Night”.

For software installation instructions and other technical information, please refer to our official website https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/

2. What’s in the box?

3. Camera technical specifications

4. QE Graph & Read Noise

QE and Read noise are the most important parts to measure the performance of a camera.
Higher QE and Lower read noise are needed to improve the SNR of an image.

The following figure shows the QE curve of ASI482. According to our estimation, the QE peak of ASI482 is 85% (530nm).

Read noise includes pixel diode noise, circuit noise and ADC quantization error noise. The lower the better.
As you can see, the Read Noise of the ASI482 camera is extremely low. The built-in HCG mode can even more reduce the read noise at high gain and keep the same wide dynamic range for this camera as at low gain. When the gain is 80, the HCG mode will be automatically turned on. Additionally, the read noise is as low as 1.5e while the dynamic range can still be close to 12bit.

Depending on your target, you can set the gain lower for higher dynamic range or set the gain higher for lower noise.

5. Getting to know your camera

5.1 External View

5.2 Power consumption

ASI482 camera is with low power consumption, max at 2.06W. USB3.0 cable is recommended for power supply.

5.3 USB 3.0 port & ST4 port

USB 3.0 Port: Providing 5Gb bandwidth to let ASI482 run at 82.5fps (10bit, high speed mode) or 57.5fps (12bit, normal mode) at full resolution (2 Mega).

ST4 Port: Can be used to connect with auto guide port of mount for guiding.

5.4 Protect window

There is a protective window AR filter in front of the ASI482 camera sensor, with 25mm diameter and 1mm thickness.

5.5 Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)

The ASI482 camera records in 12bit ADC and 10bit ADC. You can image at a faster fps rate if you choose to use 10bit ADC (high speed mode). This camera also supports ROI (region of interest) shooting, and this smaller ROI has faster fps.

Here is the maximum speed of ASI482 running at different ADC mode on USB3.0.

5.6 Binning

The ASI482 camera supports software bin2, bin3 and bin4 mode. We recommend customer to use software binning if you don’t care speed.

6. How to use your camera

here are many adapters available for this camera for connecting to your scope or lens. Some are included with the camera and others you can order from our site: https://telescopes.taobao.com/

Color camera connecting drawing:

7. Cleaning

The camera is sealed and comes with an AR protect window to protect the sensor from dusts and humidity.

To see the dusts, you just need to set up your telescope and point it to a bright place. A Barlow is required to see these dusts clearly. Then attach the camera and adjust the exposure to make sure not overly exposed. You can see an image like below if it’s dirty.

The big dim spot on the image (right side) are the shadows of dust on the protect window.
The very small but very dark spot on the image (at left) are the shadows of the dusts on the sensor. If above situation occurs, it is recommended that the dust on the sensor surface be blew off with air pump. If it cannot be blown off, it is recommended to use cotton swabs and 99% anhydrous ethanol to gently wipe the sensor.

We have very detailed instruction on our website:
https://astronomy-imaging- camera.com/manua/How_to_clean_ASI_camera_and_redry_the_desi ccant.pdf

8. Mechanical drawing

9. Servicing

For software upgrades, please refer to “Support-manual and software” on our official website. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/

For repairs and consultation, you can visit here: https://support.astronomy- imaging-camera.com/ For customers who bought the camera from your local dealer, dealer is responsible for the customer service.

10. Warranty

We provide 2-year warranty for our products. We offer repair service or replacement for free if the camera doesn’t work within warranty period.

After the warranty period, we continue to provide repair support and service on a charged basis. This warranty does not apply to damage that occurred as a result of abuse or misuse, or caused by a fall or any other transportation failures after purchase.

Customer must pay for shipping when shipping the camera back for repair or replacement.

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