ZWO-ASI533MC-PRO ASI Cooled Camera User Guide
- June 6, 2024
- ZWO
Table of Contents
ZWO-ASI533MC-PRO ASI Cooled Camera User Guide
Thank you for purchasing a ZWO ASI camera. This guide is a brief summary of the installation procedure to get you up and running with your new camera. Please be sure to read the user manual for more complete instructions.
Driver and software installation (Windows)
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Download and install ASI Camera driver from our website. After plugging in the camera, you will see your ZWO camera model listed under the “Imaging devices” category of the “Device Manager” if the driver is installed successfully.
NOTE: To open the “Device Manager” in Windows, use one of the
following methods: -
All Windows: Open “Control Panel”; find and open “Hardware and
Sound”; find and open the “Device Manager”. -
Windows 8/10: Right-click the “Start” menu; find the “Device Manager” and click to open.
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Click the “Start” menu and click “Run” (or press the “WIN+R” key); type devmgmt.msc and select “OK”.
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Download and install ASICAP (image or video capture software) from our website. Select your camera model and click the “Connect” button. You should then see the preview video. Keep in mind that you will only see some brightness in the preview video without a lens or a telescope.
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Download and install ASCOM driver from our website1 or CD-ROM. Important note: Please install the newest ASCOM Platform2 first. Then install the ASI camera ASCOM driver:
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Download one of various imaging software programs from our website
That’s all! You are now ready to use your ASI camera to begin photographing the night sky, including planetary objects as well as deep sky objects (DSO). To learn more about your camera, a more detailed user manual can be found on our website: https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/manuals/
Definitions:
website1 : https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software-drivers
ASCOM Platform2 : http://ascom-standards.org/
Camera ports
Connecting the camera to the telescope
Color camera connection diagram (depicted without EFW):
Mono camera connection diagram (depicted with EFW, OAG & Guide camera):
Additional options are available to adapt ASI cooled cameras to different apertures, interfaces and thread standards:
- 1.25” nose-piece
- 1.25” filter (optional)
- M42–M48 adapter
- T2 extender 11mm
- M42–M48 16.5mm extender
- M42 21mm extender
- OAG
- Focal reducer (optional)
- M42–M42 adapter (male to male)
- ZWO EFW
Controlling your camera through ASCOM
ASCOM is a standard platform for astronomy software, so many astronomy imaging programs support ASCOM. When you want to use ASCOM to control your camera, you must first install the ASCOM Platform (6.2 or newer). After you have installed the ASCOM Platform, you can then install the ASI Camera ASCOM driver.
There are two ASI cameras within the setup dialog box. If you need to control
two ASI cameras simultaneously for imaging and guiding, please select “ASI
Camera (1)” for your main camera and “ASI Camera (2)” for your guide camera.
For a single camera setup, use “ASI Camera (1)” to set up your ASI camera.
In the ASCOM settings dialog box, we provide 3 different gain and offset settings for DSO imaging:
Highest Dynamic Range and Unity Gain and Lowest Read Noise
To add your own presets, select the “…” option:
You can select a predefined setting depending on your conditions. Then press
the “Set” button to apply the preset and press “OK” to save the settings.
The Highest Dynamic Range setting gives better results with longer exposures, even with brighter (light-polluted) skies. This setting avoids saturated stars, provides good SNR and very low read noise.
If you prefer shorter exposures with the lowest possible read noise, for narrow band imaging and play “lucky imaging” techniques, or because of mount tracking limitations, we recommend the Lowest Read Noise setting.
Note: ASI Pro cameras don’t provide offset and USB Limit any more.
Trouble shooting problems with your ASI camera
Q: Why is my camera cooler not working?
A: Please check and verify that a 12V DC power cable is connected and the red LED is on. This power cable may come from an AC/DC adapter, or a 9V–15V battery, and the connector must be a 2.1×5.5mm center positive standard.
The red LED indicates that the external power supply works.
The fan will only run when you have enabled the camera cooler in the
compatible software. The fan will not run if the cooler is not powered and
running.
Q: Why is the preview screen completely white but the FPS appears to be
normal (in ASICAP)?
A: If you see the FPS meter in ASICAP change over time, the camera is operating correctly.
This issue may be occurring because the camera is overexposing. To resolve
this issue, either reduce the exposure setting or reduce the gain setting
until you see the image from the camera.
Q: Why is the preview screen black and the FPS stuck at “0”?
A: The camera may be having trouble communicating effectively with the
computer. This may be due to your USB configuration. Please try reducing the
“USB Traffic” slider from a high value such as 100 to a lower value such as 40
to 60.
Q: Why won’t my camera run continuously on a laptop without external power?
A: This is because of the power saving mode on your laptop. By default
many laptops allow the USB power to be suspended when the computer enters a
Low Power Mode. To resolve this, disable the power saving option of the USB
port:
For long imaging sessions, it is highly recommended that you disable the power management on your computer, or, at the very least, change the configuration so it cannot put the computer to sleep. Even if you disable the power saving mode of the USB port, many power saving settings will still allow the computer to enter a sleep mode, which will still affect your imaging session.
Q: Why does “Unknown device” show in the device manager after connecting the camera?
A: This is because the driver did not install properly. Try installing the driver again. You may need to configure any anti-virus software to allow the installer program to run.
As a last resort, close any anti-virus software and then reinstall the driver.
(NOTE: Make sure you only install an ASI camera driver downloaded from the ZWO website, and not from any other driver suppliers. This will prevent issues with malware.)
If reinstallation does not work, update the driver manually by following the instructions below.
Right click the “Unknown device”, choose the “Update Driver Software…” option and choose the driver directory. Normally, the driver directory is: C:\Program Files (x86)\ZWO Design\ZWO_USB_Cameras_driver\
SuZhou ZWO Co., Ltd.
Website: https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com
Email: info@zwoptical.com
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