ZWO's ROTATOR is out! PERFECT framing with the CAA, in-depth testing with NINA and ASIAIR!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

My Patreon: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek My Merch Store: cuiv.myspreadshop.com/ Get the ZWO CAA! Note that there's apparently been so many orders that ZWO has trouble manufacturing enough of these to meet the demand so you'll have to reserve your place in line and be patient! Agena Astro: bit.ly/40Ai6yg High Point: bit.ly/4jlIKSW All Star Telescope: tinyurl.com/5n942xwx First Light Optics: tinyurl.com/yh69r25s Astroshop eu: tinyurl.com/ycx7wdbz Also check @lukomatico 's look at the CAA and his warning! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHytaq1srp11fq8 ZWO ASI2600MC Air smart camera: tinyurl.com/tr2r3esn (ZWO) or bit.ly/3SV04Co (Agena,) or bit.ly/3SZARXx (HPS) Askar SQA55: bit.ly/4hEfW7l (Agena) or bit.ly/48u4PJC (HPS) or tinyurl.com/24mek4vc (FLO) or tinyurl.com/5yw5ccrd (All Star Telescope) For any affiliate link purchases, make sure to accept cookies if prompted! Amazon affiliate: amzn.to/49XTx01 Agena affiliate: bit.ly/3Om0hNG High Point Scientific affiliate: bit.ly/3lReu8R First Light Optics affiliate: tinyurl.com/yxd2jkr2 All-Star Telescope affiliate: bit.ly/3SCgVbV Astroshop eu Affiliate: tinyurl.com/2vafkax8

[@jwastroimaging2711]

Excellent video! I also need one of these!! Well, I didn't until I watched this and now I really do!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hahaha watching my videos can be harmful to your wallet!

[@CameronGillis]

Another great review, thank you Cuiv 👍 That said, I really look forward to ZWO hopefully moving towards developing a comprehensive "Alt-Az mode" with their ASI ecosystem that can be adapted for either large Dobsonians or super portable rigs. For example, this CAA could be used to compensate for field rotation when coupled with a Guide Scope and an ASI Air operating in Alt-Az mode where the Ephemerus solver would adjust the PHD pulse based on the Alt-Az scope direction. As an "Influencer", hope you can help convince ZWO and NINA developers to develope the Alt-Az imaging ecosystem which would benefit our hobby immensely. Keep looking up and enjoying the journey ✨️ Cheers! Cameron

[@shubhamc]

Would be nice to see implemented. However that might reduce the quality of flats cuz now you don’t have same relative position to the optical elements.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That would be nice indeed - I'm sure they've thought of it, and my guess is that if the hardware is precise enough, they'll probably work on it

[@bryandootson4011]

Hi Quiv I have a deep sky dad rotator and use an off axis guider that also rotates PhD2 calculates the rotation and is capable of guiding at any angle after initial calibration, the problem I had initially was getting the rotator to communicate with Nina and phd2 at the same time I solved this (with help from a forum) by using an ascom server called Optec This server allows 2 instances of the rotator to be shared between Nina and phd2 As usual there was a learning curve but it has continued to work for months in this configuration I just thought I’d add this info in case anyone was in a similar situation Thanks for the video! Clear skies! Bryan

[@sianikolaou5440]

Have been waiting a while for this and glad to see it work with NINA.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

If anything, based on other comments, it seems the NINA support is better!

[@lukomatico]

An amazing video mate, as always! your work is inspiring to me :-) clear skies!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks Luke, and so was your video! Cheers!

[@deep_space_dave]

What a nice rotator and it's cheaper than the rest without sacrificing quality! Thanks for the review!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yes! I'm happy to see ZWO really competing on price. I'm sure they could have priced it higher and still made a lot of sales.!

[@michaellkovacs]

The only thing we need now is the ZWO flap panel.

[@lukomatico]

Oh mate that would be brilliant! I'd love one :-D

[@sheberly]

Go with the Deepskydad Flat panel if you need one. You won't be disappointed. The quality is top notch. 2 styles of rotation for the panel depending on your needs. Amazing product. I was skeptical of the 3d printing aspect of it but once I had it in hand the quality is clearly above and beyond mass produced alternatives right now.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yes! With proper adjustable intensity, that would be awesome!

[@dijonpepperberry]

I know its not ZWO but man i love my WandererCover V4-EC (got it from aliexpress). the ability to do flats automatically whenever you want... goodness its worth it.

[@rdjinaz]

The CAA looks great! I'm using the ZWO ecosystem (except for William Optics and Astro-Physics scopes), so I'll give it a try. Thanks for your thorough and informative review! Clear skies.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope it works out for you!

[@bezain7663]

Great Video Cuiv One thing though, even if your filter wheel rotates with the camera, you have to make flats for every angle change. Optics, reducer, tube, all of these have their own asymetric impact on flats . It might be hardly noticeable, but they do .

[@sheberly]

As long as the glass up close to the camera sensor is turning with the camera, this will be a moot point. The further away the dust mote is from the sensor the less dramatic the result will be especially in astrophotos. If you have a field flattener that doesn't rotate with the camera, this could cause an issue. If you have no flattener, or it moves with your camera, the results of dust motes on your telescopes optics will not even be noticeable in your final photos.

[@sheberly]

It really needs to come with an M42 adapter option. That's just silly to exclude. It also needs to include limit settings in the driver itself. For people not using it with the ASIair, it leaves it up to your software to control the limit stops. I want to limit it to 180 degrees of rotation only, and set where the center point of that is. This should be done on a driver level and not left up to capture software to do.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Agreed - it seems there's a lot that's missing in the ASIAir driver (which as a non-rotator user I didn't know of, but which I am learning from your comments). As it is, it seems NINA supports the CAA better than the ASIAir does!

[@siegfriednoet]

Nice review Quiv, I ordered mine last year and will put it on the little Esprit80, on my Esprit 120 I have a Primalucelab rotator since a few years and must say that I can't miss it anymore. ZWO made this rotator very cheap, hope qualitywise it will be ok, although I've seen a few reviews now about this ZWO rotator and all have some serious backlash and that's a bummer

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

I literally just watched Lukes video before yours I'm betting you both put them out at the same time lol, the CAA is a nice size as others seem to be pretty big for what they do whether I get one or not remains to be seen as I've always got by without. Great video as always Cuiv clear skies

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yep, we kinda sorta coordinated the release ;) Cheers!

[@dweedum731]

Thanks for the review, Cuiv. I got my ZWO CAA about 2 weeks ago (yep, ordered it in the very first minute after it was released on Dec 26)! It's fantastic! Was worth the wait. I was able to do multi-night imaging sessions of multiple targets at different angles of composition, and select the image composition for each target uniquely. It's amazing how ZWO has thought thru everything. The only thing that has confused me a bit is - At one point, it showed my current camera angle to be 180 degrees, but then in the exact same position when I turned it on the next time, it said it was at 0 degrees. Not sure if I misunderstood something, or if it defaults to some angle like 0 degrees when it wakes up after power on. I need to figure that out. ZWO might fix that with a software feature so you can say what the 'current angle' is (like they did with their EAF 'current position' setting). Or it might have an encoder internally that encodes the 'absolute' angle.

[@siegfriednoet]

zero or 180 degrees on a rotator is exactly the same, so that really doesn't matter, it can be for example that your first session was before meridian and the later session was after meridian. But as I said 0 or 180 is exactly the same. Even so most people let their rotator only work for 180 degrees, so it is easier for cables not to snag

[@revolting887]

great review Cuiv! I don't think this will work with my imaging train...mono+filter wheel+OAG (celestron)...need to do a bit more research but I think this will be the bit that I'll not be able to automate (sadly). I guess that means it's time for a new rig build? 😂

[@sheberly]

Seems like it would work fine. Its 16.5mm, your Celestron is 12.5mm, I do not know what filter wheel your using but we might assume its 20mm, leaving you to find 6mm more of backspacing. I see several M42-M48 adapters that are 6mm in size on a quick google search, so I'm sure your setup could easily be accommodated.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

What telescope is that? With my EdgeHD800 back in the day, I was able to use EFW+1600MM+Celestron OAG+Moonlite focuser with the F7 reducer, and that moonlite focuser definitely consumes far more backfocus than the CAA!

[@gsevere2073]

I've ordered it at the end of December and still awaiting the unit ;) so I'm imaging vicariously through you, Cuiv.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope you get it soon!

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

This is awesome. Everything works beautifully together

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It's well thought out

[@Wheeljack678]

Couple of years ago I splurged on a Pegasus Falcon Rotator V2 - A rotator is the kind of quality of life improvement you didn't know you needed. Is is necessary? Absolutely not, but oh' so convenient.

[@celiaxel3448]

Thanks a lot for a great detailed video! I am still not ready to add the rotator, I prefer to keep rotating manually!

[@didierpeyret9561]

Hi Cuiv, and thanks for the review.I would have 2 comments. A) beyond the slight mechanical play in rotation, did you notice any possible tilt due to this rotator? And B) a side benetits of a rotator, specially when shooting with long focal lenght (2000mm in my case) is to easly be able to silghtly rotate, remotely, the OAG, to get more chance to found one or more good guiding star(s). And that without changing to much the framing.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Good point on the OAG on long FL, I hadn't thought of that! As for tilt, I didn't notice any, but then that telescope seems to be very tolerant of tilt... I'll need to double check

[@jimwaters304]

Great video Cuiv. That vertical banding looks like induced electrical noise.

[@dettie1948]

Be nice if they offered rotation at Sidereal speed to fit to Alt Az mounts to counter Field rotation...

[@schangrilama]

Isn‘t this feature implemented yet? That would be exactly my use case.

[@StevesTrains]

Yep, this is exactly what I want to use it for, although mostly for planetary imaging where I do animations of Jupiter rotating over a couple of hours, or of the moons of Saturn moving over a few hours and that kind of thing. I use my Celestron 8" EDGE HD on an evolution mount, and while I can realign the individual images in post-processing, it would be nice to have one less step to do.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yessss! They absolutely should do that!

[@liviulazar9387]

This is just another great review, as always! It will be interesting if you can provide feedback, using this ZWO rotator on the focuser of your small Skywatcher reflector. The one you upgraded with a new focuser, having the manual rotator on it, but it is said it could introduce tilt. I mean, don´t use the manual rotator, instead use the ZWO CAA.

[@davidf9494]

Another good video Cuiv, introducing a new piece of equipment! I can see that this rotator and others would be impossible(?) to use with an Celestron SCT and OAG, with a such a tight back focus.

[@jrs77]

This rotator is clearly developed to be used with the ASi2600MC/MM Duo in mind seeing the integration in the ASiAir software. Or you could simply use another OAG instead of the thick boy from Celestron.

[@davidf9494]

@@jrs77 True -but I like the large pick-off prism that the Celestron OAG comes with.

[@jrs77]

@@davidf9494 The ZWO OAG-L has the same 12x12mm prismsize, is just 17.5mm thick and only half the price of the Celestron OAG.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yeah the Celestron OAG does consume a lot of backfocus - that said with my EdgeHD800, I remember being able to use the F7 reducer + Celestron OAG + EFW together with a Moonlite focuser (which takes up a lot of backfocus, definitely far more than the CAA) so some setups would still be fine I think... and I agree, the Celestron OAG is awesome and I would never want to switch it out...!

[@Fat-totoro-cat]

Ive been happy with the WandererAstro rotator.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Glad it's been working well for you :)

[@galengloetzel1441]

I hope to buy it soon! Thank you for sharing your information about ZWO CAA and your great review, Cuiv!

[@thedonahoes]

Great video. I do wish you'd tried to use it with an OAG. I really want one, but want to see someone use it with an OAG. It was helpful to see and Nina that there's options to limit the range. But how much clearance is there?

[@MrGaugeBoson]

Great Video Cuiv ❤. So does that mean flats taken after going through different rotations and then returning to the original rotation work just as well, because of the high precision?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

For now, it looks like it!

[@Thommy78]

You're the lucky one. I ordered mine, still waiting. But I'm looking forward to play with this cool stuff!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@davidwillis5396]

Another great informative vidio Cuiv thank you

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Abstoss]

I just spent my first clear night with the new CAA and I feel the urgent need to give you immediate feedback. The CAA works great, but the software needs some very quick adjustmends. Otherwise the CAA is not giving more comfort, but more work. We need more control over it in the Software! I noticed that the CAA is being rotated 180° after meridian flip. Simply: Why? It is not neccessary. 0°=180° // 90° = 270° etc. in post processing. Due to the CAA rotating 180° after the flip I am now forced to take double flat for one object AND I have no way in Pixinsight to assign a specific set of flats to a specific set of lights in one session. Give us the choice if we want the CAA to be rotated after flip. Also give us the choice if we want the Rotation to happen when using the skyatlas to goto to an object or not. Sometimes I just want the scope to be poining to a specific region in the sky, but not swap cam angle just yet. As of now I need to closely watch AsiAir and abort the process. Please incorporate rotation in the file name!! This is so important! Lastly: Please give us the choice to limit rotation or define equivivalents like 0°=180° // 90° = 270°. A 90° turn left and right is enough to cover all possible object framings. I wish I could bring the CAA manually into a specific position and then define that as "home" or 0. From that defined home position I want it to rotate either 90° left or 90° right. Otherwise I will possibly snatch my cables, hit other equipment and so on. I feel like I need these features to really make use of the CAA. Otherwise I might uninstall it from my optical train and just go back to regular manual rotation.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thank you for these details! It really is useful to get feedback from people more used to rotators than me! It looks like most of that isn't really about the CAA, but about the driver implementation within the ASIAir, as I think a lot of these are possible if controlling the CAA with NINA (since the rotation conditions are then controlled by it). I think rotation angle can also be put in the file name, limit can be set to 180, and it's always possible to choose between slew, slew&center, and slew&center&rotate. I wonder how rotators would work in EKOS/Kstars, which the ASIAir is based on... As a traditionally non-rotator user, I hadn't thought of all of that, and it seems neither had ZWO. E.g. their test teams were probably also new to rotators. Have you tried providing this feedback on the ASIAir/ZWO forums?

[@Abstoss]

@CuivTheLazyGeek Hi Cuiv, sounds decent with Nina, but it would be very charming to have that with the Asiair aswell. I am using Asiair at home and out in the fields. Yes, I posted the same Feedback on the zwo forums, but it is still awaiting approval. We will see what will happen :)

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

@Abstoss you should also use the feedback feature in the ASIAir app itself! They look at this feedback closely because I think they don't get so much feedback by this route!

[@soerenfeddersen3560]

Thank you Cuiv, once again for a great review. I wonder if it would work in front of a corrector/reducer. In that way wie could use the Full backspacing for OAG, and Filters.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I guess it could for triplets or doublets (not for quadruplets,etc. where distance to corrector/reducer is important) assuming there is enough focuser travel to support it!

[@dmitribovski1292]

It's a missed opportunity the should have made more accurate(smaller divisions) it would have been useful for long exposure on alt/az mounts like the Meade/Celestron fork mount or NexStar arm mounts.

[@staceymills5433]

Once PHD2 is calibrated it will automatically adjust for any change in polar angle.

[@rawhead909]

That's what I'd assumed, since PHD2 has the option of connecting to the rotator. I *think* I've rotated the FOV in the middle of the night without having to re-calibrate.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Nice! I didn't know that, thanks for letting me know!!

[@iansteane2586]

Mine arrived a couple of weeks ago (ordered end of Dec in the Uk). Got caught out with it not shipping with the M54m to M48f reducer. Fortunately I napped the last one in stock.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Congrats! Hope you can get the M54-48 reduction ring somewhere!

[@PhilFXPhoenix]

Hi Cuiv. Nice review. I received my CAA last week and connected it to my Redcat51 setup that is run with an ASI Air + on an AM5 mount. I found a bit of a surprise I was not expecting. In my experience using a Pegasus V2 rotator on a different setup that I image with NINA, when I use that rotator with NINA everything works fine and framing is exactly like you did in this review with the CAA and your ASI Air. I wonder, however, when you were imaging M45 for this review if you actually went through a meridian flip? The reason I ask is my first object to image with my CAA/RedCat set up was IC 434 (Horsehead Nebula). About 90 minutes into my session the Air did a meridian flip. That I expected. What I did not expect is I had left the CAA connected during the session. At the meridian flip the CAA took off and flipped my camera 180 degrees. This I did not expect nor had I anticipated in my setup of EVER doing a rotation that exceeded 135 degrees. If all you use a rotator for is framing, about 135 degrees is all you probably would ever want. In fact just over 90 is usually all you need. Because I knew this all of my numerous cables were setup to easily accommodate a rotation, in one direction to go from 0 degrees to 135 degrees. When the CAA flipped the camera 180 it made about 140 degrees and then the cables locked up the entire assembly. Luckily nothing was damaged other than the evenings session was toast. I was watching things and stopped the entire session. If you read through the CAA manual no where does it say anything about meridian flips or that on a meridian flip the AA+ is going to rotate 180 degrees to flip the camera. If someone anticipates this with all of their cables, it's probably ok. If you have not anticipated this then you could run into the same issue I had. Using the CAA with NINA, this is probably never an issue because NINA takes care of the flip and the rotator.

[@astrofromhome]

Great Video Cuiv! I am thinking about to afford the CAA too. I just don't know how to use it with filter drawer/ wheel plus OAG on my 0.8x reducers. On the 1.0x flattners it is no issue because there is usually an extension ring on the flattner. Looks like you had to have a couple of cups of coffee the following morning. Indicates that the CAA granted just a very short night to you. 😂

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

You're right about the coffee (although I'm more of a tea person ;) )

[@astrofromhome]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek That proves you're human too and no robot. 😂 The recent three nights also cost me a lot of sleep. NINA is still causing me lots of headaches. The days after such nights are really tough for me too and the coffee machine is also my best friend. 😂

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

whoa I was just watching one of your older vids where you were talking about such a mythical rotator

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hahaha yes! It's been a long time!

[@qzorn4440]

Excellent information! 🎉 Thank you.

[@l.m2517]

Now we are waiting for a 2600MM-AIR with an in-camera filter wheel AND an in-camera CAA ! Yep 😂

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

And in camera microfocuser, that can move the sensor back and forth for a couple mm ;)

[@ARNFL13]

Hey Cuiv, great video again as always; hope you are doing well over in Tokyo. How was your overall experience with this entire scope setup? What you used in this video is EXACTLY the setup I am hoping to get over the next year or two; Askar SQA55, ASI2600 Duo Air, AM5N mount, and then the EAF and CAA from ZWO to top it off and make it a true EAA system. Would you recommend this setup as a first "real" telescope setup once I save up more and graduate from my Seestar S50? Thanks again for the great reviews and tutorials, take care! - Austin R

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks Austin! I think this is close to the perfect beginner setup! Would definitely recommend it if said beginner has the budget for it!

[@stresspro4085]

Thanks Cuiv!

[@JoseNavarroCo]

Cool vid Cuiv. Im on pre-order until March :(

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope it comes with clear skies!

[@NevadaDesertSkies]

Great video Cuiv. Too bad that it took so long for them to finally get this to market. I imagine most imagers not tied to the ASIAir ecosystem have already moved on to other options.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

At least they came to market with a good product that seems cheaper than the competition, and it seems they're selling more than they're able to produce!

[@timmoody7600]

I can see that the dust motes rotate with the camera, if the filters are below the CAA, but does the vignetting rotate? I would think not as it seems to come from the OTA or dew shield.

[@Y.Shishani]

In theory, can we use a camera rotator on an Alt-Az mount to counter the field rotation and take long expsures?!

[@MobilMobil-kv5ke]

My thoughts exactly. With this device and software, you should be able to photograph with an ALT AZ mount.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

In theory yes, but it doesn't seem to be implemented on the CAA (also no idea if it has the precision required)

[@Y.Shishani]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek I was thinking of the possibility of developing a new camera rotator with the required precision, that would be great. Alt-Az mounts have minimum setup times and do not require polar alignment, and can find targets easily and can be automated like the seestar telescope, and thus long exposures will be easy and simple without the field rotation and much less cropping will be needed.

[@Y.Shishani]

Hey @ZWO take a hint, make the sensor inside the next Seestar a rotating sensor :)

[@SiskiyouForest]

I had that exact same banding issues with my 533 MC pro and after talking to ZWO support, they said it was a warranty issue and needed to be repaired so I sent it off last week.

[@SiskiyouForest]

Just a quick follow up. Zwo replaced the sensor under warranty and is shipping it back

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Oh wow, interesting! I'll have to look more into it, although with flats the problem completely disappears so I'm not too worried... Glad you're getting a replacement!

[@larrycable984]

@ Ive had the same b anding issue with 260MCP as well, flats seem to remove it...

[@ACKitsBilltheCAT]

I’m waiting for the CAA to start showing up in the field of my local astronomy club before I jump in, but it does look well thought out and executed. If anyone has specific recommendations for configuration with a 1600mm and EFW, I’m definitely interested in hearing your thoughts.

[@frankm81m82]

If you are using a Petzval Design or external Flattener or reducer, and are getting dust donuts from these optical lenses , it would be nice to know if the rotation repeatability is accurate enough to return the rotation angle close enough so that the dust donuts from these optics without having to redo flats every time a rotation is applied.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It looks like it would be good enough, but I haven't seen dust donuts from a lens that a full 55mm away from the sensor... seems they would normally come from filters or the sensor window, which rotate with the camera...

[@gem-s6s]

They could incorporate a auto focusing unit aswell possibly even filter wheel 3 in 1.. even better incorporate a 4 in 1 camera mono forsure

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That would be awesome

[@larrycable984]

I now use coiled cables to keep things tidy and provide a margin of error if things get stretched

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That sounds like a really good solution, I think I need to look into such cables!

[@larrycable984]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek I even managed to find a decent USB 3.0 A->B coiled cable for the camera connection ... using coiled cables really reduces the chance of a snag causing damage to any expensive equip.

[@JemCruz]

Wow, I've never seen M45 so high that its almost at zenith. Note that I'm in the southern hemisphere. Since you captured hours, did you do a meridian flip?

[@AstroJWA]

Why doesn't the AIRair have the option to restrict the amount of rotation allowed to prevent cable snags?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Please provide this feedback to ZWO! I'll do so as well!

[@haiderbhogadia4829]

Many thanks very informative. I am still waiting for mine 🙀😢

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope you get it soon!

[@FrancoGrimoldi]

Nice review! What about the use of a rotator while doing mosaics? With sensors with long aspect ratios such as the 585, mosaics can get tricky as you move away from the equator. Is there an easy way to use the CAA to help even out the overlap between panels?

[@charlesalexander8099]

I have a mighty interesting question. Please help 😢 I have a C8 edge HD. Will I be able to use my .07x reducer, filter wheel, OAG with the CAA? (Back focus) I have a mono camera. Will they ever make a filter wheel combined with the CAA as one unit?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

You have 105mm from the tip of the reducer threads (NOT THE FLANGE!) to the sensor so I think that's plenty of space. 17.5mm (camera), 21mm (EFW), 16.5mm (CAA), 30-40mm (Celestron OAG) = 95mm so should be fine?

[@DeadBen.]

I have one on pre-order, but may be quite a while before receipt. Though, also interested in whether ZWO will integrate a version of this as a field derotator into a pro/plus version of the Seestar, for easy alt/az.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope you get it soon!

[@teslar1]

I have one on order but unlikely to arrive until March 2025 😨

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yeah they didn't anticipate how many people would want to buy those!

[@WIStratoliner06]

My worry with rotators is with my 7x 2" filter wheel hitting the mount if I rotate too far.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Aaah right! And it rotates during the flip so that's going to be an issue indeed...!

[@AstroJWA]

One of the issues I have experienced is the cable snagging on the EFW while it rotates. Unfortunately, the camera and EFW rotate together. It snags on the corner of the circuit board budge of the EFW.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Augh, that sounds painful indeed - not sure how to avoid that besides longer cables... or those twisted telephone style cables...?

[@AstroJWA]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek if I had the smarts I could 3d print a ring that would fit around the whole EFW to prevent it from snagging

[@aruangrassamee]

Thanks for your review. In your daytime test, the CAA actually rotated through the longer path from +1.4deg to 180 deg. So it rotated 181.4 deg CCW instead of 178.6 deg CW. Is there a way to limit the rotation to 180 deg to avoid cable warping?

[@DominikW]

Is the rotation angle of subframes recorded in the FITS header or the filename?

[@jrs77]

Now all that's left for ZWO to release is a ASi2600MM Duo Air.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

With integrated filter wheel, filters, and a microfocuser that moves the sensor back and forth! That would be the ultimate all in one!

[@deniseschaller7744]

I would still rather have the filter wheel, not rotate?

[@Bigalinjapan]

As far as I understand, without an astro computer this rotator cannot be used. Can ZWO's astro computers be controlled via a Windows PC (which is present in my living room anyway) or does one HAVE to use an Android / Mac app?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

You have to use an Android app, but you can run those on your PC using an emulator like BlueStacks

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

Like you Cuiv I've never used a rotator but I am thinking about getting one of these for use with my Red Cat 51 and 81GT scopes and 585 camera. It will mostly be controlled by an ASIair. Do you know if this will be compatible with the Stellarmate Pro? I believe the small jack socket is so you can use the EAF hand controller ( if you have one ) to position the camera if for some reason you don't want to use the ASIair, NINA etc. a lot of my imaging is done with either a 533 OSC or 533 Mono camera which I don't think would benefit from a rotator.

[@randysmith7010]

I’m using ASI Air Pro with flash drive with 2600 MM and filter wheel and EAF so all my usb ports are full on the Air and camera. How do you suggest I connect the CAA? Thanks Randy S

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Either drop the flash drive, or add a USB hub I would say...

[@larrycable984]

@ @randysmith7010 I am curious if the USB C port on the ASIAir Plus might offer an additional port either for a device or flash drive?

[@jodyschultz5870]

So could ASIair or PHD2 use this to correct for field rotation on an Az-Alt mount?

[@dmitribovski1292]

For long exposure you would want the same accuracy as your guiding so sub arc second this isn't that, but doe short subs it would get around most of the rotation in stacking. If this is a problem for you you could get around that my converting your mount to an equatorial with a Equatorial Wedge.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Not right now, but with software enhancements they could try to do something about it - not sure whether it would be precise enough for rotating during subs, but it could rotate between subs to avoid the loss of FOV due to field rotation!

[@jodyschultz5870]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Looks like it's 50 steps per degree right now, so more than an arc min but I am not sure if that's a mechanical or software limitation.

[@wesleyhughes6267]

Wouldn't you only need a rotation of 0 to 180 or +/- 90 since it doesn't matter if it is upside down?

[@rawhead909]

Depends. If all you're worried about is framing, then yes. If you want to do something like, say, rotate 180˚ after a meridian flip to ensure you will have the same set of (good) guide star in the FOV of you OAG/camera, then you want the full 360˚.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I just want to say I love this community, I'm seeing so many people answer one another in the comments - the guide star part that @rawhead909 mentions is something I wouldn't have thought of!! Thank you guys!

[@rawhead909]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Well you made this community, in a sense. We're like this, because you are like this :) This use case in fact was the motivation for me to get Celestron OAG working with my EdgeHD800 (it wasn't easy lol) and a rotator. Anyway, thank you always for what you give to the community. I'm in Tokyo toward the end of the month, maybe I'll spot you at a subway station and say hi! :D Clear skies!

[@tkone9594]

Can you reach 55 mm with a Mono-Cam + Filterwheel + OAG + CAA?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I don't think so no...

[@grandmasteryoda9893]

i prefer to just buy scoope with rotator build in focuser. mucher better deal and nothing to steel backfocus space

[@amp2amp800]

Its taking too long to deliver... I dont know why, I ordered 2 hours after launch.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hope you get it soon!

[@EugeneRu777]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@gr0uch02a]

I added my first rotator years ago and it quickly became my favorite accessory and I've had one on every refractor setup since. Bummed I am unable to use one on my ACF due to insufficient space with the focuser+reducer.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Backfocus always becomes an issue...

[@TheCongratulationsChannel]

So now you can do your mosaics easily, can't you?

[@hiki_neat315]

もしかして日本に住んでいますか? 周りの景色がめちゃくちゃ日本に見える

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

はい、もう完全に日本の景色です！東京寄りの川崎に住んでいます！

[@EstebanVINAIXA]

On se demande si cet accessoire existe réellement..... Apparament cet objet est très rare. Les envois se font au hasard !!! ZWO vraiment pas sérieux !!!!

[@Tink-GB]

Threads are off..looks so wonky donkey

[@davidwillis5396]

On another note I am deaf & wandering if you have a chanel like Discord so that I may chat with you please Especially while live Thank you

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Not yet, but I'm thinking of creating one!

[@ColonelKorg1]

Can it be used to correct field rotation on an Alt-Az mount?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Not at this stage