Level Up Your Astro Photography: ZWO Camera 2600MC vs 2600MM Pro

I wanted to create a video to not only cover all of the stats on these two cameras, but also help you decide which one would be the best for you.
 If you have any additional questions please post them below. I'm just getting started with this channel as well as making videos and video editing. In general. I am hoping to continue to improve, if you have any other topics or products you'd like me to go over please let me know.
 I tend to try out a lot of new gear and so I'll continue to post reviews if people find value and like/subscribe to them.
Thank you for watching !

[@thomaszefo3923]

I really appreciate all of your content. I have enjoyed my 2600MC for a year now as it has given me some great images. Some day I might go after the 2600MM as I see many amazing images produced by it. As far as power I power the camera, dew heaters and mount utilizing the Pegasus and a Jackery 1000 - never had any issues.

[@Sargnort]

Great information!!!

[@darkrangersinc]

Thank you so much!

[@anata5127]

QHY268M or Moravian 26000 or Teledyne (expensive!) all the way. Color for EAA, mono for astrophotography.

[@darkrangersinc]

Yeah but unfortunately ASIAIR only allows ZWO. Once I upgrade to the Eagle 5 I’ll get the Moravian C3 with the 61MP FF chip with the cooling upgrade.

[@dwbattag5847]

You mention not to try running the ZWO 2600 off the AsiAir because you will short out one or the other. I am unclear about that sentence and it is very important to me since I might be doing that exact thing. That is unless I misunderstood your sentence. To be clear I have the AsiAir Plus powered by a 12volt adapter. From there I run the ZWO2600mc Pro off of one of the 12v outputs of the AsiAir Plus. I’ve been doing this for several months with no noticeable problems. Thanks DB from Minnesota

[@darkrangersinc]

Yeah, I’ve elaborated on this in later videos as well. I give it its own power supply for a couple reasons for one the ZWO power supplies are only 5AMP. I would recommend if you’re only going to run one power supply to get a 10AMP from Pegasus or another reputable company. The second reason is redundancy, I go camping a lot, and I like to have a second power supply running so that if one does fail in theory, I can run everything off of one although I wouldn’t want to kind of like using the donut spare in your car, it will work, but it’s not ideal To me, it’s just a lot to run your mount, your ASIplus, your guide camera, regular camera with two stage cooling, 2 dew heaters, and potentially even more accessories off of one power supply. Brown outs and low-voltage typically hurt equipment just as bad as too much voltage I’ve had several motherboards fail from ZWO, the 2600 MC, the 7 x 2” EFW, and as I mentioned my ASA airpro, which still works other than the 12 V out but clearly it didn’t like that. For how inexpensive another power supply is I don’t think it’s worth the risk, and I’ve had several people and other videos comment that they’ve had experiences similar to mine, or just avoid it by running to power supplies. We’re talking about fairly expensive equipment and a fairly cheap solution to it. You can get away with running won. The question is for how long? To me spending an extra $32 is worth it or at least at the bare minimum upgrading to a 10 AM if you just want to run one power supply.

[@CDigata]

Can you explain why not to power the camera with Asiair? thats what the air is for aint it? Im powering the ZWO AM5, then the AM5 12 V output going to the ASIAir plus. Then another cable connecting a 12V output from the ASIAir plus to the ASI 2600 MC Pro with no problems.. A cooled camera can take up to 3A when running at 100%.. The main thing is not to power the Mount and the camera from the Asiair, one or the other but not both. ASIair is rated up to 5A

[@darkrangersinc]

The 2600 and 6200 need their own power source. Smaller cameras like the 533 can run off the Asiar but the 2-stage cooling on the biggest two cameras need more. If you go on ZWO’s website they’ll confirm what I’m saying. It’s not really a big deal the additional adapter is $33. I ignored the warning and it fried the 12v power supply on my old ASIAIR pro. It cooked all 4, even though I was only using one! I am also in Phoenix and it was a hot night I got away with it several times but the cooling was running at 80%+ to maintain the temp as it was over 90 degrees even at midnight

[@CDigata]

@@darkrangersinc good advice, ill just run a splitter where the power leaves the mount and send one direct to the camera

[@CDigata]

@@darkrangersinc After a quick look on zwo site, what its telling you is you can not run it from usb, meaning it has to be powered by 12v. it will not draw more than 3A even when its at max with the dew heater running.. and the 533 also uses the same 2 stage cooler.. was you using more than 5A draw from the asiair?.. so yer still better with splitter if using the asiair to also run scope dew heaters I guess..

[@darkrangersinc]

@@CDigata i saw the warning you mentioned and it’s impossible to power it from the USB… You need a 12 V style but it doesn’t have enough power to run that camera. There’s another note that only mentions the 2600 and 6200 that can’t be run by the Asiar. Every other camera can be… It’s backed up by the fact that it did eventually take down my Asiar I wasn’t running my dew heaters from it at the time so it was literally the only thing plugged into 1 of the 4 12v power supplies. Like I said, I got away with it for a while and if you’re not under extreme circumstances, like Phoenix summer heat, then you probably could get away with it I did for a few imaging sessions, but then it was too much. The rest of the Asiar still runs but the 12v power outs are cooked.

[@chrisvig123]

I played it safe and purchased a Bluetti power pak with dedicated 12V power outputs…these units have 12V regulation and current protection. I’ve never had an issue….these cameras are too expensive to start messing around with power requirements just get a good dedicated power supply .

[@screwyouyoutube5493]

I compared my 1600MM Pro to my 2600MM Pro and found that the 1600 takes much better photos. There is absolutely no Sensor tilt on the 1600 but it appears that the 2600 is a mess with adjustments needing to be made on the tilt plate. It isn't noticeable on a small focal length, but at 2800mm it is a complete disaster.

[@darkrangersinc]

Yeah, there is a tilt plate on the 2600 so it can be adjusted until it’s perfect. Mine came from the factory not perfectly square so once leveled out the tilt plate. It took care of the issues I was having. I’ve never use the 1600 but I’ve spoken to several people who made the switch and have seen their images before and after and noticed a significant improvement once they made the switch to the 2600. It’s dramatically better in every metric - quantum efficiency, bit depth, full-well depth, read noise, etc. it’s also’s quite a bit larger which should help your field of view at 2800 mm. I think once you get the tilt sorted out, you’ll be happy with it as have several of the folks I’ve spoken to that made the switch.

[@kirostar12]

Wait for the sensor oil leak on the 2600MM Pro :) . Rather, I wonder what the difference between the two cameras is in terms of noise and sensor sensitivity. I can only compare 2600mm with 1600MC. But that's not a real basis for comparison between these two cameras. I would like to download somewhere pictures of the same object photographed with both mono cameras. ASI 1600 has an advantage with its smaller sensor. It is ideal for the old Hyperstar lens as well as for the smaller and cheaper narrowband filters. let's say that it cools much faster than 2600mm with its -45C cooling temperature capacity against -35C of ASI2600. The good quantum performance of the 2600 can't be seen with the naked eye in reality, so I don't think it's a huge advantage of the 2600. Everything about this camera is one big advertisement to collect money. The only advantage of the larger sensor is for subjects where you need a wider field of view.

[@arturKrzyzak]

No sound?

[@darkrangersinc]

There is sound? If there wasn’t I think with the 5000 views we’d see a lot more of these comments 😉. It’s a little softer on my earlier episodes because I was brand new to video editing so you just have to turn it up a little bit, but I can easily hear it even on my iPhone with no headphones