ZWO ASI183MC Pro: The Must-See Review!

In this video I review my ASI183MC Pro one shot colour (OSC) camera after owning it for a year. I've been using this with my William Optics RedCat51 for this past year and share the good and the bad with respect to this camera.
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[@travlon5101]

Very very well done!! I like how you broke down the terms used, and explained them completely. A big help. I use the same set up and love the final images it produces. Yes, dark frames and dithering really help in eliminating the amp glow from the final image. Thanks again.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thank you for the kind words. I wasn’t sure whether to post this video and now I’m glad I did.

[@ThePaintingpeter]

Fantastic video. I have realized recently how time consuming the creation of a video can be, so your effort is much appreciated. I have the same set-up so I came up with the same camera choice and seeing your images I can hardly wait for it to arrive.

[@mickmoonstudycansell1889]

What a great informative presentation this is, I also own this camera & have just purchased the heating element for it due to sensor fogging. This thankfully has resolved this but as you say it would have been nice to have this included with the camera. Loving the images you have taken with yours, great work.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I appreciate the feedback as it's a great encouragement for me. It is a bit of a shame with the 183, it seemed to be the only one that really works fully with the RedCat51 but the amp glow is a big pain. :(

[@johnmheaton]

I enjoyed the review. Thank you.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to feedback.

[@jPaulofe]

Great and instructive video on the ZWO ASI183MC PRO! I have a ASI183MC PRO since end of 2020 myself, as I decided to move away from the Canon DSLR I was using before. I also wished it would not have the Amp glow problem, but in my case I found out not being an issue, as the calibration frames have been doing their job quite nicely so far. Cheers PauloF

[@astrojourneyuk]

I’m going to redo my calibration frames and see if it helps but also I’ve heard that flat darks an answer too.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks Paulo!

[@jPaulofe]

@@astrojourneyuk , Flat Darks are only important when used with Flats. In order to reduce/eliminate the amp glow you will need the Darks (at least 20x same Temp, same exposure time as the Light frames)

[@wdavis6814]

I got the pro version of this camera solely as a wide field travel camera. I have the 2" Optolong L-eNhance already too, so narrowband is good to go without a filter wheel.

[@astrojourneyuk]

That sounds great, good luck with your adventures with it!

[@conradealie9304]

I enjoyed your video. I have a Redcat 51 and the ASI 183MC (uncooled). I’m having a difficult time figuring out the spacing to achieve focus and I am wondering if you would share the details of your back focus spacing.

[@user-lt9py2pu6u]

Good images. I use an Altair Astro 183 mono camera (more or less the same spec as the ZWO version) with my CAT51 but would also like a OSC version as well so found your experience really interesting (I like blending narrow band and broadband images - currently to save time I will often use my DSLR to capture the RGB image, but would like to upgrade. I find that 183 sensor cams work really well with the Samyang / Rokinon 135 f2 lens as well. Would be nice if Sony would introduce a backlit version of the IMX183 sensor

[@gregmckay666]

Very nice review. I did notice remnents of amp glow on the first shot of the Bubble Nebula/Lobster Claw Nebula and also on the Heart and Soul nebula images later on. Still, very nice images that could probably be tweaked a bit more in processing to rid the glow.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks Greg. A keen eye there. I thought I had more images where the amp glow was worse, however, when I was putting this together I couldn’t see any remnant glow at all. I’m going to have another look now. :) Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.

[@MrGp3po]

Just got the 183MC Pro. I already have a 294MC Pro but wanted the smaller pixel size for my RedCat51. Looking forward to seeing how they play together.

[@astrojourneyuk]

It's a pretty good combo, just make sure you take Dark Flats to get rid of the amp glow. I think the 294 has the same amp glow issue too.

[@MrGp3po]

@@astrojourneyuk Yes. With the 294 I'm in the habit of Darks, Flats, DarkFlats, but no Biases. The Darks pretty well eliminate the amp glow nicely.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Next time I use the camera I’m going to redo the darks and also do dark flats too. Hopefully this will get rid of my amp glow issues. Currently I have the 2600 on the back. :)

[@AndrewThomas73]

I never managed to completely eliminate the amp glow, there is always a residual pattern left when processing, and my calibration frames were spot on, ended up just framing objects to avoid best I could. I sold mine few months back and now have a 2600 mc pro.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Wow that’s quite an upgrade! I keep looking at the 2600 but haven’t clicked buy just yet.

[@tedg3250]

For a meade 130mm apo, and one who does planetary and dso, which Camara would you recommend??

[@Chorge1972]

Do you think the pixelsize will also work with a 80APO (SD Douplet, 0.8 reduced)? Or with resolution cause a problem?

[@petebooth5121]

I’ve had the 183mc pro for a few months as my first dedicated Astro-cam, picked up as a 2nd hand bargain. I find the amp-glow calibrates out nicely for subs up to about 180s. But at 240s and up, it restricts how aggressively you can stretch even after calibration. The small sensor has its upsides but given the choice I would take the 533.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Interestingly, maybe, I have the 533 too but I always seem to prefer the images I get from the redcat / 183 combo. I use the 533 with a SkyWatcher 80ED Pro.

[@petebooth5121]

Interesting to hear that. I’m more than happy with the images I get also (72mm ED) And I have no direct experience of any other Astrocam- so my opinion is classic YT uninformed nonsense 😉

[@astrojourneyuk]

@@petebooth5121 maybe I could do a real life comparison of these cameras, if the clouds ever clear. :)

[@JH-rq7wp]

Nice review! I just bought this camera and have been wrestling through the growing pains after coming from a DSLR. As of today I am still not getting quality up to the level of my DSLR photos and have been trying to find where I am going wrong. I'm looking for a good video about the settings to use for DSO imaging with this particular camera. Personally, I have not used the ZWO computer for imaging but instead have a mini PC and use NINA. Any videos or insight into how to coax the best data from this set camera are always desirable. Keep up the good reviews. Thanks, Justin

[@astrojourneyuk]

The first default step to take is to use the camera in unity gain which is 100. There seems to be a lot of chatter on forums about using 0 or 100! 🙈 Why are things never simple. 😂 What issues have you been seeing?

[@JH-rq7wp]

@@astrojourneyuk My flats and darks werent getting rid of the amp glow for one and the picture just wasnt as crisp or colorful as my Canon Rebel T5 though it has more pixels. Everything else was the same. Mount, lens, focuser, dew heaters, etc....

[@astrojourneyuk]

For the ASI183 camera I believe the trick is to take flat darks to get rid of the amp glow. There will be other factors at play here like pixel size, ADC, Quantum efficiency that may have an affect. Is you DSLR modified too? By the way I got the gain wrong for the 183 in the comment above. I thought you were talking about the 2600, I blame KZbin studio for making it difficult to see what comment is from what video. Sorry. It should be 120.

[@MakeAMark]

Very informative video I think. I'm wondering if you've tried to get a wider Field of View (FOV) from your Redcat by using a camera with a bigger sensor. As you say, it will likely be undersampled, but (also as you say), you need to look closely to see that, and in wide FOV images, you're usually appreciating the larger picture. I have an Askar 300mm scope that I sometimes use a full-frame ASI 2400 (5.9micron pixels -- way undersampled!) but it can make some impressive images -- e.g. both the Heart and Soul in one capture. . That combo has almost 7 degrees FOV in the long dimension. FYI -- I usually use a 2600 on the Askar (still undersampled a bit); I got the 2400 to use mostly with my EdgeHD-11, but couldn't resist trying on the Askar.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks Richard for that. Maybe I should give my other cameras a try. I do see a lot of people using DSLRs with their RedCats. I could try the 1600MM I have. I might just do that! Thanks.

[@PeterMaddison2483]

I got my setup in 8/21 and have not even taken a single picture yet due to not having time. I've taken the time to learn more about my equipment (and still learning). I hope to be able to get some pictures taken the second half of the year. My rig; Celestron SCT1100 / Celestron StarSense AutoAlign / ZWO ASI183 PRO / ZWO EAF / ZWO OAG / ZWO ASI120MM MINI & all the other usual stuff, dew heaters / shield, power supply, filters. I'm still finding out that I need little bits to be able to take good pictures, like certain types of filters to cut out LED street lights.

[@astrojourneyuk]

That’s a real shame about not having enough time to get out. It sounds like you have a lot of what you need already. I would recommend just trying to get out and try things with the kit you have just so you get to grips with it. It’s best IMO to have the right level of expectation on the first imaging sessions because it takes a while to hone the skills. Then once you have some data you can practice processing whilst it’s cloudy. I completely understand the time issue that’s just as difficult as getting clear skies to solve. :( Good luck though.

[@PeterMaddison2483]

@@astrojourneyuk One of the things holding me back garden, it's only 11m x 8.2m and I have a large shed and greenhouse , along with 2 1/2 raised beds and some garden furniture & other stuff. I need to sort out what to keep & what to bin to be able to make some room.

[@astrojourneyuk]

One good thing for me out of Covid was that I managed to get my garden sorted because I couldn’t do anything else. Good luck.

[@blackice5649]

Great Video! Can you provide a link for the heating element you purchased for this camera?

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks Matthew, here is an example link (non-affiliated) www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zwo-anti-dew-heater-strip-for-zwo-asi-cooled-cameras.html

[@timburgess1528]

Thanks again for the video. One comment about the amp glow - I have always managed to calibrate the glow out perfectly, I’ve never noticed any residual artefacts after stacking (mainly I use APP but also recently WBPP). Do you always have issue in not fully calibrating out the glow? Thanks!

[@astrojourneyuk]

Hi Tim, I do always have issues with Amp Glow despite using Bias, Darks and Flats every time, I suspect there's either an issue with my Bias and Darks or I need to use Flat Darks with this camera. I have seen an article online about similar issues with the 294 but using Flat Darks should fix the issue. I'm going to have a play and investigate and probably put a video together on the findings. I do still love this camera and combination with the RedCat but stacking and calibrating with either Deep Sky Stacker or PixInsight has the same results for me. :(

[@timburgess1528]

@@astrojourneyuk thanks for the feedback. I use Flat-Darks so maybe that's what is making the difference. But I can't see any amp glow even when stretching the heck out of the final stacked image. So it really seems to work for me.

[@astrojourneyuk]

It has to be the Flat Darks that is the issue from my point. Next time I use the scope and the 183 camera I’ll try again.

[@timburgess1528]

Thank for the review! I have the same scope/camera set up. I don’t have the camera dew heater fitted and so far have not had any issues with condensation - although until now I have screwed the filters directly into the scope, so the imaging train is pretty airtight, not sure if that makes a difference. I have brought the ZWO filter drawer but have not tried it yet, but this will not give such a good seal in the imaging train so wonder if I might now also be more susceptible to condensation. What do you think?

[@astrojourneyuk]

I had an entire year of many different setups before dew on the camera was an issue and now it keeps happening. :(

[@timburgess1528]

@@astrojourneyuk ok thanks, I will watch out for that, if ever we get a clear night that is…..

[@astrojourneyuk]

We must be patient. 😂

[@josegiovanni8695]

Hello, do you think the zwo 183pro would work on a celestron SCT 8?

[@christopherthomas3403]

Not ideal. That combination would lead to over-sampling. The SCT 8 has quite a long focal length, and this camera is better suited to shorter focal lengths e.g. 360mm.

[@in2driving]

I tried this camera for a while, but found that the amp glow is too obnoxious. While in principle it could be calibrated out at shorter exposures, one should realize that it is filling the wells and therefore affects the dynamic range of the pixels in question. If there’s nebulosity in that area it becomes quite noticeable and will not calibrate out without leaving a ghost image. I finally traded it in for a 533MC PRO.

[@astrojourneyuk]

After reading this I completely agree with you. I don’t see how calibration can completely remove the issue and it’s impact on the dynamic range. :(

[@ThoseDaysMovie]

Do you sell any photos ? I am wondering if it’s just cheaper to buy photos. I want to put photos on a tshirt. I went and took pics with my canon but they were just black. No stars and lots of noise.

[@astrojourneyuk]

I’m always happy to sell images, message me on Instagram.

[@spacemonkey986]

what healing element did you put on it?

[@astrojourneyuk]

I’m assuming you meant heating element? It’s the official ZWO one. I love the irony of cooling the sensor and then having to heat the glass. 😂🙈

[@spacemonkey986]

@@astrojourneyuk lol yes healing element vs heating element maybe a Freudulent slip!

[@astrojourneyuk]

Healing elements might be needed for the wallet after purchase.

[@woody5109]

I think all your images are fantastic, you guys get way to picky, amp glow…🙄

[@astrojourneyuk]

😂 maybe. I think because I had issues with it at the start with the ASI183MC Pro it’s kind of been a niggle. I also think that when people are spending the best part of $1000 on a camera that’s designed for astrophotography it would be good to not need to calibrate the glow out in the first place. But, yes, maybe I’m being picky. 😀 Thanks for the nice feedback on the images too.