ASI294MC PRO Specs are impressive

[glend]

Just been looking over the ASI294MC-Pro on the ZWO website, and it looks very impressive: 3x the well-depth of the 1600, 14bit, low noise, etc.
Uses the Sony IMX294 sensor.
Nothing about it on Bintel's website yet.

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/products/asi-cooled-cameras/asi294mc-pro-color/

[Marke]

There's no mono version tho but as a osc it should be good .

[Camelopardalis]

Yeah it looks good on paper, but I'd like to see some darks to judge what the amp glow is like. Some of the Sony CMOS sensors have horrendous amp glow that is more tricky to calibrate out than on, say, the Panasonic sensor in the 1600 (which I find a very consistent performer).

[glend]

Dunk, there are some amp glow dark examples on the CN beta test thread. This camera is being discussed mostly in the EAA forum

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/591441-asi-new-camera-294-pro-beta-testing/page-2

Have a look at post #48 which has dark examples.

At 600 seconds it doesn't look any worse than a pre-DDR 1600 does at 300 seconds.

[Camelopardalis]

Glen, as is often the case, despite lots of chatter, there's not good information in that guy's post...jpegs of what looks like a black screen :shrug:

Not trying to be funny, just objective.

Given the specs of the sensor, it looks formidable, but I can't see a purpose in using 600 seconds subs, or even 300 second subs. I never use subs that long with my 1600 :lol:

[glend]

I don't think anyone suggested that 300 sec or 600 sec RGB subs were a good idea. I gathered that the guy who did those darks was looking to stress test it for visible AMP glow.

I will say that I certainly do shoot 300s Unity gain narrowband subs with my 1600, so it is relevant to me in that sense, as I know about 1600 AMP glow at that duration.

Information has to start somewhere, and chatter is the norm. Sorry if I am not sceptical enough, but ZWO rarely disappoints these days.

I would welcome Jon Rista testing it, but it is the EAA domain right now.

[Camelopardalis]

Glen, my point was that a black jpeg doesn’t show any detail or given any clue as to the values of the amp glow above random background. I got excited when I saw a link to his cloud drive but then the link didn’t work.

The Sony sensors can be a bit hit and miss with the amp glow, the 178 and 183 are good examples where it’s a bit shocking with their starburst pattern. They also have a nasty habit of recalibrating at power on, so your bias frames from one night to the next are not the same, which isn’t good for master darks.

From reading the specs, I’d love one to try out, looks like an excellent DSLR replacement for colour imaging at a dark site...

[glend]

After further research it appears the ZWO ASI294MC-C may have some serious issues.
If anyone is considering the 294 it would be a good idea to read the CN test thread and the ZWO forum questions and their responses related to this model. Simply put, it seems to have artifacts that cannot be calibrated out, even with 60s subs. Also the sensor chip, due to the way it mounts, cannot be cooled across the back as effectively as as a Panasonic chip in the 1600. The sensor can be centre cooled but not to the edges, thus you get uneven temperatures and it will not cool as deep as other ASI cooled cameras.

This might be one to hold off on until these issues have been addressed.