ASI071MC Pro: What Improvements Have Been Achieved?

As we may know before, ZWO ASI071MC Pro was made with the Legendary Sony CMOS chip IMX071. It fits telescopes of all sizes and does not have many requirements for flatteners. The perfect performance in dark field with extremely low amp glow makes it an excellent camera for long exposures. Since we already have a cool version of ASI071, in this article, we are going to reveal the differences between these two cameras. Let’s see what changes and improvements ASI071MC Pro has made on earth.

ASI071MC Pro has been redesigned from the inside out, using a larger 86mm shell to accommodate bigger boards and internal devices.

Improvement No.1: 6 tightened screws

The new sealing way brings excellent sealability for the camera, also keeps it safe and sound in rough roads. No matter how bad the weather is, ASI071MC Pro can always stay dry and sealed inside.

Improvement No.2: DDR Memory Buffer

DDR memory buffer can act like computer memory. The image date from CMOS will be saved into DDR memory buffer at a very high speed, then slowly transferred to the hard disk through the USB cable. One advantage to this is that the speed of exporting images can be very fast, while the noise accumulated in the readout process could be greatly decreased. Another advantage is that the images won’t be lost even if something wrong happens with the connection between the camera and computer. It can be re-transferred.

DDR memory buffer is the main difference between ASI “Cool” and “Pro” cameras.

Improvement No.3: Dark current

Thanks to DDR buffer and new improvement of hardware design, ASI071MC Pro’s control ability to dark current has been greatly increased. The dark current is very close to that of a cooled CCD camera now, and will only be 0.00064e/s/pix when it comes to -15℃.

Improvement No.4: Main parameters

ASI071MC Pro offers very good performance for astrophotography. Low read noise, high dynamic range.

Improvement No.5: QE value

The QE peak value of ASI071MC Pro is about 50%. Such efficiency is not suitable for snapshot obviously, instead, you can use it to take some great long-exposure photos.

Some other features of ASI071MC Pro:

1. It includes a unique tilt adapter. You can now easily adjust the camera imaging plane with the adapter outside without screwing off the camera cover.

2. It equips with2 extra USB ports which allow you to connect more USB devices(like guide cameras). That will greatly help solve the USB HUB shortage problem.