ZWO ASI533MC Pro review

Choosing a camera for astrophotography can be a daunting task. Today we are spoiled for choice with a huge range of different manufacturers and models to choose from. The company ZWO has been producing astro-imaging cameras now for a decade, and as the years have progressed, they have become one of the most popular manufacturers of affordable cameras for astrophotography.

The ASI533MC Pro camera is aimed at those looking to purchase a dedicated multi-purpose camera for astrophotography. Once upon a time, cameras such as this would have set you back a tidy four-figure sum, but with the advent of affordable technology from Chinese manufacturers such as ZWO the playing field has completely changed. Today cameras once costing a small fortune are within reach of a much wider range of consumers.

This model offers a full-color camera with an onboard cooling system to minimize noise for long exposure astrophotography as well as being suitable for short exposure lunar and planetary imaging. It also comes packaged with a variety of useful accessories to help get you up and running easily.

In this review, we put the camera through its paces under the night sky on a multitude of different targets to see how it performs.

ZWO ASI1533MC Pro review: Design

The ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera comes in a compact design typical of many cameras of this type. Its small 78 x 73.5mm body is of sturdy construction with a multitude of ports on the rear of the camera body along with prominent cooling vents. The camera itself comes equipped with a multitude of accessories to get you started straight out of the box.

The camera connects to a PC via the supplied USB3 cable, and drivers to run the camera can be downloaded from the ZWO website. We had no trouble at all having the camera up and running within a few minutes.

In the box along with the camera itself comes a variety of accessories. The camera itself comes in a small, padded zip bag. Also included are a multitude of different adapters giving you options on how to connect it to your telescope or attach other accessories.

On the rear face of the camera are two USB2 ports for connecting/power accessories such as an auto guider which most will require for serious long exposure work. The camera cooling system is powered by a 12v supply, which is not included with the camera but can be purchased separately.

ZWO ASI1533MC Pro review: Functionality

Operating the ASI533MC Pro camera is a straightforward process. Drivers can be downloaded from the ZWO website, as can camera control software which you can use to operate the camera (called ASI Studio). The camera is also supported by other third-party software which also works extremely well to run the camera. Programs such as Firecapture will run the ZWO cameras and are freely available online for download.

The camera itself is powered directly from the USB connection. A separate power supply is only needed if you wish to run the camera cooling system (only really need for very long exposure work). Once connected to your PC you’ll see a live preview on screen. On the PC we tested the camera on, it easily achieved the quoted 20fps rate at full-frame running with no problems at all.

For those looking to use the ASI533MC Pro for long exposure work, you’ll need to get a suitable 12V power supply to run the camera cooling system. ZWO offers suitable ones for sale, or a suitable third party one will do (which is what we used for the purposes of this review).

ZWO ASI1533MC Pro review: Performance for astrophotography

Much as with the ZWO ASI183MC Pro, we first tested the ASI533MC Pro for imaging the planets; Jupiter was again the first target on offer. We attached the camera to the 14” (36cm) telescope and slewed the telescope over to Jupiter.

One thing to note immediately is that you’ll need a UV/IR blocking filter for this camera otherwise the color will be polluted by IR signal. For example, when imaging Jupiter the on-screen image looks pink as a result of this. Such filters are widely and easily available – and are an important accessory for anyone doing astrophotography with dedicated astronomical imaging cameras such as this one.

With Jupiter, since much of the field was not required, we used the region of interest (ROI) feature to crop down the captured area. This allows the camera to run at very high frame rates desirable for imaging the planets. Imaging the planets with color cameras such as this is always good fun as you can often see many details and colors on their disks. One advantage of this particular camera is the larger 3.76um pixel size. This matches longer focal length telescopes like the Schmidt Cassegrains well. The 14bit output is also very clean, and with ROI you can easily run the camera at 100fps or more.

You can also use the ASI533MC Pro as a mono camera. I attempted some near IR captures of the Lunar surface as the moon was also visible on this particular night. The camera performed really nicely for the task, and as with Jupiter gave very clear and crisp data with low noise. Again the larger pixel size is well suited to imaging with a telescope such as the C14.

Next came some testing for Deep Sky imaging. For this I decided to wait for a decent clear and moonless night. For the initial tests I decided to try imaging with the camera without using the cooling system to see just how well it would perform ‘out of the box’ so to speak.

I decided to shoot the picturesque spiral galaxy NGC 6946 in Cepheus – one of my favourite northern hemisphere targets. Using the C14 at a reduced F7 focal length I centred the galaxy and began a series of 60 sec exposures without the cooling system active as mentioned above. Even with this modest exposure time a good amount of detail was recorded in the galaxy. I ended up shooting around 40 x 60sec exposure and stacked around 30 of them together for the result presented here. It’s a good result considering the sky conditions were average and the site of average darkness. From a darker site with longer exposure times even better results could be realised.

I then decided to fire up the camera cooling system and try a few shots using this. The cooling system is only required if you are going to use the camera for long single exposures (several mins.) In this instance it does make a notable difference to reducing noise across the image.

Overall, the performance of the ASI533MC Pro was impressive. It easily produced good clean images of deep sky targets and operated throughout the imaging session without any issues.

Should you buy the ZWO ASI533MC Pro?

For those looking to take their first step at buying a dedicated astronomical imaging camera but without the hassle of using a mono camera, you can’t go far wrong with the ASI533MC Pro. It’s a great multi-purpose imaging camera that can produce excellent images of both planetary and deep sky targets. It’s also incredibly easy to set-up and use which is a major bonus. It’s also nice to see a camera like this on offer without tiny pixels – something users of longer focal length telescopes such as myself very much appreciate!

For the price, the ASI533MC Pro offers some impressive specs and is far more affordable than the equivalent high-end mono astronomical imaging cameras of similar resolution. No product is perfect however and this is no exception. It would be good to see a PSU and UR/IR blocking filter included as part of the standard package as these are essential accessories – the filter especially.

Another point worth mentioning is how the camera compares to a similarly priced DSLR from Canon/Nikon. Image quality is similar, and of course the DSLR can be used for conventional photography too, so this is something that is worth considering.