Ian says
"The ZWO ASI2600MM Pro is one of the best monochrome cameras available!
Fitted with Sony’s latest back-illuminated IMX571 APS-C format sensor with native 16-bit ADC, it is highly sensitive.
The camera also has very low dark noise and zero amp glow, providing wonderful, clean, low-noise images.
Its APS-C format sensor delivers beautiful wide fields and is a more forgiving option than ZWO's larger full-format ASI6200 camera.
For anyone wanting to take full advantage of today's excellent narrow-band filters, the ASI2600MM Pro is unbeatable."
About this product
Model: zwo_asi2600mm-pro
Part Number: ZWO ASI2600MM-P
Features Sony's highly sensitive 26MP IMX571 APS-C sensor, 2-stage TEC cooling and no Amp Glow!
The ASI 2600MM Pro uses Sony’s latest back-illuminated IMX571 APS-C format native 16-bit ADC sensor.
Features include ultra-high 14 stops dynamic range, very low 1.0e readout noise and zero amp-glow!
APS-C format:
The Sony 26 MP APS-C format sensor with 3.76um pixels provides a large well depth of 50ke.
The sensor length and width are 23.5mm x 15.7mm, and the diagonal is 28.3mm.
Beautifully made:
ZWO has worked hard to reduce weight (only 0.7kg) and improve performance.
All ZWO cameras include a 2-year warranty.
FEATURES
- Sony IMX571 Sensor
- 6248x4176 3.76 μm Pixels
- 256MB DDR3 Memory Buffer
- Zero Amp Glow!
- Regulated two-stage Tec-Cooling: 35 degrees below ambient temperature
- Extremely low read noise - 1.0-3.3e
- 16Bit ADC - provides real 16bit dynamic range
- Electronic shutter - no issues with vibrations sometimes found in mechanical shutters
- USB3.0 Port (back compatible with USB2.0)
- AR (anti-reflective) protective window
- Compatible with Windows / Mac OS / Linux
Native 16bit ADC
As one of the few CMOS astronomy cameras with 16bit ADC in the market, ASI2600MM Pro is perfect for astrophotography. This 16-bit ADC is not a CCD 16-bit ADC. It can achieve a dynamic range output of 14 stops, which will significantly improve the image sharpness and contrast, and also create smoother and more natural colour transitions.
IMX571 backlit sensor
Sony’s back-illuminated CMOS image sensor improves sensitivity and noise reduction – the key factors to enhancing image quality, while radically realigning their fundamental pixel structure from front-illumination to back-illumination. It has retained the advantages of CMOS image sensors, such as low power consumption and high-speed operation.
With a conventional front-illumination structure, the metal wiring and transistors on the silicon substrate surface that form the sensor’s light-sensitive area (photo-diode) impede photon gathering carried out by the on-chip lens. A back-illuminated structure minimises the degradation of sensitivity to optical angle response while also increasing the amount of light that enters each pixel due to the lack of obstacles, such as metal wiring and transistors that have been moved to the reverse of the silicon substrate.
Sony has newly developed a unique photo-diode structure and on-chip lens optimised for back-illuminated structures, that achieves a higher sensitivity and a lower random noise without light by reducing noise, dark current and defect pixels compared to the conventional front-illuminated structure.
DDR Memory Buffer
ZWO Pro cameras feature a 256MB DDR3 memory buffer to enable data transfer stability and reduced amp-glow caused by the slow data transfer speed when using a USB 2.0 port.
Camera Field of View Simulator
Camera Performance
The ASI2600MM Pro has excellent performance with a dynamic range of up to 14 stops. When the gain value is 100, the magical HCG high gain mode is turned on, the readout noise is significantly reduced, and the dynamic range is basically unchanged. For better data quality, it is recommended to set the gain to 0 or gain 100 during deep-sky imaging.
QE Curve
According to the test results of Sony, the QE peak value of the ASI2600MM Pro is 91%.
Zero Amp Glow
Traditional CMOS sensors produce a weak infrared light source during operation, often seen in the corner of uncalibrated images as the telltale signs of ‘amp glow’. As the ASI2600MM Pro uses zero amp glow circuitry, you won’t have to worry about amp glow even when using high gain, long exposure imaging.
With amp glow – exposure 300-second exposure:
ASI2600 frame with no amp glow – Exposure 300 seconds:
Anti-dew
A polyimide heater completely fits the protective window in the ASI2600MM Pro camera. It can help avoid the annoying dew or icing issues.
The power of the heater is around 5W. You can turn it off anytime in your photography software to save some power.
Two-stage TEC cooling, ultra-low dark current
Thanks to the two-stage TEC cooling, ASI2600MM Pro can lower the CMOS sensor temperature to more than 35c below ambient, significantly reducing dark current generation and sensor noise even with extended exposure times.
The unique dark current suppression technology can even further reduce dark current noise. At a cooling temperature of 0 °, the dark current noise is only 0.0022e/s/pix. This means 300s exposure can only cause 0.7e dark current noise, which is less than the readout noise. While at a cooling temperature of -20 °, the dark current can even reduce to 0.00012e/s/pix, which is negligible!
Mechanical Diagram
Connecting Diagram
1. Nikon-T2 adapter
2. EOS-T2 adapter
3. 2” filter (optional)
4. Nikon lens
5. Canon lens
What's in the box
- ASI2600MM-Pro Camera
- Soft Padded Case
- 2-metre USB 3.0 Cable
- USB 2.0 Short Cable x2
- T2 Extender 21mm
- T2-M48 16.5mm Extender
- M42-M48 Adapter
- 2" Cover
- Allen Key
Specifications
| Sensor | SONY IMX571 CMOS |
| Diagonal | 28.3mm |
| Image area | 23.5*17.5mm |
| Resolution | 26 Mega Pixel 6248*4176 |
| Pixel Size | 3.76μm |
| Shutter | Rolling shutter |
| Exposure Range | 32μs-2000s |
| ROI | Supported |
| Read Noise | 1.0-3.3e |
| QE peak | 91% |
| Full well | 50000e |
| ADC | 16bit |
| DDRIII Buffer | 256MB |
| Non-volatile memory/On camera storage | Build-in total 192K byte user-accessible space(image size up to 480X320) |
| Interface | USB3.0/USB2.0 |
| Interface | USB3.0/USB2.0 |
| Adaptor | M42X0.75 |
| Protect window | D60-2 AR |
| Dimensions | 90mm Diameter |
| Weight | 700g |
| Back Focus Distance | 17.5mm |
| Cooling | Regulated Two-Stage TEC |
| Delta T | 35°C below ambient |
| Camera Power consumption | 1.15A at 5V |
| Cooler Power consumption | 12V at 3A Max |
| Working Temperature | -5°C—50°C |
| Storage Temperature | -10°C—60°C |
| Working Relative Humidity | 0%—80% |
Max FPS at full resolution:
- 16Bit ADC
- 6248×4176 3.51fps
- 4096×3072 4.75fps
- 4096×2160 6.71fps
- 3840×2160 6.71fps
- 1920×1080 13.13fps
- 1280×720 19.29fps
- 640×480 28.06fps
- 320×240 51.44fps
More resolutions can be seen in software. Customised resolution is also supported.
Downloads / Manuals
The following manuals and downloads are available for this product:
Software
ZWO Software and Drivers
Customer reviews
| Average Rating (5 Reviews): | |
11 December 2023 | Katie
The build of the 2600 MM pro is solid. I especially liked the silicone usb cable that comes with it as opposed to the cheap thin cables I got with my 533 MM pro. I have only managed 1 hr of Ha with this camera due to such awful weather but I can honestly say that the detail and FOV is first class. What can I say about FLO? their service is impeccable.
An amazing camera stepping in as the little brother of the ASI6200 20 February 2023 | Mark
I don't think for the money you will get a better camera. I bought this to take advantage of the C14 Edge & reducer where the original camera, An ASI6200, was too big for the field that the reducer gave. I wanted to take advantage of the F7.7 focal ratio with the reducer however the flat fielding on the 6200 with the reducer was problematic. The smaller sensor of the 2600 is ideal in this scenario. The camera calibrates easily with beautiful flat fields.
The support as usual from FLO is superb and you can buy with confidence knowing that will be happy to help with any unlikely issues. I've now moved the 6200 camera to the RASA 11" with the 2600 now happily living on the C14 Edge at F7.7 & producing very fine results.
19 February 2023 | Daniel
This is an amazing mono camera that just works. I haven't had any issues with it. Noise is minimal, darks are beautiful and flat. Can't recommend it enough.
06 September 2021 | Ian
I bought this to replace/supplement an eight year old SX-694. So far I have found the ASI2600 easy to use and giving very good results, on both an MN190 and a WO81, using the INDI drivers and Ekos. Any vignetting has been taken out well by flats. I have largely been using NB filters, and the performance is good with these. I use a USB2 port, rather than USB3, so cannot comment on the performance with the latter although download speeds on USB2 seem similar to the SX694 despite the larger file sizes on the ASI2600. My only issue has been some USB connectivity problems using the camera as a USB hub for a filter wheel, but I have yet to really troublershoot these. Overall, I am very satisfied with the camera.
ZWO ASI 2600MM-Pro Camera 15 February 2021 | Alistair
I have only had this camera for a week and have used it over three nights of imaging. It is bolted directly to the face of a ZWO 2" filter wheel.
While taking dark frames, light leakage is apparent into the system which may be from the camera/filter wheel interface.
So long as dark frames are taken in a dark environment this does not present a problem and actual sub frames are not affected when imaging at night.
The screw fitting on this camera is M42 female rather than M42 male on the ASI533. There is no simple adapter that allows for a screw fit of the camera to the 2" EFW (M54 female) which may eliminate the light leakage issue.
The noise performance is excellent - perhaps even better than my ASI 533 camera. There are very few hot pixels visible.
I was worried about back focus and sensor tilt, but keeping the spacing distance identical to the ASI533 camera, back focus was spot on and I have no elliptical stars in the images taken to date.
This is just as well as the 'bolt on' method of fitting the camera to the EFW makes it impossible to access the tilt adjustment screws without dismantling the filter wheel to remove the camera.
This would be an extremely lengthy iterative process, taking may hours to get set up correct and risks introducing allot of dust into the optics.
The only way to relocate the tilt adjustment after the EFW is to filt ZWOs OAG unit which I don't have or need to use.
Using this camera has more than doubled the field of view that I can achieve with my eSPRIT100ED refractor allowing larger DSOs to be imaged without requiring a mosaic.
I am excited in getting into narrow band imaging, I do not have sufficient experience to compare with other mono camera options.
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