It can deliver up to 254x frames-per-second at reduced resolution or 60x FPS at full 1280X960 resolution!
The ASI120MC is also a capable guide-camera, particularly when used with finder-guiders and other fast / short guide-scopes.
The sensor is protected by a UV/IR cut optical window so a separate 1.25" UV/IR rejection filter is not necessary.
Supplied with a 150-degree wide lens so you don't even need a telescope to start imaging the stars!
It is possible to screw the 150-degree accessory lens in too far resulting in a scratched optical window! Please adjust focus slowly and don't focus beyond infinity.
ASI120 cameras have been reviewed by some of the most popular astronomy magazines. You can read them in PDF documents:
Average Rating (12 Reviews): | |
Dipping my toe in astrophotography Thursday, 3 March 2022 | Donald
I bought this camera to have a go at astrophotography. There are cheaper alternatives available, but I chose this because of its versatility. Works for both planetary and DSO imaging. It seems to be fairly easy to make cooling modifications to this camera for long exposures. It is really easy to use and provides some fantastic images.
Tuesday, 7 September 2021 | David
PURCHASED THIS ITEM FROM FIRST LIGHT OPTICS i AM VERY PLEASED INDEED! i'M GOING TO USE IT AS A GUIDE CAMERA FOR MY TELESCOPE ITS COMPLETE WITH THE TWO CABLES ONE FOR THE CAMERA AND ONE TO POWER THE GUIDE LOOKING FORWARD TO USING IT
Friday, 25 June 2021 | Jacqueline
Have only used as a guide camera so far and it works perfectly. Also tried it out during the day with Sharpcap and it works fine.
Monday, 21 June 2021 | Gray
Great price, great delivery exactly what you want from a company
Tuesday, 11 May 2021 | Graeme
Great well made camera. As usual FLO's service was excellent. Familiarised my self with the included fisheye lens (nice little extra), just want a clear night to put it through its paces on the scope.
well done FLO, you get 10/10 from me everytime !
ZWO ASI 120MC-S USB 3.0 Colour Camera Thursday, 25 March 2021 | Kevin
As always fantastic service from FLO. I ordered this product at 2pm and at 9:15am the next day DHL were knocking on my door!
With the UK weather in my area not being helpful, I haven't had a lot of time to actually make full use of this camera yet. However once the box arrived I was able to download and install all the necessary drivers and the manufacturer software suite to start getting used to things. Everything was easy to install and setup and my laptop immediately recognised the camera when I attached it via the supplied USB cable. I was able to get about an hour of play last night before it clouded over, and managed to get some imaging practice in using the manufacturers software suite. Using the ASCOM platform you can easily get other imaging software like NINA to find and use the camera. This is a great and economic way to dip your toes into the word of astro imaging using a planetary camera. The supplied product includes a wide angle lens for direct imaging from the camera. Using the supplied 1.25" adapter you can image through your telescope. You can also buy optional extras to use it as a finder scope cam, and there are T adapters you can use to attach it to c mount lens or DSLR lens.
All in all an excellent and versatile entry level camera.
Great Service from FLO and Great ZWO quality Saturday, 20 February 2021 | Umair
As always, FLO's service is second to none. I got my item in 2 days (international order). Very well packed .My little son had great fun with the plentiful foaming holding the camera box. FLO spared no expense on the packaging 
I got a Smartphone cable for the camera and it am using it with a 127 MAK. works really well on my smartphone when viewing Mars (only planet visible in my skies as of this review). No PC or large setup required. I put it on the scope, connect to smartphone and I get plentiful of imaging options & controls - and video recording for lucky imaging. Great results
I have also used it as a guider with no problems. It finds plenty of guide stars easily with my 50mm aperture guidescope. 5 stars all over.
bought as a guide/planetary scope Tuesday, 22 December 2020 | Mike
seems to be doing fine as a guide scope. Haven't had a chance to try it on my 127 Mak yet.
on windows 10 it plugs straight in and is working, windows 7 I had to DL the drivers. no big issue
solid build like ZWO seem to be. colour capture worked fine in sharpcap when I was playing around indoor
ZWO ASI 120MC-S USB 3.0 Colour Camera Thursday, 5 March 2020 | Barry
I am not in to imaging but wanted a camera to view the moon on screen in real time and to capture transient events such as impact flashes or other TLP's. After reading the reviews of the ZWO 120 and some advice from FLO, I placed an order for one and braced myself for a bit of a fight to get the thing working, and as something of a technophobe I did this with some trepidation. In the meantime I downloaded the ZWO driver software using the link on the FLO product page as well as Sharpcap and FireCapture on to my new HP EliteBook (Intel Core i5 5th Gen, 8GB Memory, 256GB with lots of USB3 ports) which I got specifically as I read that ZWO's do not like ADM processors. All very simple so far.
The camera arrived, there was no CD/software included - but as I had already downloaded the driver software from ZWO nothing additional was needed. Having replaced the all sky camera with the 1.25" nosepiece I stuck the camera in a 70mm apo and connected the to the laptop via the USB3 cable. The computer immediately recognised the camera as it came up in the list of devices - phew! Next start up Sharpcap (or FireCapture) select the ZWO ASI 120MC from the camera menu as both programs recognised it was connected and an image appeared on the screen once the exposure was adjusted a bit. I did not expect it to be this easy - but it was, dead simple and very straightforwards. The only surprises were the field of view - very narrow, but if you use the Camera Field of View Simulator on the FLO product page you will already know what your FOV will be, and having done so myself I got hold of a x0.5 focal reducer which allows most of the lunar disc to be framed in my Skywatcher 80DS Pro. One thing I did find out is that you need a well aligned finderscope as centering and focussing on something even as bright as the moon can be a little tricky due to the small FOV.
So, having expected a bit of a battle with hardware/software/settings and so on, I was up and running in literally 5 minutes - which is as far as I am concerned a 5 star performance. This leaves time to come to grips with the capture software, and I found Sharpcap dead easy as a beginner and quite intuitive to use.
Thursday, 31 October 2019 | Stephen
I was looking to buy my first astronomy camera and after research decided on this one. Nicely engineered and good value for money, have been unable to use with my telescope (rain) but tested the operation of the sky lens connected to my laptop, all very easy. The paper quick guide included is a bit too small in its screen shots and and have yet to see the downloaded software show as per the quick guide. it took me till the following day to find by selecting the question mark icon shown on the ASICAP screen (at the top right hand corner) to reveal a drop down box with help sub menu that explained all the icons of what they do. pity that was not put in the quick guide. On the whole i think this is a very sophisticated first camera for me with lots to be able explore while gazing at the night sky. and would not hesitate to recommend it.
Read all 12 customer reviews...