Assessment of ZWO ASI120MM Mini: Slightly Advised Usage
In the realm of astronomy cameras, the ZWO ASI120MM Mini has been making waves for its impressive performance and compact design. This new addition to ZWO's lineup, based on their popular ASI1 20MM camera, offers a unique advantage over its non-mini counterpart, making it an ideal choice for those with space and weight constraints.
The main selling point of the ASI120MM Mini is its reduced size and compactness. This diminutive camera is a boon for portable or space-constrained setups, as it can be easily integrated without compromising performance. Users have reported that the Mini version delivers very good guiding results, even in less-than-ideal seeing conditions, with RMS errors around 0.65-0.75. This underscores the Mini's suitability for guiding applications, despite its smaller form factor.
The Mini's compact size also contributes to a lighter and less bulky setup, making it beneficial for travel or systems where weight and balance are important. The camera remains easy to use with software control systems like the ZWO ASIAIR, allowing exposure adjustments and focus aids relevant to guiding or imaging sessions.
Despite its size, the ASI120MM Mini maintains excellent guiding performance, which is crucial for accurate tracking during long deep sky exposures. The camera's sensor, close to the face of the camera, aids in focusing when using an off-axis guider setup, and its low-profile body provides a larger focusing range, making it particularly useful for autoguiding.
The Mini's sensor, while only 1⁄3" in size, is extremely sensitive, allowing it to pick up dimmer stars in the small area it covers. This sensitivity, combined with the use of CMOS technology, mitigates the potential issue of the smaller sensor size. The camera also boasts a quantum efficiency of 80%, ensuring it can capture a significant amount of light.
The ASI120MM Mini uses USB-C, making its interface modern and future-proof compared to other astronomy cameras. Its frames per second are not much of a concern for deep-sky and autoguiding purposes due to shorter download times compared to exposures. The camera's resolution of 1280×960 and its 60-gram weight make it lightweight and suitable for sensitive equatorial mounts.
While the ASI120MM Mini shares the same sensor as the 120MM, it is almost completely different from its larger counterpart. The Mini is much cheaper than the non-mini version, and it only supports USB 2, which makes it more affordable but also has some disadvantages.
It's worth noting that the ASI120MM Mini is not suitable for planetary work, as a camera like the ASI120MM-c would perform better for such purposes. However, for deep sky or guiding applications, the ASI120MM Mini's unique combination of compact size, excellent guiding performance, and sensitivity make it an attractive choice.
In conclusion, the ZWO ASI120MM Mini stands out as an ideal solution for guided deep sky imaging setups where space and weight constraints matter. Its compact size, combined with retained guiding performance, makes it a versatile and powerful tool for astronomers on the move.
- The unique advantage of the ASI120MM Mini in the field of astronomy lies in its reduced size and compactness, making it an ideal choice for portable or space-constrained setups.
- The ASI120MM Mini's sensitive sensor, even with a smaller 1⁄3" size, allows it to pick up dimmer stars in its small area of view, and its use of CMOS technology mitigates potential issues due to its smaller sensor size.
- Although the ASI120MM Mini is not suitable for planetary work, it excels in deep sky or guiding applications with its combination of compact size, excellent guiding performance, and sensitivity, making it a versatile and powerful tool for astronomers on the move.
