ZWO ASI462 Color Camera - Information

Archive

On this page, I present some information about my ZWO ASI462MC color camera (bought on December 20, 2022 in the astronomie.de forum, arrived at my home on December 24, 2022). This camera has the same Sony sensor as my Vaonis Vespera (Sony IMX462), so I was interested in finding out how it would perform on my telescopes in comparison with the Vespera (and my other cameras).

In the end, I did not find the time to use this camera in parallel to my smart telescopes and decided to sell it. So you will only find some photos (unpacking, mounted to a telescope) and technical information here, but no experiences.

See the appendix for the technical data. See also:

ZWO ASI462 Color Camera - Information Archive
ZWO ASI294 Color Camera - Information Archive
ZWO ASI224 Color Camera - Information Archive

Note: The camera was discontinued and replaced with the ZWO ASI662MC camera.

Note: At the beginning of June 2024, I sold my ZWO ASI462MC color camera. I therefore cannot report any further experiences with it here.

Introduction

>> Obsolete...

In 2022, I had "consolidated" my camera equipment a bit by selling my ZWO ASI224MC and buying a ZWO ASO294MC. Also, at the end of the year, I had offered my Atik Infinity for sale in the forum of astronomie.de (and sold it...). Then, just before Christmas, I came across a mint ZWO ASI462MC in the same forum (Biete = Offers) and purchased it, because it has the same Sony sensor (IMX462) as the Vespera. So I would be able to conduct a similar comparison between the two devices as between the ZWO ASI224MC and the Unistellar eVscope.

However, I found a note from ZWO (and not dealers) that the camera is no longer manufactured and has been replaced with the ZWO ASI662MC. Meanwhile (May 2024) it is out of stock.

I was also curious whether the camera would work on the StellarMate astrocomputer or whether it would cause similar problems as the ASI224MC.

Look

Unpacking...

Outer Box	Outer box opened	Contents taken out of the outer box
One more layer removed	Camera box taken out	Camera box
Camera box opened, contents visible	Camera box opened, contents taken out	The contents next to the box
Camera taken out of the plastic bag	Ditto, lid removed from the optics	Closer view, lid removed from the optics
Labelling of the box		Left: Labelling of the box

Look of the Camera




Camera Connected to a Computer

Look at the PS 72/432

Here, the ZWO ASI462 is shown at the Omegon PS 72/432; the photos are processed by the StellarMate astronomy computer, which is controlled using an iPad. The photos show a complete EAA equipment!

Sensor, Pixel Data, Field of View

The ASI462MC camera uses the Sony sensor type IMX462 (CMOS) with a resolution of 2.1 MegaPixels, or 1920 x 1080 pixels (H/V). The pixel size is 2.9 µm (quadratic pixels). With this, all sizes are known to calculate the field of view of the camera at different telescope tubes!

For simplity reasons, I did not calculate the values myself, but used the Website astronomy.tools for calculating the field of view of the ASI462MC camera at my current telescope tubes (as of December 2022):

Legend: Cyan Custom Scope = PS 72/432, magenta Custom Scope = TLAPO1027

I summarize the results of the diagrams (and others shown elsewhere) in the following table:

					Field of View
Telescope	Reducer	Focal Length	Aperture	f	ASI224MC*	ASI294MC*	ASI462MC*	Atik Infinity*	Remarks
PS 72/432	---	432	72	6	0.65° x 0.48°	2.54° x 1.73°	0.74° x 0.42°	1.19° x 0.89°	The largest FOV of my tubes
C5	---	1250	127	10	0.22° x 0.17°	0.88° x 0.60°	0.26° x 0.15°	0.41° x 0.31°	FOV like C8 with reducer
C5	f/6.3	787.5	127	6.3	0.36° x 0.17°	1.40° x 0.95°	0.41° x 0.23°	0.65° x 0.49°	FOV a little smaller as with TLAPO1027
C8*	---	2032	203	10	0.14° x 0.1°	0.54° x 0.37°	0.16° x 0.09°	0.25° x 0.19°	The smallest FOV
C8*	f/6.3	1280	203	6.3	0.22° x 0.16°	0.86° x 0.58°	0.25° x 0.14°	0.4° x 0.3°	FOV like C5
TLAPO1027*	---	714	102	7	0.39° x 0.29°	1.54° x 1.05°	0.45° x 0.26°	0.72° x 0.54°	FOV a little larger than for C5 with reducer
					in Degrees	in Minutes
eVscope*	---	450	114	4	0.61° x 0.46	36.7' x 27.6'			Same sensor as ASI224: Sony IMX224
eVscope 2*	---	450	114	4	0.78° x 0.57°	47' x 34'			New sensor: Sony IMX347
Vespera*		200	50	4	1.6° x 0.9°	100' x 54' (ca.)			Same sensor as ASI462: Sony IMX462
Vespera Pro		250	50	5	1.6° x 1.6°	100' x 100' (ca.)			New sensor: Sony IMX676

*) No longer in my possession

Final Words

In the end, I did not find the time to use my ASI462MC camera in parallel to my smart telescopes and decided to sell it.