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ASI482 Manual
Revision 1.0
Sep, 2021
All materials related to this publication are subject to change without notice and its copyright
totally belongs to Suzhou ZWO CO.,LTD.
Please download the latest version from our Official website.
ASI482 Manual
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Table of Contents
ASI482 Manual ............................................................................................................................... 1
1. Instruction ................................................................................................................................. 3
2. What’s in the box? .................................................................................................................... 4
3. Camera technical specifications ................................................................................................ 5
4. QE Graph & Read Noise ........................................................................................................... 6
5. Getting to know your camera .................................................................................................... 8
5.1 External View ...................................................................................................................... 8
5.2 Power consumption ............................................................................................................. 8
5.3 USB 3.0 port & ST4 port .................................................................................................... 8
5.4 Protect window ................................................................................................................... 8
5.5 Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) .................................................................................... 9
5.6 Binning ................................................................................................................................ 9
6. How to use your camera.......................................................................................................... 11
7. Cleaning .................................................................................................................................. 11
8. Mechanical drawing ................................................................................................................ 12
9. Servicing ................................................................................................................................ 13
10. Warranty ................................................................................................................................ 13
ASI482 Manual
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1. Instruction
Congratulations and thank you for buying one of our ASI Cameras! This manual will give you a
brief introduction to your ASI camera. Please take some time to read it thoroughly. If you have
any questions, please feel free to submit it on the ZWO support site:
https://support.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/
ASI482 is one of the new OSC planetary cameras developed by ZWO and released in 2021.
Packed with Sony sensor IMX482, this camera has some very great highlights, including a large
pixel size of 5.8um, USB 3.0 interface, large full-well depth of 51.5ke-, extremely high sensitivity
and super low read out noise, etc. It can achieve great image quality at low illumination, and the
value of SNR1s can be as low as 0.08lx. Thus, some people also call it “The King of the Night”.
Model
Mono/Color
Sensor
ASI482MC
Color
SONY IMX482
For software installation instructions and other technical information, please refer to our official
website https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/
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2. What’s in the box?
ASI482MC
ASI482 Manual
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3. Camera technical specifications
Sensor
SONY IMX482 CMOS
Format
1/1.2”
Diagonal
12.86mm
Resolution
2 Mega Pixel, 1920*1080
Pixel size
5.8µm
Sensor size
11.13mm * 6.26mm
Max fps
82.5FPS
Shutter
Rolling shutter
Exposure range
32µs-2000s
Readout noise
1.5-12.9 e
QE peak
85% at 530nm
Full well
51.5ke
ADC
12bit
USB interface
USB3.0
Adapters
2”/1.25”/M42X0.75
Protect window
AR
Dimension
62mm
Weight
0.133kg
Back focus length
6.5mm/17.5mm
Working temperature
-5°C~50°C
Working relative humidity
0~80%
Supported OS
Windows, Linux & Mac OSX
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4. QE Graph & Read Noise
QE and Read noise are the most important parts to measure the performance of a camera.
Higher QE and Lower read noise are needed to improve the SNR of an image.
The following figure shows the QE curve of ASI482. According to our estimation, the QE peak of
ASI482 is 85% (530nm).
Read noise includes pixel diode noise, circuit noise and ADC quantization error noise. The lower
the better.
As you can see, the Read Noise of the ASI482 camera is extremely low. The built-in HCG mode
can even more reduce the read noise at high gain and keep the same wide dynamic range for this
camera as at low gain. When the gain is 80, the HCG mode will be automatically turned on.
Additionally, the read noise is as low as 1.5e while the dynamic range can still be close to 12bit.
Depending on your target, you can set the gain lower for higher dynamic range or set the gain
higher for lower noise.
ASI482 Manual
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5. Getting to know your camera
5.1 External View
5.2 Power consumption
ASI482 camera is with low power consumption, max at 2.06W. USB3.0 cable is recommended for
power supply.
5.3 USB 3.0 port & ST4 port
USB 3.0 Port: Providing 5Gb bandwidth to let ASI482 run at 82.5fps (10bit, high speed mode) or
57.5fps (12bit, normal mode) at full resolution (2 Mega).
ST4 Port: Can be used to connect with auto guide port of mount for guiding.
5.4 Protect window
There is a protective window AR filter in front of the ASI482 camera sensor, with 25mm diameter
and 1mm thickness.
USB3.0&USB2.0 IN
ST4 guide port
1/4” screw
You can mount to tripod
AR protect window
D25*1mm
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5.5 Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)
The ASI482 camera records in 12bit ADC and 10bit ADC. You can image at a faster fps rate if you
choose to use 10bit ADC (high speed mode). This camera also supports ROI (region of interest)
shooting, and this smaller ROI has faster fps.
Here is the maximum speed of ASI482 running at different ADC mode on USB3.0.
Resolution
USB 3.0
12Bit
10Bit
RAW16
RAW8
RAW16
RAW8
1920*1080
57.5
57.5
82.5
82.5
1280*720
84.65
84.65
121.5
121.5
640*480
123.6
123.6
177.5
177.5
320*240
228.75
228.75
328.4
328.4
5.6 Binning
The ASI482 camera supports software bin2, bin3 and bin4 mode. We recommend customer to use
software binning if you don’t care speed.
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6. How to use your camera
There are many adapters available for this camera for connecting to your scope or lens. Some are
included with the camera and others you can order from our site:
https://telescopes.taobao.com/
Color camera connecting drawing:
1. 1.25” T-Mount
2. 1.25”filter(optional)
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7. Cleaning
The camera is sealed and comes with an AR protect window to protect the sensor from dusts and
humidity.
To see the dusts, you just need to set up your telescope and point it to a bright place. A Barlow is
required to see these dusts clearly. Then attach the camera and adjust the exposure to make sure
not overly exposed. You can see an image like below if it’s dirty.
The big dim spot on the image (right side) are the shadows of dust on the protect window.
The very small but very dark spot on the image (at left) are the shadows of the dusts on the sensor.
If above situation occurs, it is recommended that the dust on the sensor surface be blew off with
air pump. If it cannot be blown off, it is recommended to use cotton swabs and 99% anhydrous
ethanol to gently wipe the sensor.
We have very detailed instruction on our website:
https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/manuals/How_to_clean_ASI_camera_and_redry_the_desi
ccant.pdf
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8. Mechanical drawing
ASI482MC
ASI482 Manual
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9. Servicing
For software upgrades, please refer to “Support-manual and software” on our official website.
https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/
For repairs and consultation, you can visit here: https://support.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/
For customers who bought the camera from your local dealer, dealer is responsible for the
customer service.
10. Warranty
We provide 2-year warranty for our products. We offer repair service or replacement for free if the
camera doesn’t work within warranty period.
After the warranty period, we continue to provide repair support and service on a charged basis.
This warranty does not apply to damage that occurred as a result of abuse or misuse, or
caused by a fall or any other transportation failures after purchase.
Customer must pay for shipping when shipping the camera back for repair or replacement.
