(Updated with first light results 06/08/24))
Touptek cameras are very good performers and they seem to get rebranded by almost everyone. They are also priced very competitively, particularly if you buy direct.
Finding out what you get in the box if you buy a camera from Touptek can be tricky so I decided to document what I received.
In 2024 the ATR3CMOS09000KPA ,as it is also known, bought direct from Touptek comes in a box well protected with foam packing.
As well as the camera, in the box you will find:
- 12v 3A power supply and AC power cord
- USB3 1.5m cable
- 2″ to m42 adapter
- 1.25″ m42 adapter
- M42M-M42F 21mm spacer
- M42M-M48F 16.5mm spacer
- M48M-M42F 0mm adapter
The camera is fitted with a front plate which seem standard across Touptek’s recent range of cooled cameras, it provides 17.5mm back focus to the sensor and is threaded for M42. The plate also has 6 x m2.5 threaded holes (5mm deep) for mounting the 54mm threaded 2″ filter draw or (ZWO??) compatible filter wheel.
If you want to connect the camera directly to your scope then the 2″ and 1.25″ adapters will work for you. The 1.25″ adapter will allow you to thread a filter on its nose. The 2″ adapter is lightly threaded for 2″ filters but from my testing it isn’t a great solution as they only just thread on. I would worry about removing the filter if I over tightened it.
The other adapters (16.5+21mm) combined will give you the correct spacing for 55mm back focus that is needed for most coma-correctors.
The overall feel of the camera is quality and precision, no sharp edges or rough machining, it is very well put together.
The rear of the camera features a Touptek standard plate:
There is space for 4 LEDs to be fitted but the fourth one is missing (not required on this model) so it is blanked off with a sticker. I found this an low-tech solution a bit surprising on an otherwise very polished product. I guess it saves a design skew and stops questions from the customers about an LED that never lights up.
I downloaded the Touptek software (Toupsky) that includes the native drivers for the camera to confirm the camera is working. I’m happy to say it all worked first time and I quickly got the camera cooled, a dark frame image captured and a histogram displayed. I can report the sensor looks clean and the cooler works well to supress noise and hot pixels.
Overall I’m very happy with first impressions. I’ve not done any imaging yet but I plan to use it with Asrtoberry (INDI) for my portable setup and N.I.N.A. for my observatory.
(Update)
I’ve abandoned Astroberry for now and have been using a mini-PC running Windows 11 and N.I.N.A. The clouds have not been very helpful but over 3 nights but I managed about 3.5 hours of imaging under very variable conditions. So here is Messier 27 as my first-light :
- Camera: Touptek ATR533C
- OTA: Altair Astro 70mm ED F + 0.8FR
- Mount: HEQ5 Pro
- 43x300s integration.