PHARscape

There is no information about this filter draw on Touptek’s website although I did find a reseller with basic outer dimensions and an installation video by Touptek! – none of it linked to by Touptek’s own website. That being said, here is my first impression.

The filter draw is well packaged, it is supplied with the 6x m2.5 crosshead screws needed for attaching it to the front plate of Touptek’s and ZWO’s newest cameras. Bundled loose outside the box was a screw driver which is a nice touch.

Fitting the filter draw is very simple, decide which way you want it oriented and screw in to place:

(The dust is mine!)

The filter draw holder is accurately machined to 20mm depth, my vernier calliper showed a remarkable 20.00mm!

As my setup uses M42 and M48 threads I needed to purchase an M54M to M48F 0mm adapter. I had hoped to use the M42 16.5mm spacer provided with my Touptek and ZWO cameras but their outer diameter is too small to lock in to place on the filter draw flange so I cobbled together a series of M42 5mm spacers and shims to get the 17.8 mm I think I need to give me the 55.3mm back focus for my coma-correctors with a filter fitted.

The draw seems very will made, the three magnets give a firm clunk lock. The draw will fit either way in the holder so you can flip the filter spacing to the camera. This is either a blessing or a curse as that might muck up your flats if you are switching filters in an imaging session and don’t place then consistently the same way in the holder.

The filter draw internal dimension is about 9.8mm, the filter holder is 3.8mm therefore filters must be 6mm or thinner. My generic UV/IR filer is 7mm thick and wont allow me to slide the draw in. Temporarily, I’ve fitted the draw and then screwed in the filter from the front – not ideal!

I plan to use an UV/IR filter and a Dual Band filter with my ATR533C so now I am on the look out for thin-enough filters!

In Summary:

I am happy I chose this filter draw. The cost is very good compared to other manufactures and it is a very well made filter draw that I am sure will work well for me when I get compatible filters. But Touptek let themselves down with the lack of documentation. It fits recent Touptek cameras but there is nothing on the website about compatibility with them and older models. Its actually difficult to find this filter draw on the website – it isn’t where you would expect it to be, in the the accessories section.

(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.