68 SEPTEMBER 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE
S&T Test Report
and have them ready to use in case the
fi rst card is lost, as they are inexpensive.
Imagine being out at a remote site and
removing this tiny card, only to drop
it in thick grass in the dark. You would
be without both the software to run
your ASIair imaging setup and storage
space for your images. This scenario
fortunately never occurred while I was
testing the ASIair, but I couldn’t help
thinking it was only a matter of time.
ASIair has some rather narrow com-
patibility requirements when it comes
to imaging cameras and especially guide
cameras, though more cameras are
compatible with more recent releases
of the ASI software. Even if you already
have an ASI camera, ASIair compat-
ibility is limited to the ZWO ASI USB
3.0 cameras. Other brands, and even
ZWO’s own ASI USB 2.0 cameras, are
incompatible as main imaging cameras.
A software upgrade in May 2019 allows
the use of Nikon and Canon DSLR and
mirrorless cameras with ASIair. After
installing the update, I was able to suc-
cessfully link to and control my Nikon
cameras using the ASIair’s control app.
An even shorter list is associated with
compatible guide cameras, as they too
are limited to the manufacturer’s own
models, though not all of them. Cur-
rently only ZWO’s Mini USB 2.0 guiding
cameras can autoguide with ASIair. The
ASIair app wouldn’t see my Starlight
Xpress Lodestar X2 guide camera.
I used my main one-shot color cam-
era, the ZWO ASI071MC as the imaging
camera with the ASIair capability, andZWOptical provided an ASI120MM
Mini guide camera for my tests (an
option offered as a packaged bundle
for $318). I found the small 120MM
camera very sensitive and easy to oper-
ate. The guider’s chip is located very
near the front of the camera’s housing,
which permits the unit to easily come
to focus in my off-axis guider and all
my guidescopes.Setting Up
Assembling the ASIair for the fi rst time
is very straightforward, but its imaging
sequence routine takes some getting
used to. ZWOptical has an online man-
ual and several tutorial videos on the
company’s website showing its opera-
tion as well as a Facebook page where
representatives answer tech-support
questions. I highly recommend checking
them out as you learn to use ASIair. The
most recent software upgrade features
pop-up messages as soon as the app is
opened that inform users what each
on-screen feature does — a big help to
get you going. The drawback is that these
helpful pop-ups dissappear after your
fi rst use of the app.
The fi rst step is to download the free
ASIair app to your Apple or Android
device, and, as mentioned above, you
must also have a compatible Sky Safari
planetarium app capable of controlling
your specifi c mount.Plug in the USB cables from your
main imaging camera, guide cam-
era, and Go To mount into ASIair’s
USB ports. Connect the 12-volt DC
power supply plugs into the jack on the
12V-to-5V convertor, and the Micro-
USB B cable goes from the voltage
convertor into the ASIair unit itself. A
red LED on ASIair activates, confi rmingqThe Micro-USB power input jack on ASIair
was prone to power disconnects. An HDMI jack
at right is stated to be intended for “debug-
ging” purposes.qThe supplied 32-gigabyte MicroSD is
inserted into a slot on the underside of ASIair.
Inset: Use caution when inserting the card into
its slot, because it can slip between the reader
and outer casing. The author recommends pur-
chasing several additional cards as backups.pAttached to an iOptron Z25 mount, the ASIair executed all the exposures to produce this shot of
M31 using an ASI071MC and an ASI120MM Mini guide camera.