Excellent review on an excellent product. There are many producers of astro equipment and the cost of that equipment is inherantly high. When you see items like this, at a price that is exceptiionally competitive, you might well question the quality, features or lack there of. BUT with Altair Astro there is no compromise to that qaulity and many items come with the guarentees on both products and through a superb after-sales ethos to look after customers after they hand over their hard earned cash. Thank you Glenn for highlighting this UK based company and spreading the word to the world. AND thank you Altair Astro.
Thank you Rob and totally agree with all you say. It was easy to promote the Altair Astro equipment as you can see the quality and as you say especially for anyone in the UK you have superb after sales service so why look elsewhere. They deserve to be the top retailer. Everything I have used from them has just worked and would be a proud owner of. Looking forward to seeing some results from your Altair cannon, clear skies mate
Great, well explained video as usual Glen…👍🏻 FYI, AA cameras are not made by AA but are rebranded Touptek cameras, not sure how many people are aware of this, and Touptek have been making these cameras for a long time, so should be pretty reliable by now, I have owned a few and buy direct from China, as there even cheaper….they also make them for Omegon, Rising Cam and other dealer brands too….just different paint jobs on the outside…
I did know they are Touptek inside but Altair have there own casing and of course buying from them you firstly will not get caught with import duties (I know its not always the case but I have been and you basically lose everything you saved if caught) and the after sales service is first class and a lot easier should you have an issue. I have owned Altair cameras in the past and never had an issue so reliability and quality has always been good. I see TS optics have just released these too. ZWO may need to look at their pricing. Thanks for watching and commenting and clear skies.
Yep the Omegon Version is kind of the same even the housing is very similar. And there are local dealers in the EU so again no customs or VAT hassles. Got the Omegon 571C and compared to the ZWO 2600C there are even a few advantages (other than its obviously cheaper price).
Hi Glenn excellent review. I have the Tec cooled AA 269C and is basically the same camera with bigger sensor. I recently had an issue with mine in that there was a small dust mote sitting on the sensor, not on the window but on the sensor itself, inside the sealed chamber. Sent away to AA and as it was going to take a while to clean they sent me a new camera. This came as i have just found out from you vlog with the tilt adjustment. I'd just noticed the screw holes and had no idea what they were for. So cheers for that, also a big shout out to Altair for sending out a new camera, mine was about 18 months old, but not had much use. They were very fast in the replacement.
Hi Paul and thanks for your message. The 269C is a very nice camera by Altair and also quite popular, I know a few people that own one. Altair have fantastic after sales service and thats proof of just giving you a brand new camera rather than have you wait a long time for a repair. The tilt plate is a great addition but hopefully you will not need it. I am to date not had a camera that has required adjustment for tilt. What scopes do you use your 269 on?
I loved the whole video, mate... Very well done and very informative. The only thing that tops it all, is your image of the cats eye nebula. I have never seen any better !!!!!! Very nice.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate all the kind comments. I hope to get out an even better image of that soon as been working on it in a collaboration with Simon's Astro. We just need to spend some time with all the data we have
Great review. I’ve been using their gpcam mono for guiding for 3 years now and I’m very happy with it. I’ll certainly consider them for my next camera.
Great video and review Glenn looks like a very nice bit of kit at a more realistic price, its really good to see lots of competition in astro equipment it will keep innovations high and the price down
Excellent review Glenn. Some excellent features and I would definitely consider this camera for a non-asiair setup 👍 Congrats on the obsy, I’m sure you’re it immensely.
Hi Mark, thanks for commenting mate. Great cameras and a shame the ASIAIR locks you to just ZWO cams. I am loving the Obsy and office, after all the hard work time to enjoy.
The 2 vidoes showcasing the Altair camera and Scope give an excellent view of what can be achieved not just by the hardware but also by someone with real skill - Really lovely images Glenn as always. I wish we could get the Altair kit over here in Europe at similar prices to back home, if so i would prob pull the trigger tomorrow.
Hi Mark and thank you so much for the very complimentary comments. Does it cost you a lot more due to shipping now. Be that damn stupid Brexit the British public were conned into voting for
@@Astrobloke example, from the main reseller here. the Filter Tray you highlighted is 150 Euro (75Pounds), Hypercam 296 TEC colour 1300 Euro(899 pound) If we try to buy from UK we tend to get between 20-40% import tax, so yes Brexit hurts. PS the new Obsy looks great :)
@@Astrobloke yes *at least by my standards* I’ve never had an issue with them. I know some people were complaining about vibration from the TEC cooling but I think that was only in some
Excellent camera review Glenn! Great to see your new studio room being put to good use mate! That camera looks to have some great features, I’m sure you’ll come to love the purple 🤣 Great images Glenn, M101 was amazing 👍Looking forward to seeing more detail on the cats eye. Clear skies
Thanks mate. The new studio is getting there, I think I have it the way I like now. The Cats Eye will hopefully look great once we get time to get all our data together and finally edit it. We need to discuss a collaborative video project mate
I love my Altair cameras & the thing I like most about the 26C is that its a full £600 cheaper than a 2600MC pro which can go towards a decent filter & an autofocuser & still have change. I like the inbuilt tilt plates on the newer models to so that's a nice touch. I look forward to welcoming you back to the purple side when you get yourself another camera 😁
Thanks Tich. I am all in on the Purple rain gang mate. The cameras with all the extra features and fair pricing should really make these the most popular. Going to see if I can help that happen. clear skies mate
I bought one of these last year before Margerine Thatcher crashed the economy so it was even cheaper! Had a tiny bit of amp glow in a corner (no impact on images, only showed in dark frames) and Altair were great to deal with, new unit swapped out. Used with both a 130pds (small sensor means good stars in the corners without a coma corrector) and vintage takumar lenses (wide angle astroimaging for lens than £60). Just remember that it isnt a zwo and the gain and offset will be different numbers but the same end result. Great camera and great service. Oh. AND you get 1 year free of sharpcap pro too. I also got some haribo and a hat, but not sure if thats normal or because im special
Margarine thatcher 😂😂. Thanks for all the info. Great camera I think. I forgot about the hat and Haribo but even without them Altair are way the best spec and value
@@Astrobloke aye, and their after care is pretty top notch too. Plus purple is my wife's favourite colour which can not be over stated how much of plus that is.
Nice review and great images. Nice to see these cameras priced below £1k, pretty good value once you factor in the included psu and 4 point tilt plate.
Hi Pete. Altair price their cameras very competitively, their 26C is far cheaper than their competitors. The extras their cameras come with just sweeten the deal further for me. Thanks for watching and commenting
Gotta say, we do like our Altair cams. I have the 269C, which hasn't let me down yet. I do have some tilt going on so the retrofit tilt ring may be in my future lol. Also the HA OIII 6NM filter, ooof that's going in my basket at Kelling haha. Great images, that dark shark is on my to do list Edit: Do it.....buy it, you know you want to
Hi Nicky. I really like the look of the 269C and heard some great things. The 3.3 pixel size and 4/3rds sensor is a good match for the smaller scopes.Hopefully those tilt rings will be available soon. I can definitely recommend the filter, very nice indeed. look forward to seeing your dark shark
Thanks mate. Yes I saw that too. Do not agree with it at all. Yes tech is moving on but cooling will be needed to battle noise. The very camera they talk about features a cold finger cooling anyways so kind of contradicts the point. Astrophotography like other forms is not cheap. Sure you can take images with your phone and thats fine but will never quite hit the mark if you are after top quality shots.
Nothing wrong with that and hopefully as new gear comes out and competition grows gear will cone down in Price. I have bought many items used which helps
I'm a fan of Altair Astro cams as well. I shoot mostly narrow band images so I currently use a 183 Pro Tec mono, but I am considering buying a OSC camera to replace my aging DSLR. I was thinking of getting the 183 colour version but after watching your review I may go for the 533. Really like the tilt ring and absence of amp glow. Great review.
I had the 183C and then the 183M. Both good cameras but the 533 is a very nice sensor and absence of amp glow a massive boost. I agree the tilt ring is a great addition. Good luck if you get one and clear skies
The sealed gas chamber is not unique, QSI cameras alao have a sealed argon gas chamber and internal descicant that can be recharged with heat. The argon also allows additional cooling, in addition to moisure prevention. I also think that -35*C is on the low side, I would prefer greater cooling potential, but it might be sufficient for the UK.
Thanks Paul. I wasn't really comparing with QSI as I thought these were just CCD sensors and not CMOS so a kind of different type of camera. -35C is ample for the UK but I can imagine in different climates this would not be enough.
