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Running ASI USB3.0 Cameras under Android device

We at ZWO got some great news for you guys, where we announce that the ASI USB3.0 CCDs support Android devices. You attach the camera to the device’s USB and make sure that the device supports OTG.

Although the app is still in Alpha stage, with loads of bugs, crashes and misspellings, we strive to achieve feedback from you to improve the development of this app. You also can provide us some suggestions/wishes that we can apply within it that helps you to capture your shots. In that case, send your thoughts to：feedback@zwoptical.com

ASIcontroller1

Above you can see a preview of a working demonstration between a Vivo X9 phone and an ASI1600MC CCD. You simply attach the cable to the CCD’s USB3.0 port and to your device’s mini-USB port, enable OTG in the settings so the device finds the CCD, installs all the necessary drivers to run it, start the app and start using it.

Follow the link to see a demonstration video of the feature： https://youtu.be/bEHsBHnF8qs

Smartphones are not the only Android devices which this app works with. We are making it possible to run it with a portable projector as well, where you achieve up to a 180 inch resolution of what the CCD captures. No need for large and heavy clumsy monitors or laptops for public displays.

ASIcontroller2

Demonstrations below：

ASIcontroller3

ASIcontroller4

A short video of how it works to run this with a projector： https://youtu.be/KysgIQ7CksE

We are changing the way of astronomy and wide-field photography for public audience with this new technology of ours and we sincerely hope you will enjoy it as much as we enjoy of making it for you. The projector and CCD together weighs approximately 800 grams while the entire set of a monitor, laptop, CCD and all the necessary cables in between 8 to 40 kilograms. That’s a lot of spare weight with this app of ours, don’t you think?

ASIcontroller5.jpg

 

System requirements：
ASI CCD with USB3.0
Android 4.0.3 or later
USB OTG (On-The-Go) support on Android device

Demo downloads：
ASI CCD Android demo
EFW Android demo

SDK download：
ASI Camera SDK & Source Codes
EFW SDK & Source Codes

Known bugs：

  • some host devices may experience problems with long exposure photage
  • loopholes and scripts may cause crashes
  • translation of the app to different languages may be wanted

The following video will show you how to enable OTG on your Android phone or pad：

https://youtu.be/eMhARTqhGc8

 

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60 Comments

  • George
    Posted April 7, 2017 at 12:43 am

    Will you also be doing an iPhone/iPad app version?
    That would be cool !!!

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted April 14, 2017 at 3:02 am

      not so quickly because some right restriction under iPhone

      0Likes
  • Mike Turney
    Posted April 17, 2017 at 9:55 pm

    Very very interested in this setup for public outreach.

    Can you recommend tablet/OS and color video camera combinations which are working well now?

    Does the camera get it’s power from the USB?

    Please keep us posted!

    Thanks,
    Mike

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted April 25, 2017 at 7:16 am

      Yes, all camera run and powered from USB
      this setup is very good for outreach

      0Likes
  • Renato
    Posted May 7, 2017 at 5:54 am

    The APP looks very interesting. I tried to use it with a Samsung Galaxy S7 but when I press the RESCAN button I get error message: “zwocamera has stopped”
    Please advise.

    0Likes
  • Scott
    Posted May 22, 2017 at 8:53 am

    Does it have to be a usb3 otg for the camera to connect?

    0Likes
  • Scott
    Posted May 22, 2017 at 9:51 am

    Thanks for the quick response.
    One more question.
    I got it all working on my Samsung s5. But it only seems to save 8 bit bitmaps.
    Can it save other file formats? I am using the 1600mmc
    Thanks

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted May 25, 2017 at 7:16 am

      we are going to release ASICAP soon
      ASICAP will allow you to capture in fit or tif format

      0Likes
  • mich
    Posted June 19, 2017 at 10:53 pm

    bonjour,
    je connecte ma asi 120mc usb2 à l’application et j’ai ce message d’erreur :

    “getCameraProperty error code:16”

    pourriez-vous m’aider s’il vous plaît ?
    merci 🙂

    0Likes
  • Sunblack
    Posted June 30, 2017 at 1:26 am

    Hi, asi usb 3 cameras, now, work with Samsung s7 without problems? Which asi cameras (models name please) now work with android devices? And cameras do need external power to run or USB provides power too??

    0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted July 4, 2017 at 9:33 am

      Hard to say that, maybe need a extra-power.

      0Likes
  • Jeff S Smith
    Posted August 28, 2017 at 2:44 am

    I have a 224 MC and would love to capture with my Android phone instead of trying to hold a laptop and my phone running Sky Safari.

    Is the app available in beta yet?

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted September 4, 2017 at 9:11 am

      yes, you can download from google play, just search ASICAP

      0Likes
  • Jeff S Smith
    Posted August 31, 2017 at 3:55 am

    I found the App “ASICAP” on the Google Play store and it works. Thanks for creating this great app for ZWO customers.

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted September 4, 2017 at 9:14 am

      just upgraded to a new version, you can try the new one

      0Likes
  • James
    Posted September 1, 2017 at 12:54 am

    Can this be used on iPad or iPhone? If not are you working on it?

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted September 4, 2017 at 9:16 am

      no, IOS has some right problem and we cannot do it right now

      0Likes
  • juergen claus
    Posted September 5, 2017 at 4:57 pm

    I habe a asi 120mm und use a smartfone ,the camera is found but I can start it .General erorr .what can I doo?

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted September 6, 2017 at 9:33 am

      ONLY USB3.0 camera is supported

      0Likes
  • Gustav Makula
    Posted October 3, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Great software. I have one issue though. Any file I recorded FIT or SER cannot be read by any astronomy software. I have tried Nebulosity 4, Registax 6, so on. They all give me the same message, file cannot read the file. How do I fix this?

    0Likes
  • Riyad
    Posted December 8, 2017 at 6:33 am

    How much power will it draw from my phone? Or laptop for that matter.

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted December 13, 2017 at 2:23 am

      different camera need different power
      usually, 200ma-400ma needed when running

      0Likes
  • Leif
    Posted December 17, 2017 at 4:45 pm

    I have an asi290mc.

    What android device is required to run full frame rates (above 150 fps).

    Leif

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted December 19, 2017 at 8:35 am

      USB3.0 android device required, but most of android device is not so powerful

      0Likes
  • Leif
    Posted December 31, 2017 at 6:06 am

    Thanks Sam

    Do you think a Galaxy Note8 (2017) with 6GB Ram would be enough to capture full frame rates with ASI290mc?

    Has anybody used the new Galaxy Note8?

    Cheers
    Leif

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Sam Wen
      Posted January 2, 2018 at 2:03 pm

      sorry, we donot have this device to test
      you can test by yourself

      0Likes
  • Stefan
    Posted March 16, 2018 at 11:04 am

    is it possible to stream that picutre then?

    0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted March 19, 2018 at 3:38 am

      Hi Stefan
      We are plan to develop more softwares with much fan. I think some day stream will appears in our new APPs.

      0Likes
  • Tim
    Posted April 23, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    How fast does the drivers have to be? I watched the demo with the 6GB Vivo X9 and was wondering if it would okay to use a 4GB microprocessor or a quadcore with 4 1.9 GB each?

    0Likes
    • Tim
      Posted April 23, 2018 at 8:43 pm

      Sorry, I got RAM mixed up with CPU speed. I just want to know how fast the Android phone has to be to use the program.

      0Likes
      • Sean Wang
        Posted April 25, 2018 at 3:40 pm

        We didn’t test it, but most popular android smart phones will have no problem with ASICAP.

        0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted April 25, 2018 at 3:39 pm

      Yes, also can be used on 4GB RAM Phones.

      0Likes
  • Jhony de Barros
    Posted May 6, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    Hello! I tested it on ASI120MC, but when I clicked preview it appeared the message GENERAL ERROR, what to do in this situation?

    0Likes
  • Ed
    Posted May 9, 2018 at 3:35 am

    Tried running ASICAP on a notebook with ASI224 and can only record 2044 frames max, even though I ran it long enough to run far more frames than that. And the right hand menu starts to move back and forth rapidly (like the planet I was recording) when I recorded beyond 100 secs. Also, how do you turn on and use ROI?

    Thanks

    0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted May 9, 2018 at 7:34 am

      choose a small resolution will turn on ROI.

      0Likes
      • Ed
        Posted May 12, 2018 at 2:54 pm

        I used right click and hold the mouse to draw ROI around planet instead of usual left click.

        When I open each of several avis in Autostakkert2, I only capture 2044 frames total even though ASICAP program says I captured far more than that when I ran the camera. File sizes are different for each avi. Autostakkert3 shows same total frames.

        Using Firecapture, I was able to get one avi that was 2680 frames, but was dropping lots of frames when running camera. I’m using an HP Elitebook 8470 laptop.

        0Likes
        • Sean Wang
          Posted May 14, 2018 at 7:21 am

          please send a email to support(at)zwoptical.com

          0Likes
  • Edward
    Posted May 24, 2018 at 12:06 am

    The latest ASICAP version 1.2.1 has taken care of the problems I was experiencing with version 1.2. Thank you very much.

    Does ASICAP have a color histogram feature?

    0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted May 24, 2018 at 8:25 am

      Yes, Edward. Color histogram is on the way. 🙂

      0Likes
  • V Moy
    Posted August 1, 2018 at 2:39 am

    I have it installed and running on a galaxy tab s2, with ny asi224mc. I am running android 7.0. Everything is working fine so far. When do you plan on being able to record video in avi or ser format on android?

    0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted August 1, 2018 at 8:57 am

      Well, as you know, uncompressed avi and ser is too big for cell phones.

      0Likes
  • David
    Posted February 3, 2019 at 10:28 pm

    Do I have the possibility to take more than one frame at a time? Like we have on computer? thanks

    0Likes
    • Sean Wang
      Posted February 13, 2019 at 3:27 am

      Yes, firstly ASICAP can record videos. Depand on the transmit speed, you could use ROI to improve FPS.

      0Likes
  • armando
    Posted October 18, 2019 at 2:35 pm

    Ho una asi 120 Usb2 errore generale , chiedo le asi usb2 non sono compatibili con android

    0Likes
  • ghbashar
    Posted January 1, 2021 at 6:46 am

    I have downloaded the ASIcap on my Huawei 20 pro with android 10 but its not detecting my ASI 120mm mini.
    My mobil otg is working very will

    0Likes
    • Post Author
      Support@ZWO
      Posted January 5, 2021 at 1:48 am

      ONLY USB3.0 camera is supported.

      0Likes
  • Billy
    Posted August 31, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    Will asicap work with the Zwo asi120mc-S?

    0Likes

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