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Sigurd, thanks for your in-depth comment. You are right, the S30 is the perfect telescope for people like you who want to do astrophotography but not get into the nitty gritty technical stuff (or inflated budgets) of large telescopes. The wide field view is also nice for a lot of beginner astrophotography targets such as nebulas and large galaxies which gives it an edge over its larger S50 brother which is designed more for smaller galaxies targets. As for the moon, it slowly orbits the earth every 28 days (while the planet rotates every 24 hours) so it actually moves through the sky easterly a little bit every day as well as the phase change. This results in some nights around “new moon” where it’s not in the night sky (or very dark) which we can image without its reflected light. Currently the best time for Astronomy without the moon in the sky is around the end of each month in 2025 (around the 29th of the month in January slowly moving to the 19th day in December as the year progresses).

@@EmberSkyMedia thank you so much for a very detailed answer :) learned something new! And something I´m going to keep an eye out for now, I had no idea. Very much appreciated.

Happy to teach something new! Clear Skies! 🌌

It is amazing how much better the images get the longer you collect data!

Yes, sometimes you have to pick your best targets for your sky and the night. Best results are looking straight up (to almost 90 deg as straight up doesn't work well for alt-az mount, you'd have to swap to equitorial mode for that).

Its a nice built in feature! Another option to look at is SIRIL.

Welcome to astrophotography, it isn't quick!

Would likely require a trip to your local hardware store but the base is removable and you can adapt the connection point on the side to another mounting option (or alternative get telescope mounting rings and attach them directly to the tube for support).

Check out the atlas on the app or maybe grab Stellarium for PC/Mac (Free) which you can then explore the night sky and zoom through time so you can see what is up and when. At the moment Orion Nebula and other objects as the night progress in the south east (north east if you are in the southern hemisphere) this time of year. There is always a lot North (northern hemisphere) or South (Southern Hemisphere) you can also check out depending on your field of view from your location. Also Jupiter is up at the moment, that's worth a look!

Also, what is a good quality tripod for the telescope?

The Dwarf 3 is a lot of fun and I think its higher resolution (4K vs 1080p of others) is worth it. They also sell a tripod as well as an extra or you can pretty much get any tripod for DSLR with such a small scope.

@@EmberSkyMedia Thank you! 😃

@@Janet4444 happy to help!

Thanks! Hoping to test more lenses in the new year (I *may* of done some shopping).

@@EmberSkyMedia i'm thinking of picking up a 1961 version of the lens. Do you think that one does as well as a less old version like the one you have?......anyway, i look forward to seeing your past and future vids.

@@gangawerks The issue with older lenses is sample variation and the amount of use (and maybe abuse) the lens has had so far.

@@EmberSkyMedia i'm new to the whole old glass world, but what you're saying makes sense.

That would be a cool colour!

They require an external light source, but they are very sensitive to 850nm and 940nm so you can get inexpensive or expensive IR lights. I got for like $10 for 5watts and that's plenty - ruclips.net/video/2q2qhQp9-3U/видео.html

I've heard it can track quite a few things, but alas I haven't gotten my hands on one at the moment (currently testing the Dwarf 3)

I’m testing one soon and will have some “how to” videos coming out soon.

@@EmberSkyMedia OK thanks if I ever get one.

Hmm... best to reach out out Black-Cat for an answer, sounds like you don't have enough tension on the belt so you might need a larger sprocket wheel. I'm assuming you live in a hot country?

It appears they have the Messier, NGC, and part of the IC catalogue. I don’t know the exact count but the NGC catalogue has a lot of objects (honestly I stopped scrolling to find out when it ended). There are C (Caldwell) entries in there as well but there isn’t a specific Caldwell list yet. But they are constantly adding things to their Atlas (I did another 123MB download today to add to it) so they are constantly improving it compared to what it was in this video. The Dwarfs can image anything in the night sky, however recognize that a lot of IC, NGC objects are quite small for a wider field setup like the Dwarfs, to get really good images you’d need a dedicated system as I don’t know of any “smart” telescope system that goes past 500mm optics as they tracking and mount really would need to be dedicated German Equitorial at that point to track well.

You are going to love it, its so capable!

Absolutely! While my other scopes can handily beat this in a shoot-out the cost is easily 10x and requires a lot of careful adjustments and planning; and its not even fully automated yet (yikes!). This is 100x easier to use and get good results and I'm playing around this week with the automated planner and its pretty much set-up and it will go all night, and then the next night, etc... only clouds seem to stop it (which I have tonight with some rain).

Yes, powering these things longer is pretty straight forward with USB-C, easily connect to the mains or a generator or battery pack etc and you can run these pratically forever.

@EmberSkyMedia ​@EmberSkyMedia ...and If you observe few hours per day the sun,i connect a little 10 Watt or 20 Watt solar cell via the usb-C port and never run out of energy . 🎉

Glad to help David! Do you have any additional questions?

I’m sure the Dwarf V will be amazing, alas it’s likely a few years off so this is the unit we have today to consider. And it’s likely the best bang for your buck right now.

Its normal, since it is only 30mm the resolution is very low. This "telescope" is only good for bright targets and large ones, hence why they always show andromeda and orion as examples, every other target is difficult with such a small aperture and altaz configuration

It’s a 30mm lens and they went wide, that’s a trade off compared to larger telescopes, everything is smaller and less pixels, but you’ll get more “full” images of most beginner DSO targets.

I’ll dive into some deep specs in my next SeeStar S30 video, but spoiler, it won’t include a crying child no matter the close-focus distance.

@@EmberSkyMedia crying child should not be in focus

iPhone App and I could only get 2 hours out of it in my test.

Darker skys always help, even with telescopes with advance filters, the darker the sky the better off you are!

The wider field of view, extra camera, improved sensor, lower price - I'd pick the S30 over the S50 (dispite the lower resolving power). Between the Dwarf 3 and the S30... if you can afford an extra $150 (+42% in cost) then the Dwarf 3 with its larger optics, 4K sensors, and equitorial mode is notably better.

I found the S50 available new for $390 from a US retailer. Assuming this as the price, does this change your recommendation?

Dwarf 3 provides a lot more features and is also useful for terrestrial stuff. Great for panoramas. They're also planning to add Indi and Ascom driver support. Though, ZWO have superior optics.

@turmanlegalsolution - I'd still likely lean S30 because of the wider field of view (having used the SeeStar S50 all summer - video coming soon), but it would be a coin toss at that price and either telescope would be a good pick.

@mrtransistor6173 - Yeah, the Dwarf 3 has more features and they keep updating the APP with more capabilities that make it a truer "telescope" than the SeeStar series, but for people who value "ease of use" SeeStar has it in the bag.

Yep, everyone always assumes the newer faster wifi (or cell system) is “better” but speed comes at a trade off of range and ability to penetrate structures.

Thanks, I'm trying to get more into bird identification than just image them!

Thats the game preserve where all the animals live, although its a very sparely populated country compared to say European ones.

The Mosaic mode is a big step forward, that's the cool thing about tech, you always get new features!

Yeah my African Safari Trip was absolutely amazing, I highly recommend it to anyone!

Very cool, planetary imaging is not my forte, so I'm happy if I can see some cloud bands. I'll have to see if I can improve on this when Jupiter and cooler winter nights arrive!

Wowie indeed, although initially we had no idea what was making that racket!

Its surprising what I was able to get with just a $500 Smart Telescope (especially when you compare to my $5000 bird photography rig). Its advantage is that birds don't mind getting close to it so you get these wonder sights close-up!

Depends on your needs, although the Dwarf 3 is a soild all rounder package. UI could use some streamlining.

Anywhere in the sky that you can currently see in alt-az mod, if you use it in equitorial mod you'll lose a bit of the southern horizon (in the north, and northern horizon in the south).

@@EmberSkyMedia Thanks for answering and I loved your stream :)

@@EmberSkyMedia How is the image quality ? My project involves capturing a zoomed view of a galaxy/moon ... automatically stack images and project that on to the ceiling of my bedroom. Since the projection will increase the size to probably 100" , I am wondering if the image is stretched this much, would it be any good. Would you please share one image you captured using your device so that I can test this :)

You can select targets from the deep sky or planetary listing's. You may also use the star map mode to select celestial targets; frame the target and press thego-to icon (looks like axsmall telescope - appears alongside the name of the item) hope that helps ! Also easier to do all of thi on a tablet

Good tip: This is true for anything purchased in a foreign currency.

Just heard these are under recall :(

I've been testing it, EQ mod works really well...

@@EmberSkyMedia well they cracked some equations and then they can tell you where to move the scope in EQ mode to align it.. it's super convenient; where those automated scopes were lacking is really the ALT/AZ which means too many images of low quality / high noise. But in EQ mode, you can probably go 30, 60 or even 90s. That's more than enough is the camera is clean to get a great signal. As I said, if i was starting from scratch or trying to interest someone to astro without facing the wall of issues and difficulties, I would cleary recommend that too

@@astrodysseus the 60second stuff I'm getting looks pretty good!

@@astrodysseus yeah I'm imaging with the Dwarf 3 in EQ mode all the time, working on a full review video soon to show off how good it is!

Unfortunately no, although they just announced the SeeStar S30 so maybe that is better tuned for closer focus?

I've been testing it for a month (video soon) its a solid little performer!

me to

Skipping a generation is not a bad move, yes a Dwarf 4 will likely have even more improvements in a year or two.

When it comes with a tiny tripod (or no tripod at all) its worth mentioning that trees will be more of a factor. Best to purchase a proper tripod with these telescopes if you have an unobstructed horizon so you get a bit more clearance.

It’s amazing and totally changes your evening setup & shutdown, makes things a lot easier.

Glad to hear it! It’s a nice small telescope for views of various bright objects! Orion Nebula is rising in the east late at night and by next month it will be a great target to explore!