First time watching. I'm a S50 owner for about a year. My one and only telescope. So much fun. Anyhow, I ordered an S30 on release date, 1 Nov. Looking forward to trying out the new boy. I'm an old guy with stability issues that has not been able to scan the northern sky's. Hopefully I'll be able to carry and set up the S30 easier than the S50. I know there's lots of good stuff out there. Can't wait.
@@johndaley9188 The S30 sounds ideal for you. You’ll enjoy the wider field of view, especially using the framing (mosaic) feature. Objects particularly well suited to the S30 include the Great Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, North America Nebula, Veil Nebula, California Nebula, Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, Heart Nebula and Soul Nebula. I suggest enlarging the frame by at least 20% even on smaller targets, especially if high in the sky, to get rid of the edge artefacts caused by field rotation. Have fun John!
@martinsastrophotography i have captured, looking south, Orion, Andromedia and veil easily. I did use mosaic on Andromeda but I'm getting more use from framing. Looking forward getting North America in NW. Now before midnight. Clear sky's.
@@martinsastrophotographyhello, I’m new to the s50 and looking at ordering a s30 for the feb release. Your last comment about enlarging the frame by 20%…how would I do this please. My astrophotography would be in south east England around the Surrey area.. thanks in advance for any help.
@ Hi there. It is demonstrated in the video…you go to sky atlas, objects, choose the object you want to image, then click ‘framing’ and move the slider between 1.0 and 2.0 to choose the field of view. Then you click rotate and set the required rotation to frame the object as you want. Then you start shooting.
Thanks for the update. I ordered mine last week and now can't wait for it to arrive (probably in mid Feb I suspect). I am hoping that this will help me make the most of short windows of clear skies, and also mean I can take it on wild camping trips.
Brilliant. I'm thinking of buying something like this, I have no idea what to get really or prior experience but this seems like a decent enough for looking at the stars.
Thanks. If you decide to buy one, I would really appreciate you using one of the affiliate links in the description. It won’t cost you anything extra and helps me to make more videos like this. Any questions just ask.
@@andytatler2276 Thank you! You get the photos on your smartphone or tablet, and you can then transfer them to a laptop if you wish via email, Google Drive etc…
@MartinsAstrography , i dont see any mention of the (any) unit being water-proof (or not) , so how am i going to roofmount it (which is advertisded as a possibility) ... on the roof of my appartment , me inside the appartment , first rainshower will destroy the unit ... what about that ?
@@djmambito2 An interesting question. I would never put Astrophotography equipment outside if rain is forecast. I recommend always checking the weather forecast and using it when clear skies are forecast. That said, of course it is possible to get caught out, and I think the unit is sufficiently shower proof not to be destroyed by occasional exposure to rain. But I would certainly not consider this (or any other smart telescope or astrophotography rig) to be a product that is suitable for being permanently installed outside, in rain or shine. I hope this helps.
@@martinsastrophotography , thanks for your reply ... but the manufacturer is clearly mentioning "rooftop mounting"' how can they do that if it is not waterproof ... do they expect me to go up the roof every time there might be some rain or even humidity/fog ? ... all i can make of this is that the term roofmounting is misleading ... i also think they (or any other manufacturer) should produce waterproof versions which they obviously dont ... i also dont understand why i'm they only one or maybe even the 1st one mentioning this fact ...is everyone else a fool then ? ... i mean do we want a toy that cant be used (roofmounted) in practice ? ... To make a long story short ... i wont buy anything "roofmountable" that isn't waterproof.
@djmambito2 Please remember that I have just given you my opinion, based on experience. I do not know whether this product is waterproof or weatherproof, that is a question for ZWO to answer. However, I would be amazed if it was suitable for what you are contemplating. Even if it is completely waterproof and weatherproof, cannot blow away or get water inside it, we are talking about a telescope here. The front of the objective lens is only somewhat protected in the closed position, but there is about 4mm of gap beneath it when it points straight down at its own chassis. All it takes is a spider, a snail, a slug, some algae or moss etc… to get in there and it will obscure the telescope…and you would have to climb on your roof to fix it! Even a multi-billion dollar telescope on top of a mountain in Hawaii or Chile has a roof over it that closes when it is not in use, including when bad weather is forecast. Regardless of whether this unit is waterproof or not what you are contemplating is simply not practical for the reasons I have detailed above. I suggest you consider a different plan. I’m sorry if this is not the answer you want, but it would be wrong for me not to give you my honest opinion.
@@martinsastrophotography , Thanks for your reply, please do understand that my complaint is not directed at you, i'm directing it at ZWO ... that they market it as roofmountable ... which would imply that you can then sit inside doing remote & observing ... which is obviously not possible or at max just for a short time while you keep an eye on the local weather ... this then excludes long time unmanned observations ... Anyway the search is now for a waterproof unit which is not any product of this manufacturer ... i know it can be done cause all outside surveillance/security/motorized zoom/pan/tilt (360 degr) with a price above 100 $$ are waterproof ... actually i dont get it why they didn't make these "'telescopecams" not also waterproof ... it is a missed chance and a lack of market insights or maybe even design-talent , which is a typical Chinese habbit ... they come up with good new ideas at a fairly low price ... and then they allways forget something (easey to solve) that spoils the fun or would have helped them to sell more.
@@martinsastrophotography , Anyway if you know of a similar telescope that is waterproof or watertight, and which can do both scenery & astro ... cause all i can think of now is to use/modify a waterproof motorized security cam (pan/tilt/zoom/360 degr) ... which are on the market between 150 to 700 $$ ... drawback: they wont have a control-app that does all the tricks a specific astrocam-app can do.
Hi, great video. I have a problem with my s30. In initialisation progress it starts at 20% then jumps to 40% and then says horizontal calibration failed. Sometimes it skips the calibration and starts the 10 second timer but will not stack the photos? I have manually adjusted the seestar to within 1.0 but still no luck. Any ideas? Thanks
Thanks! The horizontal calibration works by looking in 3 different directions and seeing where it is pointing in the sky. If some of these directions are obscured by buildings, trees etc… then the horizontal calibration will fail. That in turn will cause star trails in the images which will cause them to be rejected from stacking. ZWO told me that they are working on this issue, and that in the meantime the best thing to do is to ensure the unit is as level as possible using the levelling function. I believe this is a ‘fix’ because if the unit fails horizontal calibration it will assume that it is perfectly horizontal. So, if it is close to that, it will then track well and the images should stack. I hope this helps. Another idea is to ensure that the unit is pointing at the centre (in azimuth) of your available sky before starting the horizontal calibration, hopefully to ensure that there are no obstructions to the process.
@ In scenery mode you can switch which camera view is shown large and which is shown small (inset) while recording a video, but the video will continue recording using the camera you were on when you started the video recording. If the camera being recorded is small (inset) then a red blob is shown in the corner to indicate that that camera is being recorded. Same with time lapse recording.
I am looking to get one of these, however I am unsure about the app. My smart phone is a Samsung Galaxy A12 with 4 GB of memory does anyone know if this would work? I did try and contact the manufacturer but no reply.
Hi again Keith. ZWO just replied, apologising for the slow response…the person I emailed was on holiday. Here is the reply: Regarding the viewer’s question, unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy A12 with 4GB of memory does not meet the minimum requirements for running the SeeStar app. The minimum system and hardware requirements are as follows: Android Version: 9.0 or above RAM: 6GB or more iOS Version : 13 or above
That supplied tripod is a joke. Only useful on the desk when transferring images to the PC. So the low price compared to the S50 is not that low if you add on a decent tripod.
It’s been fine every time I have used it, but yes it is a very small tripod with no means of level adjustment. Some will have their own tripod anyway, while others may buy one. I think ZWO went for compactness over functionality. A bigger tripod would have made the whole rig a lot bigger and heavier.
First time watching. I'm a S50 owner for about a year. My one and only telescope. So much fun. Anyhow, I ordered an S30 on release date, 1 Nov. Looking forward to trying out the new boy. I'm an old guy with stability issues that has not been able to scan the northern sky's. Hopefully I'll be able to carry and set up the S30 easier than the S50. I know there's lots of good stuff out there. Can't wait.
@@johndaley9188 The S30 sounds ideal for you. You’ll enjoy the wider field of view, especially using the framing (mosaic) feature. Objects particularly well suited to the S30 include the Great Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, North America Nebula, Veil Nebula, California Nebula, Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, Heart Nebula and Soul Nebula. I suggest enlarging the frame by at least 20% even on smaller targets, especially if high in the sky, to get rid of the edge artefacts caused by field rotation. Have fun John!
@martinsastrophotography i have captured, looking south, Orion, Andromedia and veil easily. I did use mosaic on Andromeda but I'm getting more use from framing. Looking forward getting North America in NW. Now before midnight. Clear sky's.
@@martinsastrophotographyhello, I’m new to the s50 and looking at ordering a s30 for the feb release. Your last comment about enlarging the frame by 20%…how would I do this please. My astrophotography would be in south east England around the Surrey area.. thanks in advance for any help.
@ Hi there. It is demonstrated in the video…you go to sky atlas, objects, choose the object you want to image, then click ‘framing’ and move the slider between 1.0 and 2.0 to choose the field of view. Then you click rotate and set the required rotation to frame the object as you want. Then you start shooting.
Thanks for the update. I ordered mine last week and now can't wait for it to arrive (probably in mid Feb I suspect).
I am hoping that this will help me make the most of short windows of clear skies, and also mean I can take it on wild camping trips.
Enjoy…when it arrives!
Thanks for the video, always enjoyable. Haven't noticed that 'Hot Pixel' option on the calibration screen before, must check it out.
Brilliant. I'm thinking of buying something like this, I have no idea what to get really or prior experience but this seems like a decent enough for looking at the stars.
Thanks. If you decide to buy one, I would really appreciate you using one of the affiliate links in the description. It won’t cost you anything extra and helps me to make more videos like this. Any questions just ask.
As it happened I ordered one yesterday directly, not sure when I will get it at this time.
Scenery mode well explained which usually gets glossed over in other reviews.👍
@@Vic-pz5oh Thank you!
Brilliant video tutorials. With the Seestar S30, can you connect it to a laptop to transfer the images to?
@@andytatler2276 Thank you! You get the photos on your smartphone or tablet, and you can then transfer them to a laptop if you wish via email, Google Drive etc…
@MartinsAstrography , i dont see any mention of the (any) unit being water-proof (or not) , so how am i going to roofmount it (which is advertisded as a possibility) ... on the roof of my appartment , me inside the appartment , first rainshower will destroy the unit ... what about that ?
@@djmambito2 An interesting question. I would never put Astrophotography equipment outside if rain is forecast. I recommend always checking the weather forecast and using it when clear skies are forecast. That said, of course it is possible to get caught out, and I think the unit is sufficiently shower proof not to be destroyed by occasional exposure to rain. But I would certainly not consider this (or any other smart telescope or astrophotography rig) to be a product that is suitable for being permanently installed outside, in rain or shine. I hope this helps.
@@martinsastrophotography , thanks for your reply ... but the manufacturer is clearly mentioning "rooftop mounting"' how can they do that if it is not waterproof ... do they expect me to go up the roof every time there might be some rain or even humidity/fog ? ... all i can make of this is that the term roofmounting is misleading ... i also think they (or any other manufacturer) should produce waterproof versions which they obviously dont ... i also dont understand why i'm they only one or maybe even the 1st one mentioning this fact ...is everyone else a fool then ? ... i mean do we want a toy that cant be used (roofmounted) in practice ? ... To make a long story short ... i wont buy anything "roofmountable" that isn't waterproof.
@djmambito2 Please remember that I have just given you my opinion, based on experience. I do not know whether this product is waterproof or weatherproof, that is a question for ZWO to answer. However, I would be amazed if it was suitable for what you are contemplating. Even if it is completely waterproof and weatherproof, cannot blow away or get water inside it, we are talking about a telescope here. The front of the objective lens is only somewhat protected in the closed position, but there is about 4mm of gap beneath it when it points straight down at its own chassis. All it takes is a spider, a snail, a slug, some algae or moss etc… to get in there and it will obscure the telescope…and you would have to climb on your roof to fix it! Even a multi-billion dollar telescope on top of a mountain in Hawaii or Chile has a roof over it that closes when it is not in use, including when bad weather is forecast. Regardless of whether this unit is waterproof or not what you are contemplating is simply not practical for the reasons I have detailed above. I suggest you consider a different plan. I’m sorry if this is not the answer you want, but it would be wrong for me not to give you my honest opinion.
@@martinsastrophotography , Thanks for your reply, please do understand that my complaint is not directed at you, i'm directing it at ZWO ... that they market it as roofmountable ... which would imply that you can then sit inside doing remote & observing ... which is obviously not possible or at max just for a short time while you keep an eye on the local weather ... this then excludes long time unmanned observations ... Anyway the search is now for a waterproof unit which is not any product of this manufacturer ... i know it can be done cause all outside surveillance/security/motorized zoom/pan/tilt (360 degr) with a price above 100 $$ are waterproof ... actually i dont get it why they didn't make these "'telescopecams" not also waterproof ... it is a missed chance and a lack of market insights or maybe even design-talent , which is a typical Chinese habbit ... they come up with good new ideas at a fairly low price ... and then they allways forget something (easey to solve) that spoils the fun or would have helped them to sell more.
@@martinsastrophotography , Anyway if you know of a similar telescope that is waterproof or watertight, and which can do both scenery & astro ... cause all i can think of now is to use/modify a waterproof motorized security cam (pan/tilt/zoom/360 degr) ... which are on the market between 150 to 700 $$ ... drawback: they wont have a control-app that does all the tricks a specific astrocam-app can do.
Hi, great video. I have a problem with my s30. In initialisation progress it starts at 20% then jumps to 40% and then says horizontal calibration failed. Sometimes it skips the calibration and starts the 10 second timer but will not stack the photos? I have manually adjusted the seestar to within 1.0 but still no luck. Any ideas? Thanks
Thanks! The horizontal calibration works by looking in 3 different directions and seeing where it is pointing in the sky. If some of these directions are obscured by buildings, trees etc… then the horizontal calibration will fail. That in turn will cause star trails in the images which will cause them to be rejected from stacking. ZWO told me that they are working on this issue, and that in the meantime the best thing to do is to ensure the unit is as level as possible using the levelling function. I believe this is a ‘fix’ because if the unit fails horizontal calibration it will assume that it is perfectly horizontal. So, if it is close to that, it will then track well and the images should stack. I hope this helps. Another idea is to ensure that the unit is pointing at the centre (in azimuth) of your available sky before starting the horizontal calibration, hopefully to ensure that there are no obstructions to the process.
Good morning, I hope you can help me with the following question: Can the Seestar S50 tripod be used on the Seestar S30?
Thank you
@@danielarreola3703 It’s a standard tripod thread, so yes.
@ Thank you brother, have a happy and successful 2025
Thanks for the tip, one thing wasn’t clear when switching to telephoto lens.
What did you push.
@@mauricioguzman8136 just touch on the inset photo and the main and inset photos will swap sensors.
Hi. Can you switch cameras while doing video or time lapse? Thanks
@@joaoalmeida7681 I don’t think so…certainly not in stargazing mode …or did you mean in Scenery mode?
@@martinsastrophotography Any mode. Does it stop filming or the time lapse if you change cameras? Thank you
@ In scenery mode you can switch which camera view is shown large and which is shown small (inset) while recording a video, but the video will continue recording using the camera you were on when you started the video recording. If the camera being recorded is small (inset) then a red blob is shown in the corner to indicate that that camera is being recorded. Same with time lapse recording.
@@martinsastrophotography Thanks!
I am looking to get one of these, however I am unsure about the app. My smart phone is a Samsung Galaxy A12 with 4 GB of memory does anyone know if this would work? I did try and contact the manufacturer but no reply.
@keithpenfold9151 Hi Keith. I have sent an email to my contact at ZWO for you. I will let you know what they say.
Hi again Keith. ZWO just replied, apologising for the slow response…the person I emailed was on holiday. Here is the reply: Regarding the viewer’s question, unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy A12 with 4GB of memory does not meet the minimum requirements for running the SeeStar app. The minimum system and hardware requirements are as
follows:
Android Version: 9.0 or above
RAM: 6GB or more
iOS Version : 13 or above
@@martinsastrophotography Ok thanks for the info. Shame - but there you go!
That supplied tripod is a joke. Only useful on the desk when transferring images to the PC.
So the low price compared to the S50 is not that low if you add on a decent tripod.
It’s been fine every time I have used it, but yes it is a very small tripod with no means of level adjustment. Some will have their own tripod anyway, while others may buy one. I think ZWO went for compactness over functionality. A bigger tripod would have made the whole rig a lot bigger and heavier.