The best review I have seen about the S30. You give an exact idea of what can and cannot be seen in this telescope. I already have one in pre-order and I hope to receive it before Christmas. Thank you so much.
Thanks for an excellent introduction to the S30 . I have placed an order for the S30 with ZWO and hope the wait isn't too long. :-) I shall certainly return here to remind myself how to set thing up.
I originally wanted the S30 but when it showed a projected delivery date of May 2nd I backed away from it because that was way too long for my personally I went for the S50 instead which is also on back order but with a delivery date of February 21st That’s more acceptable for sure
What a thorough and informative video Martin. I am tempted by the S30 even though I already do astrophotography with a Redcat 51 and EQM 35 mount. Whilst I appreciate that the S30 won't produce the same quality of images, it wins out where you only have an hour or less to image before the clouds roll in. I think that the S30 would encourage me to get outside in circumstances where I couldn't be bothered to set up my full rig. Also, the sheer portability of the S30 lends itself to quick trips out to darker skies. I live near Gatwick Airport and occasionally travel down to Birling Gap on the south coast for the dark skies. It looks like it would also be possible to take it wild camping, which is something I have long wanted to do on my channel. I've subscribed to you to make sure I see more of your content .
@@thecampingastronomer8554 Thank you for your comment and for subscribing! I consider myself a ‘serious’ and relatively experienced astrophotographer but I too have found myself putting this out in the garden when the sky is clear but the forecast is poor to see what it can capture! It’s definitely more portable than traditional rigs as well. I will soon be receiving a Dwarf 3 to review which is even more portable…so maybe hold on and watch my review of that one before deciding?
@martinsastrophotography I'll keep my eye open for the Dwarf review. I think that there is a 5 month waiting list for the Dwarf sadly, compared to about 6 weeks for the S30. I have been watching the chaos caused by the Seestar app update over the last week or so, which is why I haven't ordered the Seestar yet.
Thank you very much for the thorough video. I have had the s50 for a month and absolutely love it. I have captured more and better pictures, and found objects that I have never seen before, in that month than the previous few years with a standard cumbersome set up. I have the s30 on order too as I think they will complement each other. A few things I've found helpful; I turn on the dew heater every time, I level the s50 in the app every session to reduce rejected frames, I use the new frame function to tilt and zoom out to perfectly frame the image I want and this also reduces cropping needed for field rotation. For reference, you will get wasted frames but I still manage to get 3 really pleasing 50 minute different images in a 4 hour session say - much better than my old set up. I plug my S50 into a charging block rather than a charging lead and also shield with a cardboard box if a bit windy. I use the new Denoise feature on the app to improve stacked results even more. I thoroughly recommend everyone to do that. I have two questions specifically about the s30 for you: When you looked at the sun at the end of the video, you had the solar filter on, is it safe/any warnings regarding the wide angle lens pointing there without a filter? Secondly, I'd love to use the wide angle lens to take images of milky way etc - is that possible or is it only for scenic terrestrial imaging? If the latter, then can you at least take 10/20/30 second images of milky way (pretend it's scenery) without inbuilt stacking and perhaps stack externally? Any help would be great, keep up the good work
@@neilbryant9833 Thank you Neil for your excellent points and summary of your experience. I am currently preparing an update video that will cover a number of the points you mentioned. Regarding your questions, the wide angle lens can point at the sun because it effectively dilutes the energy due to its wide field of view. It would make a lot of sense to be able to do stacking with the wide angle lens to take Milky Way shots. Have you suggested this to ZWO using the report feature?
@@martinsastrophotographythanks Martin, I haven't, as I haven't got it yet but I'm on the FB page for UK and worldwide s50 groups so I'm going to mention that now, good idea! All the best - waiting for UK clear skies as usual !
@@KodyWebb Thanks for your comment Kody. The most important difference is that the star tracker route is the start of a long learning curve into what I would call ‘proper’ astrophotography. With a smart telescope you can get reasonable images without any skill at all, but you won’t really learn anything about how astrophotography is done. If you don’t care about that and you want instant success, get a smart telescope. If you want to learn all the skills and techniques get a tracker…especially if you have a DSLR and a tripod already! Have you watched my video on “Astrophotography for complete beginners”, or the follow-on video on “Beyond just a Camera and tripod” where I add a tracker??
@martinsastrophotography I will give that one a watch here in just a few, thanks for the input I do have decent cameras but I have very little knowledge on astrophotography. I'll watch that video before I make a decision, but I do like that this one is ready to go out of the box
@ Traditional Astrophotography has a long slow learning curve and is often referred to as a “rabbit hole” because you end up spending a lot more money than you intended. Smart telescopes bring much quicker results with little learning curve and are less likely to send you down the rabbit hole! If you do go for a SeeStar S30, please do use one of the affiliate links in the description. It helps me make more videos like this and costs you nothing. Thank you.
@@ATXanalogue Thank you. I am currently reviewing the Dwarf 3, but it is my intention to do a comparison video fairly soon. The S50 has a larger aperture so better native resolution, but with a narrower field of view and a less portable device. The Dwarf 3 is different again, being the smallest of the three products but with the largest field of view. Yhen there is the price to consider. There are so many aspects to consider that it is not possible to declare any of them as a clear winner.
Excellent review. Thank you! They sent out all these units for reviews, yet I ordered mine an hour after it was announced, and I still have to wait months for it. Then, the Dwarf 3, which I reordered, is coming up on six months since I ordered it. 😢
Thank you! I feel for you, and hopefully it won’t be too long before you receive what you have ordered. In case it helps….you can just have fun with the kit when it arrives, rather than having to film everything you do, then edit all the video, then upload it, write the description, edit the subtitles, etc… leaving loved ones on their own for hours night after night while you toil to create a video you are not sure how many people will even watch, all while also holding down a full-time job. (P.S. I’m not complaining …I choose to do this! I must be nuts!)
@melmarrison8769 Thank you! If portability is a factor in your decision the S30 is much less cumbersome. The S50 has a larger aperture but a narrower field of view. However with the new mosaicking capability larger targets can still be imaged. If I was a beginner I would go for the S30 as it’s more portable, a lower price, and gives you almost the exact same experience. Either way, if you decide to purchase one please use the affiliate link in the description. It won’t cost any extra and it will help me make more videos like this. Thank you.
Great product review Martin. I do have some questions if you could spare a bit your time. 1. Are the finished image resolutions the same for the S30 and S50 2. What is the noise like on the finished images. Would they print acceptably to A3. 3. Did you do any post processing in additional software with your images from the S30 and the S50. 4. What do you think the total longest exposure time would be in one session on a single target.
Thank you Stew. I will try to answer your questions: 1. It depends what you mean by resolution. The S50 has a longer focal length (250mm) and wider aperture (50mm) than the S30 (focal length 150mm, aperture 30mm), giving it better angular resolution but less field of view. The sensors in the two telescopes are very similar, both being 2MP (1920x1080 pixels) with 2.9ųm pixels, but the one in the S30 is better as it has greater well depth and no amp glow. 2. I have shown finished images at the end of the video, but the noise gets less and less visible the longer you image. My images were just 20-60 minutes. If you image for 6 hours it will look much better. I can’t tell you if they would print acceptably on A3 because it depends on how long you image for and what you consider acceptable. :-) 3. No, I did nothing to the images. I wanted to show what came out of the unit. There is a lot that can be done to further improve these images in post processing, especially regarding sharpening and noise reduction. 4. That depends on how long an object stays visible from your location, which you can determine from the plots in the app or using something like Stellarium. An object close to Zenith at midnight might be able to be imaged for 5-6 hours. I hope this helps.
Christ that's impressive I have the S50 for 9 months now, I love it, what bortle do you live under?!? m31 and the Heart came through very quickly. Great video I subbed up! Clear skies from Wicklow Ireland.
@@martinsastrophotography Thanks Martin, did the images come in that quick on your S50? I'm leaning towards a Dwarf 3 over the S30 simply because it has a slightly better sensor and mainly EQ mode. Any thoughts?
@Paulie1978100 Yes, just the same on the S50. I am hoping to try out a Dwarf 3 quite soon. Until then I will hold judgement on which is better. However ZWO are usually pretty responsive to good ideas and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they added an EQ mode in a future firmware upgrade. Price and size are a key a discriminator of course.
I am told that I can use a power bank to charge the S30 while it is in use to extend it’s usage time. Do you know what the specifications of the power bank should be to be able to charge the S30?
It can be charged from 5V 2A or 12V 2A. However I found that it still discharged if connected to a 5A charger while operating (with dew heater on) so I recommend a 12 supply that can deliver at least 2 amps. As for power bank capacity, I recommend at least 12000mAh (=12Ah) at 12Volts. Remember that you need a USB type C output cable from your power bank, so make sure you identify a way to do that.
I'm barely even an amateur, and I have a very entry-level reflecting telescope, and I'm just wondering how the detail is with this compared to what I've already got. Obviously this is WAY easier and more convenient, but with my reflecting telescope I can zoom right into the moon, much closer than I'm seeing here, and the detail is incredibly crisp. I don't doubt that this is going to be better at capturing deep sky objects, but is there going to be lower quality overall because this is digital compared to a perfect reflection? Sorry if this is a dumb noob question.
@@CarbonatedTurtle Can you please tell me the make and model of your reflecting telescope? Deep Sky Astrophotography (i.e. large faint objects) typically requires a tracking mount (requiring polar alignment) a camera, a PC running suitable software and getting to grips with setup, operation and post processing. If you want to learn all this, and are prepared to spend cash to build up a rig, then a smart telescope is not for you and I would recommend you purchase a mount such as a ZWO AM3 or AM5 and learn how to use it. If you just want to visually observe large bright objects such as the moon, globular clusters etc… then stick with your reflector telescope and a smart telescope is still not for you. If you want to image a range of faint objects, as well as the moon and the sun (using solar filter), but don’t want to spend a lot of money on a rig and don’t want the steep learning curve, then a smart telescope would seem a good choice for you.
@@martinsastrophotography Thanks for the reply. I've got an Orbitor TS5000 (as entry-level as it gets) and I added a SVBONY SV135 eyepiece to it for easy zooming. I'm certainly not opposed to learning the software, as I'm very capable with computers, and I have a very capable computer, so that wouldn't be an issue if I really wanted to dive into this hobby. But I'd definitely still be looking for a cheaper option to take things to the next level, and I like the idea of not having to look through an eyepiece and letting the telescope find things for me. As much as I'd love to go all in, my wife might murder me if I spent thousands of dollars on all the necessary equipment, so for now I'd just be happy enough to be able to use an app to point my telescope at an object in the sky and observe it with ease. Lugging out a large and bulky telescope and manually finding objects using a poorly calibrated app on my phone is sort of a pain in the ass, and I have a feeling I'd be out in the backyard a lot more often enjoying the night sky if I had an easier way to do it.
Based on your summary, which made me chuckle by the way (I have been on verge of being murdered by my wife for about 9 years for buying all this gear and staying up half the night regularly!) It sounds like a smart telescope is the perfect fit for you. I would take your time and look at options. There are quite a few of them. Seestar S30 and S50, Dwarf 3, Vaonis Vespera and others. (If you decide to buy an S30 do please use the affiliate link in the description of my video. It helps me make more videos and will cost you nothing extra). Thank you!
@@martinsastrophotography I'd only ever seen one smart telescope before in my life at a friend's house about a year ago, and it was still bulky and expensive enough that I wasn't planning on buying one. I just happened to come across a video for the S30 the other day and I was blown away at how compact and cheap a smart telescope could be, which has really made me consider getting one. Admittedly, I know nothing about any other options since I haven't had the time to do any research yet, so I'll certainly take a look and see what the best option is for me. If I do decide to go for the S30, I'll absolutely use your link. Thanks again!
@@CarbonatedTurtle Thank you. I will be receiving a Dwarf 3 soon, which is even smaller than the Seestar S30. I will be releasing a review of that in a few weeks.
Further to my previous comment Martin, could you clarify something for me, do I need to adjust 2 green discs to coincide 0.3 or better as per my S50 or not, I'm keen NOT to have to do that every time,
@@piskeylowe OK, so the S30 must either have successfully calibrated it’s tilt with respect to horizontal (horizontal calibration) or you have e to use the levelling facility to make sure it is level to within 0.2°. There are currently some shortcomings in the horizontal calibration algorithm that ZWO is working on a fix for. So in future, with the firmware upgrade that will inevitably be coming, you won’t have to level it, but instead it will do a horizontal calibration after startup before the first image is taken.
@@martinsastrophotography, thanks Martin, sorry to keep banging on re this, so I can just plonk it outside WITHOUT doing the 2 green disc , S50 routine, can I ? , I will have done the mount rotation indoors again as per the S50, being disabled (lungs) I cannot sit outside aligning 2 green discs, Thanks again.
Great review. I am planning to buy one but not sure whether it can take picture of the Milky Way. Can you confirm? Does the Dwarf 3 take a better picture of the Milky Way?
@@happyfeet5338 Thank you. The Milky Way spans the entire sky, and includes hundreds of nebulae. For this reason none of the smart telescopes are suitable for photographing the whole Milky Way in a single photograph as they have far too narrow a field of view (which makes them great for individual targets!). A DSLR with a wide angle lens is better suited to photographing the Milky Way. If you are still going to buy a SeeStar S30, please use the affiliate link in the description. Thank you and clear skies!
@martinsastrophotography thank you for your reply. But I can still use the mosaic mode to take pictures of the milky way I.e take several Pictures and stitch them together to get full milky way.
@ I understand what you’re saying but you need to understand that the full Milky Way would require many hundreds of images stitched together! The Seestar’s Mosaic mode only allows up to 2x zoom-out so you would still need to mosaic a very large number of these using suitable software. As I said, if you want to image the Milky Way you really need a wide angle lens, with something like 15mm focal length. A DSLR on a tripod is a better bet for this than a smart telescope. I’m not saying it’s impossible with a smart telescope, but it’s a mammoth project for sure. Take a look at my Milky Way photo on Instagram taken using a Canon R5 with a 14mm lens. This is barely half of the entire Milky Way. Here’s the link: instagram.com/p/DCw545ksjk9/?igsh=MXVvc2NndXNhYW9sMg==
@ It depends whether the Dwarf 3 allows you to stack long exposures with the wide angle lens. This was not possible on the Dwarf 2 and is not possible on the SeeStar S50 or S30 either.
@@arthurkaye8999 I’m the same Arthur. What’s missing for me is that you don’t learn how to do Astrophotography and for me that’s the fun part. I try to be neutral on this in my reviews though, because I know there are a lot of people interested in these who maybe don’t want the technical challenges and high costs of traditional Astrophotography. We should all do what makes us happy I guess. Thanks for your comment.
@scottbuehler7511 Thank you Scott for your efforts regarding the individual who wanted to "smash all smart devices" but had never actually seen/used a Seestar S30. I have now deleted that comment chain.
The best review I have seen about the S30. You give an exact idea of what can and cannot be seen in this telescope. I already have one in pre-order and I hope to receive it before Christmas. Thank you so much.
Thank you!!
I would say the best tutorial for this telescope I’ve seen! Excellent.
@@Hoponbabes Thank you so much!
Thanks for an excellent introduction to the S30 . I have placed an order for the S30 with ZWO and hope the wait isn't too long. :-) I shall certainly return here to remind myself how to set thing up.
I originally wanted the S30 but when it showed a projected delivery date of May 2nd I backed away from it because that was way too long for my personally
I went for the S50 instead which is also on back order but with a delivery date of February 21st
That’s more acceptable for sure
What a guy, easily the finest review/explanation, so detailed and understandable, thank you so, so much Martin
@@piskeylowe Thank you so much for your kind words. Much appreciated!
Absolutely brilliant review !
You make everything seem so easy !
Thank you ! 😊
@@barrybrown5755 Thank you Barry!
Martin, thank you for your very quick reply, looks like I made a good choice. I look forward to seeing more of your videos.
What a thorough and informative video Martin. I am tempted by the S30 even though I already do astrophotography with a Redcat 51 and EQM 35 mount. Whilst I appreciate that the S30 won't produce the same quality of images, it wins out where you only have an hour or less to image before the clouds roll in. I think that the S30 would encourage me to get outside in circumstances where I couldn't be bothered to set up my full rig.
Also, the sheer portability of the S30 lends itself to quick trips out to darker skies. I live near Gatwick Airport and occasionally travel down to Birling Gap on the south coast for the dark skies.
It looks like it would also be possible to take it wild camping, which is something I have long wanted to do on my channel.
I've subscribed to you to make sure I see more of your content .
@@thecampingastronomer8554 Thank you for your comment and for subscribing! I consider myself a ‘serious’ and relatively experienced astrophotographer but I too have found myself putting this out in the garden when the sky is clear but the forecast is poor to see what it can capture! It’s definitely more portable than traditional rigs as well. I will soon be receiving a Dwarf 3 to review which is even more portable…so maybe hold on and watch my review of that one before deciding?
@martinsastrophotography I'll keep my eye open for the Dwarf review. I think that there is a 5 month waiting list for the Dwarf sadly, compared to about 6 weeks for the S30.
I have been watching the chaos caused by the Seestar app update over the last week or so, which is why I haven't ordered the Seestar yet.
Thank you very much for the thorough video. I have had the s50 for a month and absolutely love it. I have captured more and better pictures, and found objects that I have never seen before, in that month than the previous few years with a standard cumbersome set up. I have the s30 on order too as I think they will complement each other. A few things I've found helpful; I turn on the dew heater every time, I level the s50 in the app every session to reduce rejected frames, I use the new frame function to tilt and zoom out to perfectly frame the image I want and this also reduces cropping needed for field rotation. For reference, you will get wasted frames but I still manage to get 3 really pleasing 50 minute different images in a 4 hour session say - much better than my old set up. I plug my S50 into a charging block rather than a charging lead and also shield with a cardboard box if a bit windy. I use the new Denoise feature on the app to improve stacked results even more. I thoroughly recommend everyone to do that. I have two questions specifically about the s30 for you:
When you looked at the sun at the end of the video, you had the solar filter on, is it safe/any warnings regarding the wide angle lens pointing there without a filter? Secondly, I'd love to use the wide angle lens to take images of milky way etc - is that possible or is it only for scenic terrestrial imaging? If the latter, then can you at least take 10/20/30 second images of milky way (pretend it's scenery) without inbuilt stacking and perhaps stack externally? Any help would be great, keep up the good work
@@neilbryant9833 Thank you Neil for your excellent points and summary of your experience. I am currently preparing an update video that will cover a number of the points you mentioned. Regarding your questions, the wide angle lens can point at the sun because it effectively dilutes the energy due to its wide field of view. It would make a lot of sense to be able to do stacking with the wide angle lens to take Milky Way shots. Have you suggested this to ZWO using the report feature?
@@martinsastrophotographythanks Martin, I haven't, as I haven't got it yet but I'm on the FB page for UK and worldwide s50 groups so I'm going to mention that now, good idea! All the best - waiting for UK clear skies as usual !
@@neilbryant9833I’m sure I’ve seen a vid on here that mentions ZWO are looking into an update to allow Milky Way astrophotography, here’s hoping 👍
Cool video, thanks for the demo. I am still trying to decide between this or a star tracker. This thing looks so easy and I love the size.
@@KodyWebb Thanks for your comment Kody. The most important difference is that the star tracker route is the start of a long learning curve into what I would call ‘proper’ astrophotography. With a smart telescope you can get reasonable images without any skill at all, but you won’t really learn anything about how astrophotography is done. If you don’t care about that and you want instant success, get a smart telescope. If you want to learn all the skills and techniques get a tracker…especially if you have a DSLR and a tripod already! Have you watched my video on “Astrophotography for complete beginners”, or the follow-on video on “Beyond just a Camera and tripod” where I add a tracker??
@martinsastrophotography I will give that one a watch here in just a few, thanks for the input I do have decent cameras but I have very little knowledge on astrophotography. I'll watch that video before I make a decision, but I do like that this one is ready to go out of the box
@ Traditional Astrophotography has a long slow learning curve and is often referred to as a “rabbit hole” because you end up spending a lot more money than you intended. Smart telescopes bring much quicker results with little learning curve and are less likely to send you down the rabbit hole! If you do go for a SeeStar S30, please do use one of the affiliate links in the description. It helps me make more videos like this and costs you nothing. Thank you.
I just bought and got a S50 for $450. I made the right decision for the $100 more. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you for your positive feedback. Enjoy your S50!
Excellent review and commentary ... thanks ... I wonder what the 50 is like ??
@@philipduggan60 Thank you. I have reviewed the S50 as well. Take a look.
I want the S30 now
Enjoy it! Please use the affiliate link in the description. Thank you.
Fantastic tutorial, thanks!
@@yamabiru4553 Thank you!
Very thorough review!
Thanks.
@@SonnyPruitt-q1s Thank you!
Martin, an excellent review. Have you had a chance to compare the S50 with the S30 yet? Is one better than the other for certain celestial objects?
@@ATXanalogue Thank you. I am currently reviewing the Dwarf 3, but it is my intention to do a comparison video fairly soon. The S50 has a larger aperture so better native resolution, but with a narrower field of view and a less portable device. The Dwarf 3 is different again, being the smallest of the three products but with the largest field of view. Yhen there is the price to consider. There are so many aspects to consider that it is not possible to declare any of them as a clear winner.
Very informative video thank you! Will you be doing a review of the dwarf 3 ?
@@garybond161 Thank you Gary. Yes! There is a Dwarf 3 on the way to me as I write this!!
@martinsastrophotography excellent I'll wait for your review before I choose one then thank you 😊
Excellent review. Thank you! They sent out all these units for reviews, yet I ordered mine an hour after it was announced, and I still have to wait months for it. Then, the Dwarf 3, which I reordered, is coming up on six months since I ordered it. 😢
Thank you! I feel for you, and hopefully it won’t be too long before you receive what you have ordered. In case it helps….you can just have fun with the kit when it arrives, rather than having to film everything you do, then edit all the video, then upload it, write the description, edit the subtitles, etc… leaving loved ones on their own for hours night after night while you toil to create a video you are not sure how many people will even watch, all while also holding down a full-time job. (P.S. I’m not complaining …I choose to do this! I must be nuts!)
Great job Martin! - Chris Morgan
Thank you Chris!
@@martinsastrophotographyit was nice hearing your voice again. It’s only been about 35 years!
@mihalis68 I didn’t twig it was you Chris!!! I can still remember your voice pretty well after all that time. Hope life is treating you well mate.
Great review, I will now watch your review of the S50. My question is which is better the 30 or 50, or is the 50 worth the extra money? Thanks
@melmarrison8769 Thank you! If portability is a factor in your decision the S30 is much less cumbersome. The S50 has a larger aperture but a narrower field of view. However with the new mosaicking capability larger targets can still be imaged. If I was a beginner I would go for the S30 as it’s more portable, a lower price, and gives you almost the exact same experience. Either way, if you decide to purchase one please use the affiliate link in the description. It won’t cost any extra and it will help me make more videos like this. Thank you.
Hello - I was wondering about the app to work this. My Samsung A12 has 4GB of memory - would that be ok for this telescope?
Great product review Martin. I do have some questions if you could spare a bit your time.
1. Are the finished image resolutions the same for the S30 and S50
2. What is the noise like on the finished images. Would they print acceptably to A3.
3. Did you do any post processing in additional software with your images from the S30 and the S50.
4. What do you think the total longest exposure time would be in one session on a single target.
Thank you Stew. I will try to answer your questions:
1. It depends what you mean by resolution. The S50 has a longer focal length (250mm) and wider aperture (50mm) than the S30 (focal length 150mm, aperture 30mm), giving it better angular resolution but less field of view. The sensors in the two telescopes are very similar, both being 2MP (1920x1080 pixels) with 2.9ųm pixels, but the one in the S30 is better as it has greater well depth and no amp glow.
2. I have shown finished images at the end of the video, but the noise gets less and less visible the longer you image. My images were just 20-60 minutes. If you image for 6 hours it will look much better. I can’t tell you if they would print acceptably on A3 because it depends on how long you image for and what you consider acceptable. :-)
3. No, I did nothing to the images. I wanted to show what came out of the unit. There is a lot that can be done to further improve these images in post processing, especially regarding sharpening and noise reduction.
4. That depends on how long an object stays visible from your location, which you can determine from the plots in the app or using something like Stellarium. An object close to Zenith at midnight might be able to be imaged for 5-6 hours.
I hope this helps.
@martinsastrophotography Perfect. I appreciate your help
very good video, I ordered my S30 last Monday and looking forward to stargazing soon. Do you like the S50 more or the S30?
@@jonathanbuck5619 I prefer the S30…more portable, wider field of view, and cheaper!
Christ that's impressive I have the S50 for 9 months now, I love it, what bortle do you live under?!? m31 and the Heart came through very quickly. Great video I subbed up! Clear skies from Wicklow Ireland.
@@Paulie1978100 Thanks. I live under Bortle 5 skies. Thanks so much for subscribing! Clear skies to you too.
@@martinsastrophotography Thanks Martin, did the images come in that quick on your S50? I'm leaning towards a Dwarf 3 over the S30 simply because it has a slightly better sensor and mainly EQ mode. Any thoughts?
@Paulie1978100 Yes, just the same on the S50. I am hoping to try out a Dwarf 3 quite soon. Until then I will hold judgement on which is better. However ZWO are usually pretty responsive to good ideas and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they added an EQ mode in a future firmware upgrade. Price and size are a key a discriminator of course.
@@martinsastrophotography Great stuff!, thanks Martin, clear skies
I am told that I can use a power bank to charge the S30 while it is in use to extend it’s usage time. Do you know what the specifications of the power bank should be to be able to charge the S30?
It can be charged from 5V 2A or 12V 2A. However I found that it still discharged if connected to a 5A charger while operating (with dew heater on) so I recommend a 12 supply that can deliver at least 2 amps. As for power bank capacity, I recommend at least 12000mAh (=12Ah) at 12Volts. Remember that you need a USB type C output cable from your power bank, so make sure you identify a way to do that.
@@martinsastrophotographyThank you Martin
Great demo
Not for me but I’d defo recommend it to my non ap friends, well done
@@FPVsimon Thanks. Yeah it’s for folks with no ap experience for sure.
I'm barely even an amateur, and I have a very entry-level reflecting telescope, and I'm just wondering how the detail is with this compared to what I've already got. Obviously this is WAY easier and more convenient, but with my reflecting telescope I can zoom right into the moon, much closer than I'm seeing here, and the detail is incredibly crisp. I don't doubt that this is going to be better at capturing deep sky objects, but is there going to be lower quality overall because this is digital compared to a perfect reflection? Sorry if this is a dumb noob question.
@@CarbonatedTurtle Can you please tell me the make and model of your reflecting telescope? Deep Sky Astrophotography (i.e. large faint objects) typically requires a tracking mount (requiring polar alignment) a camera, a PC running suitable software and getting to grips with setup, operation and post processing. If you want to learn all this, and are prepared to spend cash to build up a rig, then a smart telescope is not for you and I would recommend you purchase a mount such as a ZWO AM3 or AM5 and learn how to use it. If you just want to visually observe large bright objects such as the moon, globular clusters etc… then stick with your reflector telescope and a smart telescope is still not for you. If you want to image a range of faint objects, as well as the moon and the sun (using solar filter), but don’t want to spend a lot of money on a rig and don’t want the steep learning curve, then a smart telescope would seem a good choice for you.
@@martinsastrophotography Thanks for the reply. I've got an Orbitor TS5000 (as entry-level as it gets) and I added a SVBONY SV135 eyepiece to it for easy zooming. I'm certainly not opposed to learning the software, as I'm very capable with computers, and I have a very capable computer, so that wouldn't be an issue if I really wanted to dive into this hobby. But I'd definitely still be looking for a cheaper option to take things to the next level, and I like the idea of not having to look through an eyepiece and letting the telescope find things for me.
As much as I'd love to go all in, my wife might murder me if I spent thousands of dollars on all the necessary equipment, so for now I'd just be happy enough to be able to use an app to point my telescope at an object in the sky and observe it with ease. Lugging out a large and bulky telescope and manually finding objects using a poorly calibrated app on my phone is sort of a pain in the ass, and I have a feeling I'd be out in the backyard a lot more often enjoying the night sky if I had an easier way to do it.
Based on your summary, which made me chuckle by the way (I have been on verge of being murdered by my wife for about 9 years for buying all this gear and staying up half the night regularly!) It sounds like a smart telescope is the perfect fit for you. I would take your time and look at options. There are quite a few of them. Seestar S30 and S50, Dwarf 3, Vaonis Vespera and others. (If you decide to buy an S30 do please use the affiliate link in the description of my video. It helps me make more videos and will cost you nothing extra). Thank you!
@@martinsastrophotography I'd only ever seen one smart telescope before in my life at a friend's house about a year ago, and it was still bulky and expensive enough that I wasn't planning on buying one. I just happened to come across a video for the S30 the other day and I was blown away at how compact and cheap a smart telescope could be, which has really made me consider getting one. Admittedly, I know nothing about any other options since I haven't had the time to do any research yet, so I'll certainly take a look and see what the best option is for me. If I do decide to go for the S30, I'll absolutely use your link. Thanks again!
@@CarbonatedTurtle Thank you. I will be receiving a Dwarf 3 soon, which is even smaller than the Seestar S30. I will be releasing a review of that in a few weeks.
Further to my previous comment Martin, could you clarify something for me, do I need to adjust 2 green discs to coincide 0.3 or better as per my S50 or not, I'm keen NOT to have to do that every time,
@@piskeylowe OK, so the S30 must either have successfully calibrated it’s tilt with respect to horizontal (horizontal calibration) or you have e to use the levelling facility to make sure it is level to within 0.2°. There are currently some shortcomings in the horizontal calibration algorithm that ZWO is working on a fix for. So in future, with the firmware upgrade that will inevitably be coming, you won’t have to level it, but instead it will do a horizontal calibration after startup before the first image is taken.
@@martinsastrophotography, thanks Martin, sorry to keep banging on re this, so I can just plonk it outside WITHOUT doing the 2 green disc , S50 routine, can I ? , I will have done the mount rotation indoors again as per the S50, being disabled (lungs) I cannot sit outside aligning 2 green discs, Thanks again.
@ No worries. Yes, you can just plonk it outside. It will do a horizontal calibration to work out how level it is (or isn’t!)
Thank you Martin so much for your help. I understand now.👍
Only a pro can do this, thank you very much.
Great review. I am planning to buy one but not sure whether it can take picture of the Milky Way. Can you confirm? Does the Dwarf 3 take a better picture of the Milky Way?
@@happyfeet5338 Thank you. The Milky Way spans the entire sky, and includes hundreds of nebulae. For this reason none of the smart telescopes are suitable for photographing the whole Milky Way in a single photograph as they have far too narrow a field of view (which makes them great for individual targets!). A DSLR with a wide angle lens is better suited to photographing the Milky Way. If you are still going to buy a SeeStar S30, please use the affiliate link in the description. Thank you and clear skies!
@martinsastrophotography thank you for your reply. But I can still use the mosaic mode to take pictures of the milky way I.e take several Pictures and stitch them together to get full milky way.
@ I understand what you’re saying but you need to understand that the full Milky Way would require many hundreds of images stitched together! The Seestar’s Mosaic mode only allows up to 2x zoom-out so you would still need to mosaic a very large number of these using suitable software. As I said, if you want to image the Milky Way you really need a wide angle lens, with something like 15mm focal length. A DSLR on a tripod is a better bet for this than a smart telescope. I’m not saying it’s impossible with a smart telescope, but it’s a mammoth project for sure. Take a look at my Milky Way photo on Instagram taken using a Canon R5 with a 14mm lens. This is barely half of the entire Milky Way. Here’s the link: instagram.com/p/DCw545ksjk9/?igsh=MXVvc2NndXNhYW9sMg==
@@martinsastrophotographythanks very clear so even with the wide lens of the D3 I shall not be able to take a full picture of the Milky Way.
@ It depends whether the Dwarf 3 allows you to stack long exposures with the wide angle lens. This was not possible on the Dwarf 2 and is not possible on the SeeStar S50 or S30 either.
Imho, is better to stretch a bit and get the dwarf3
Good review but not about to get rid of my astro rig for one of these.
@@arthurkaye8999 I’m the same Arthur. What’s missing for me is that you don’t learn how to do Astrophotography and for me that’s the fun part. I try to be neutral on this in my reviews though, because I know there are a lot of people interested in these who maybe don’t want the technical challenges and high costs of traditional Astrophotography. We should all do what makes us happy I guess. Thanks for your comment.
Sadly it's 450$ in Europe now
@scottbuehler7511 Thank you Scott for your efforts regarding the individual who wanted to "smash all smart devices" but had never actually seen/used a Seestar S30. I have now deleted that comment chain.