Seestar S30 Review

[@raquelrodriguezmediavilla]

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.

[@martinsastrophotography]

Thank you!!

[@piskeylowe]

What a guy, easily the finest review/explanation, so detailed and understandable, thank you so, so much Martin

[@martinsastrophotography]

@@piskeylowe Thank you so much for your kind words. Much appreciated!

[@barrybrown5755]

Absolutely brilliant review ! You make everything seem so easy ! Thank you ! 😊

[@martinsastrophotography]

@@barrybrown5755 Thank you Barry!

[@antn8387]

I want the S30 now

[@martinsastrophotography]

Enjoy it! Please use the affiliate link in the description. Thank you.

[@godblessamerica7048]

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. 😢

[@martinsastrophotography]

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]

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

[@martinsastrophotography]

@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.

[@garybond161]

Very informative video thank you! Will you be doing a review of the dwarf 3 ?

[@martinsastrophotography]

@@garybond161 Thank you Gary. Yes! There is a Dwarf 3 on the way to me as I write this!!

[@garybond161]

@martinsastrophotography excellent I'll wait for your review before I choose one then thank you 😊

[@SonnyPruitt-q1s]

Very thorough review! Thanks.

[@martinsastrophotography]

@@SonnyPruitt-q1s Thank you!

[@FPVsimon]

Great demo Not for me but I’d defo recommend it to my non ap friends, well done

[@martinsastrophotography]

@@FPVsimon Thanks. Yeah it’s for folks with no ap experience for sure.

[@mihalis68]

Great job Martin! - Chris Morgan

[@martinsastrophotography]

Thank you Chris!

[@mihalis68]

@@martinsastrophotographyit was nice hearing your voice again. It’s only been about 35 years!

[@martinsastrophotography]

@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.

[@stewsmith9236]

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.

[@martinsastrophotography]

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.

[@stewsmith9236]

@martinsastrophotography Perfect. I appreciate your help

[@Paulie1978100]

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]

@@Paulie1978100 Thanks. I live under Bortle 5 skies. Thanks so much for subscribing! Clear skies to you too.

[@Paulie1978100]

@@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?

[@martinsastrophotography]

@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.

[@Paulie1978100]

@@martinsastrophotography Great stuff!, thanks Martin, clear skies

[@happyfeet5338]

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?

[@martinsastrophotography]

@@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!

[@happyfeet5338]

​@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.

[@martinsastrophotography]

@ 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==

[@happyfeet5338]

@@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.

[@martinsastrophotography]

@ 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.

[@polacofederos]

Imho, is better to stretch a bit and get the dwarf3

[@happyfeet5338]

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?

[@martinsastrophotography]

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.

[@happyfeet5338]

@@martinsastrophotographyThank you Martin