ZWO Seestar S50 PRO

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davenn
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hi guys
ZWO have just announced and will be available mid-Sept. their new ZWO Seestar S50 PRO smart telescope.
This for astrophotography ( there is NO eyepiece to look through) 50mm objective and a 260mm focal length.
The scope connects to and is controlled by an app on your smart phone -- Iphone/Android

I have not owned a smart scope like this before and have put one on order. So looking forward to its arrival

There are several reviews on Youtube and so far all with good praise

Wonder if anyone else here is contemplating buying one ?

Cheers
Dave

1788231494012.webp
 
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Interesting. Looks easy enough for even me to use. :biggrin:

The reviews do look pretty good. I'll be interested in seeing how you like it.
 
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Borg said:
Interesting. Looks easy enough for even me to use. :biggrin:

The reviews do look pretty good. I'll be interested in seeing how you like it.

cheers
as you may have seen, it can do dozens ++ frames within and stack them, all by itself and takes into account frame rotation if imaging using it in the AL-AZ mount as shown above but alternatively, using an adjustable angle mount on a tripod, it can be used in equatorial mode. This allows longer exposures and gets rid of the frame rotation issues

Delivery is supposed to be around middle of the month - fingers crossed.

One video I watched, the guy reviewing it was on a rooftop in the middle of Tokyo and you can imagine the level of light pollution at that location. The images he was capturing were awesome considering the light pollution.
The scope does have a LP filter built in that can be turned on or off



cheers
Dave
 
Yes, it looks very impressive. I didn't know that such small, high quality telescopes existed. I've seen people here talking about stacking images but to see it included directly into the software is awesome.
 
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I remain nonplussed about these devices.
The automation of the observation process is so extensive that I don't quite get the difference between this, and going outside with a planetarium app on your smartphone, to look at pictures uploaded from the HST. Other than the missing 1k in your account, that is.
At least the price has gone down a chunk since the last time we spoke about these here.
 
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Bandersnatch said:
The automation of the observation process is so extensive that I don't quite get the difference between this, and going outside with a planetarium app on your smartphone, to look at pictures uploaded from the HST.

For me, this is a huge advantage, with my ongoing and worsening health problems. It's becoming more and more difficult for me to get out with my other scopes for doing astrophotography and this will be a way I can get out with something light and portable and still produce astro-images.
I cant even lift and carry my Celestron CPC925 any more. It hasnt been used for 10+ years :frown:

If you have watched the video, you would have seen that the images can be moved to a main PC and can then do your own stacking and playing around with processing in your own fav software ... Pix-in-Sight etc.

Another thing I am looking forward to using is the solar imaging. it has a clip-on white light filter and
I am very sure it's going to produce much sharper images that my current setup Canon 6DII, a 400mm tele-zoom and a 2x adaptor.
With all the "glass" that the sunlight has to go through with that setup .... the produced images require
lots of processing to produce something nice.

The scope also has a light pollution filter built in that can be switched in and out of the optical path.

cheers
Dave
 
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Bandersnatch said:
The automation of the observation process is so extensive that I don't quite get the difference between this, and going outside with a planetarium app on your smartphone, to look at pictures uploaded from the HST. Other than the missing 1k in your account, that is.
It's similar to a photographer taking a photo of an iconic scene at a location. We like to go there ourselves and take photos of our favorite places even if it has been done by others hundreds of times. It's sort of a pilgrimage to a beautiful place.
 
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davenn said:
For me, this is a huge advantage, with my ongoing and worsening health problems. It's becoming more and more difficult for me to get out with my other scopes for doing astrophotography and this will be a way I can get out with something light and portable and still produce astro-images.
I cant even lift and carry my Celestron CPC925 any more. It hasnt been used for 10+ years :frown:

At least now I understand why you got this in the first place- sorry to hear about your inability to use the Celestron, for sure.

I'm curious to hear what you think (after using the Seestar for a few times).
 
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I have not considered on of these devices but maybe I should.

I've got a nice 5" Newt (I think it's a Orbitor 4000?) but its on a janky Eq. mount so a pain to use.

I am mostly interested in planetary observation.

(Haha, I Googled Orbitor 4000 to see if I could add a pic. #1 hit: my own PF post from last year.)

1788979991833.webp


I'm just looking around at planetary pics taken with a Seestar:

1788980312383.webp

On FB:
"Anyone asking if it does planets.
I did this with the S50.
Mostly 10 min raw videos stacked in the Seestar.
The moon is also a 10 min raw video stacked."

Not sure that's really an $800+ improvement over my 5" Newt, despite the convenience.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
Mostly 10 min raw videos stacked in the Seestar.
AFAIK, it can stack images from several hours. 10 minutes seems like a really small observation time.
 
Borg said:
AFAIK, it can stack images from several hours. 10 minutes seems like a really small observation time.
Not sure what poster meant. Perhaps they mean "stacked many 10 minute videos".
 
DaveC426913 said:
I have not considered on of these devices but maybe I should.

I've got a nice 5" Newt (I think it's a Orbitor 4000?) but its on a janky Eq. mount so a pain to use.

I am mostly interested in planetary observation.

(Haha, I Googled Orbitor 4000 to see if I could add a pic. #1 hit: my own PF post from last year.)

View attachment 374059

I'm just looking around at planetary pics taken with a Seestar:

View attachment 374060
On FB:
"Anyone asking if it does planets.
I did this with the S50.
Mostly 10 min raw videos stacked in the Seestar.
The moon is also a 10 min raw video stacked."

Not sure that's really an $800+ improvement over my 5" Newt, despite the convenience.
Just remember that these new devices will get better with time. Today's image quality will be the worst a smart scope will ever be.
 
AlexB23 said:
Just remember that these new devices will get better with time. Today's image quality will be the worst a smart scope will ever be.
Yes. A reason to stay tuned for developments; but not a reason to buy one now.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
Not sure what poster meant. Perhaps they mean "stacked many 10 minute videos".
I would assume that each of the individual planetary images was approximately 10 minutes.
 
DaveC426913 said:
Yes. A reason to stay tuned for developments; but not a reason to buy one now.
I agree. Wait until the tech matures.