The Seestar does create FITS files (not just jpegs), which can be post processed to improve quality considerably. If you're just looking at jpeg images you're missing out on what the Seestar can do. The best way to photograph the moon (or the sun) is to take a RAW video and use an app to glean the best frames and create a much sharper detailed image. If harder were better then we'd all be using DOS on our computers, wouldn't we?

Spot on! The satisfaction of doing everything yourself👍. Im a weelchair user due to paralysed legs (MS) and i absolutely love setting up my gear, Ioptron Skyguider pro "Ipolar" with a full spectrum astro modded Canon 77D, and my Canon L lenses. Getting a RedCat 51 this winter. Greetings from Denmark. Clear sky's.

@AstroExploring

7 күн бұрын

Great to hear! Clear skies to you

I'm 64, on a pension, living in a mid-sized city with light pollution, and have an arthritic neck that makes it difficult to crane my head around to look through telescopes. I love astronomy but don't have the skills to set up a dedicated rig. I also have lots of interests and don't care to invest the time into procuring and learning how to set up professional equipment. I just want to be able to look up and see nebula and galaxies and other objects. For $499, I couldn't be happier. The other night I was with my nephew and had it set up on my front lawn as traffic passed back and forth 10 yards away on the main avenue while streetlights shone down upon us. I saw the Dumbbell Nebula was supposed to be visible, not that I could see anything but a dozen or so stars because of the light pollution. But I told it to find the nebula. We both squealed in delight as the nebula showed up on my tablet just a minute later. I still get excited over things that show up when I use it.

I took up astrophotography a few months ago at the age of 70. I put together a nice rig around a Skywatcher 80mm refractor. Then, I had a back injury . I was so disappointed over this disruption to progress in my new hobby. I purchased a Seestar and am very pleased with it. It's just an easier and lighter way for me to get out and capture subs. I still get to enjoy spending time stacking and processing the files. It's a great piece of tech for a very reasonable price.

Fundamentally it's about satisfying a deep curiosity that we humans have for finding out what is up there. Any tool that helps us do that is a legitimate one. I have recently acquired a Seestar. Coming from a photographic background where Gear Acquisition Syndrome is a trap for many, I appreciate that this bit of kit gets to the point. No one really cares what struggle you go through to get a shot.....they care about the result. (Post-processing the raw files in Siril helps considerably with its results).

Thank you Nick. I hope you and the family are well. I think I will be getting a seestar S50 in the future as. I've dismantled my astrophotography dso rig, because I live in a 1st floor flat and have to take everything down 2 flights of stairs in 2 trips then lump everything back up I the middle of the night twice, dangle an extension lead out of a 1st floor window to power it. Then having to stay outside all the time with it whilst imaging as it's in a communal area, then as you said with the weather we have it never went out for months. So the seestar will definitely for my use of it in the future. Thank you again for your great video clear skies.

@stuartbolden2142

3 күн бұрын

Hi Lee , I didn’t know you had dismantled your rig mate :( but I certainly understand why you have . I reckon it was really hard for you to do that . But keep the faith mate

The one thing I would add is that one can get individual fit files of an object and then use either freeware or payware to stack and edit and get better final images. So, it can also be a "gateway" to trying the editing process.

Well balanced but the SeeStar is definitely not a toy Nick!

@AstroExploring

6 күн бұрын

Well it’s just so much fun to use it feels like a toy 😃

I have had my Seestar for a bit less than a year (I think it arrived in November for me) but it has been a nice addition to my collection of telescopes for much the same reason as you. The ease of setup cannot be beat, and while it isn’t as flexible as my “proper” rigs, since you cannot set it to take a certain number of hours on one target and then move on to another, for example, and the lack of an equatorial mount causing significant field rotation for another, it still can produce pretty decent images for the amount of effort you put into it.

I completely agree with your points on the SeeStar. The last couple of years in Glasgow the weather has been appalling for this hobby. Getting the HQ5 PRO and all the rest of the gear out of the garage and set up and then clouds roll in, basically put me off this hobby. With the SeeStar I just look out the window and if there 's a break in the clouds I can pop it down in the garden and start imaging. It's got me fired up again with astrophotography so much that I'm looking forward to the season starting again and running both the SeeStar and my bigger mounts again. It's also great at outreach events when my society does public talks. Yes the public like to use mark-1 eyeball to look through our telescopes but they love looking at images appearing on my ipad and realise it's not as intimidating to use as the "real rigs"

@AstroExploring

7 күн бұрын

Completely agree, Paul. I recently did a talk at Cambridge and all everybody wanted to talk to me about was the SeeStar!

Agree with the review, its well balanced and fair. I used the Seestar for the April Solar eclipse with great success. I wish there was a way to use it for Jupiter/Saturn, perhaps a future model will be good for that. I've done more imaging with the Seestar than I ever did with my traditional equipment. When AI allows for an easier image enhancing experience, I'll use that. Cheers.

One part of your review on the seestars , nick is that you do feel a bit of a disconnect with the device . I was an early adopter but sold it as I was not getting any satisfaction using the device . But I am going to buy another one , why ??? Because of the ease of use and at least seeing something in our atrocious sky is better than lugging out my other rig only to bring it in after 30 minutes .

Whilst I think the argument that it removes some of the personal-growth element by "doing it all for you" is an argument (and it is something I sometimes feel myself), I don't think it's a particularly good one. If you boil that argument down, as an example; no-one would be using modern astrophotography digital cameras, or even DSLR cameras. They'd still be struggling using plates. But that technology was superseded by another, then that tech was superseded etc etc.

Your thoughts? Going camping later this month . Thinking of getting it for this reason and others you noted (cloudy night, demanding job, young kid, can't be buggered to set up bigger rigs). Battery life of about 6 hours should suffice for a couple of nights of camping (maybe a couple of hours each night). There is no electricity at the campsite. I have a Star Adventurer GTi and the Star Adventurer 2i but the prospect of packing up DSLR camera, lens/scope, batteries, tripods, polar aligning, etc. puts me off. Will also have about 6 kids around who demand "instant gratification" so the live stacking and relative quick sessions on a target (about 30 mins) can be a boon combined with a 10" tablet. I think I just convinced myself. Guess I'm easy but not cheap. lol. Now onto the fun times of moving funds so the accountant (wife) is not alerted of purchase. :D

@AstroExploring

6 күн бұрын

Haha best of luck! The best telescope is the one you use most often, this is so easy you’ll use it lots!

@djphild

5 күн бұрын

@@AstroExploring Bought it this morning. :D Yikes! Here comes the Spanish inquisition. Took the whole "better to grovel than ask permission" route.

@AstroExploring

4 күн бұрын

@@djphild that’s my philosophy! Congrats, you’ll love it

@killerhurtalot

2 күн бұрын

I would just grab a battery bank (or a bigger battery "generator") and it'll last days. I grabbed a 256 wh battery and it lasted my friends and I 4 days out in the woods of just charging the smartphones and seestar.

Do you find field rotation to be an issue at all?

@AstroExploring

6 күн бұрын

It hasn’t been an issue for me in my images 👍

the seestar replaced every piece of astro kit i once owned, was getting fed up carrying heavy rigs, cables, laptop etc etc..yes its not perfect, but for my needs now its perfect...also have the dwarf 2...wont be upgrading to dwarf 3, not a big enough upgrade in my books..

@AstroExploring

7 күн бұрын

I also have a DWARF 2. Review coming for that soon but I haven’t used it as much as the SeeStar

@mayankk2800

4 күн бұрын

Which is better? Seestar or Dwarf

You hit the nail on the head there Nick. It is a great little toy to play with. Not for me - but great video as ever.

I wonder if the CCP is subsidizing this product, seems too cheap. Someone should come out with a strain wave mount with motorized AL/Az controls for polar alignment with built in computer like ASIAir or NINA. Plug your cameras, focuser, EFW dew heater into the mount. Point it north and level. Turn it on and go inside to monitor. Maybe the Celestron Origin is that but at $4k it’s expensive. I think if these become more mainstream people will get bored because there is no challenge and everyone’s photos will look the same. I would expect to see a lot of these for sale on the used market in a couple of years.