Moving from ZWO Seestar S50 Telescope to the ZWO S50 Pro

[W9TR]

Best yet. Straight out of the scope. 5+ hours of 10 second photos stacked. This is 2 sessions that the scope combined. 2hours from the1st session 3 from the 2nd. If I do the post processing right it has a chance to be a damn fine photo. I can only imagine a clear night in a dark area at 7,000 feet

Here's it after a quick bit of processing.

It’s amazing what that little scope can do! Astrophotography has jumped by leaps and bounds with the advent of low noise digital imagers. Have fun!

 

[sanford12]

Here's the latest.

Tried a different processing method.

Stacked in the Seestar with a little nudge with it's limited options. Couple of weeks ago was uploading to flicker and on a whim tried their editor. Was surprised how extensive it was and the results you could get with it in a very short amount of time. Very happy with the results.

Looks like you have dark skies. Your results would be excellent. With the new equatorial mode for much reduced field rotation the results would be stunning. For 500 bucks got more out of it than any scope that cost much more. They'll only get better. ZWO who makes the scope is a huge player in astrophotography.

Very cool, thanks!
I've been doing basic astro with a camera. One shot and not stacking.
Makes me want to try telescopes!

 

[Bill S]

I'm spoiled with Hubble and now Webb photos but these new compact scopes do well for what they are. Just doesn't have the magic for me of looking through an eyepiece. I'd be just as happy thumbing through an astrophotography book. I'd venture anything I could slew to and stack and edit has been shot many times before.

 

[sanford12]

I'm spoiled with Hubble and now Webb photos but these new compact scopes do well for what they are. Just doesn't have the magic for me of looking through an eyepiece. I'd be just as happy thumbing through an astrophotography book. I'd venture anything I could slew to and stack and edit has been shot many times before.

Aaahhh a Thread Killer thread crapping. Have you ever used a Seestar, if not your opinion doesn't carry much weight. Sounds just like some on the Cloudy Nights forum. Guys that have hideously expensive astro rigs or like what you said the magic of the eyeball. I'll say the same thing I said on Cloudy Nights. A lot of the things you can image you'll never be able to see with your eye even with very expensive large aperture scopes and then they'll be gray fuzzy blobs. Had a guy with one of those expensive astro rigs saying the same as you. He'd look up the Hubble or Webb pics instead of using a Seestar. He didn't even see the hypocrisy. With logic like that no one should ever buy any telescope just go look it up. And who gives to squirts if it's been done before. You take the picture. It's yours and you make it your own with post processing. You'll excuse me if I keep on using my scope.

Some of those that have the expensive astro rigs finally got over themselves and tried a Seestar and now sing the praises of the little scope that could.

 

[chris35745]

I agree with you pal. I love my Seestar, but must confess that I have not turned it on in several months. Apparently, it now supports EQ mode. Looks like I will have to buy a small wedge to add to my setup. Will be interesting to give it a try.
I highly agree that the Seestar is a game changer for people. It makes it very affordable to get into astrophotography. It is super simple to set up and you can see results in minutes. There is one thing about it for me and that is that the Seestar has got me interested in getting a dedicated astrophotography rig. Dont get me wrong, that will NOT replace the Seestar, but be used to get better photos of objects that the Seestar allows me to see and photograph. I already do have an astrophotography/observatory grade telescope in the form of my Meade LX850 14 inch telescope. I havent taken it out and set it up in several years. Ever since I tore two tendons in my shoulder the last time I set it up. Right now, I am in the process of getting a ZWO ASI533 MC Pro camera. I already have the ASIAIR Pro and have the necessary cables to control the scope and camera. The little Seestar is pushing me to want to dip my toes in the world of astrophotography using a scope and camera setup, but I will never give up the Seestar. In fact, I an aslo interested in the new S30. I am also interested in the Celestron Origin, but $4000 seem just a bit too much.

 

[sanford12]

I agree with you pal. I love my Seestar, but must confess that I have not turned it on in several months. Apparently, it now supports EQ mode. Looks like I will have to buy a small wedge to add to my setup. Will be interesting to give it a try.
I highly agree that the Seestar is a game changer for people. It makes it very affordable to get into astrophotography. It is super simple to set up and you can see results in minutes. There is one thing about it for me and that is that the Seestar has got me interested in getting a dedicated astrophotography rig. Dont get me wrong, that will NOT replace the Seestar, but be used to get better photos of objects that the Seestar allows me to see and photograph. I already do have an astrophotography/observatory grade telescope in the form of my Meade LX850 14 inch telescope. I havent taken it out and set it up in several years. Ever since I tore two tendons in my shoulder the last time I set it up. Right now, I am in the process of getting a ZWO ASI533 MC Pro camera. I already have the ASIAIR Pro and have the necessary cables to control the scope and camera. The little Seestar is pushing me to want to dip my toes in the world of astrophotography using a scope and camera setup, but I will never give up the Seestar. In fact, I an aslo interested in the new S30. I am also interested in the Celestron Origin, but $4000 seem just a bit too much.

A 14" scope is just to dang heavy. 63 pounds doesn't sound like much but it's awkward and you gotta get up on the tripod. Something like that needs a dome for permanent housing. I got rid of a really nice Celestron 8" with German mount because I hated the PITA it was to setup. I've toyed with the idea of a camera on my 6se. Saw some pictures someone took using a 6se and they were pretty impressive.

 

[raycarr00]

Amazing. Wonder if it'll do wonders for my romantic life. Have had one still in the box for several years and always think of dragging it out to the lawn during celestial events. Doubt it's as advanced as yours. Instead, have been viewing PBS related programming and reading astrological news feeds. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bill S]

Aaahhh a Thread Killer thread crapping. Have you ever used a Seestar, if not your opinion doesn't carry much weight. Sounds just like some on the Cloudy Nights forum. Guys that have hideously expensive astro rigs or like what you said the magic of the eyeball. I'll say the same thing I said on Cloudy Nights. A lot of the things you can image you'll never be able to see with your eye even with very expensive large aperture scopes and then they'll be gray fuzzy blobs. Had a guy with one of those expensive astro rigs saying the same as you. He'd look up the Hubble or Webb pics instead of using a Seestar. He didn't even see the hypocrisy. With logic like that no one should ever buy any telescope just go look it up. And who gives to squirts if it's been done before. You take the picture. It's yours and you make it your own with post processing. You'll excuse me if I keep on using my scope.

Some of those that have the expensive astro rigs finally got over themselves and tried a Seestar and now sing the praises of the little scope that could.

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

 

[sanford12]

I should have kept up with this thread. I've got some wonderful photos from the S50. That will change shortly when the new ZWO S50 Pro gets here. An improved version in most every aspect with much of the improvement from the larger 4K OmniVision OS08B10 CMOS. 4 times bigger picture. More data to work with larger field of view.

Old S50 pics so the Pro is 4 times bigger

 

[sanford12]

I agree with you pal. I love my Seestar, but must confess that I have not turned it on in several months. Apparently, it now supports EQ mode. Looks like I will have to buy a small wedge to add to my setup. Will be interesting to give it a try.
I highly agree that the Seestar is a game changer for people. It makes it very affordable to get into astrophotography. It is super simple to set up and you can see results in minutes. There is one thing about it for me and that is that the Seestar has got me interested in getting a dedicated astrophotography rig. Dont get me wrong, that will NOT replace the Seestar, but be used to get better photos of objects that the Seestar allows me to see and photograph. I already do have an astrophotography/observatory grade telescope in the form of my Meade LX850 14 inch telescope. I havent taken it out and set it up in several years. Ever since I tore two tendons in my shoulder the last time I set it up. Right now, I am in the process of getting a ZWO ASI533 MC Pro camera. I already have the ASIAIR Pro and have the necessary cables to control the scope and camera. The little Seestar is pushing me to want to dip my toes in the world of astrophotography using a scope and camera setup, but I will never give up the Seestar. In fact, I an aslo interested in the new S30. I am also interested in the Celestron Origin, but $4000 seem just a bit too much.

Been a bit but if your still interested in a astrophotography rig there's new harmonic/stain wave drives that don't need counter weights. Makes it a lot easier setup. I thought of getting one of the smaller ones and using it with a couple small scopes I have.

 

[chris35745]

Gonna be into a bit of money in a few months. I decided that I want to stay with the smart scope platform. I decided that I would go ahead and get the Celestron Origin Mark II. Just want something that takes minimal setup and will take good pictures with little input. I like that it is a 6 inch RASA. That is a pretty good aperture for a smart scope. I also like that they future-proof the scope. When a newer camera comes out, you can buy it and install it and upgrade to the latest technology. I also like that you can share the screen with other people. They can all connect their phones or tablets to the scope and see in real time the image. You can also cast it to your smart TV. I also, just today, saw that they are coming out with the S50 Pro. Looks real good, but in comparing it with the Origin, I will pass on it. I dont see the point of spending $900 for something that just cant compete with the Origin.

I looked at getting a smaller mount, but I would need another scope. Refractors are stupid expensive. There is also the setup. Mount, tripod, scope, and camera. Got to set all that up. Plus, you need a controller that needs to communicate with all that. I do have the ASI Air. I have the special cable I need to connect it with the Meade mount. All I need to complete the setup is a good camera. Since I dont set up that scope, I am not planning on getting one. I just like the ease of the smart scope, but I may invest in a great camera, with the ASI 2600MC Air All-In-One, being my top choice if I do decide to get one.

 

[sanford12]

Looked at the Origin when it first came out but the price was more than I could justify. Now if I fell into a chunk of money that may have changed my mind but at 4 times the price of the S50 Pro that would give me pause. You might want to take a look at some of the images people have taken with the S50 Pro. The portability of the S50P is a big plus too. 6 pounds vs 42. Have a small RedCat and Svbony scopes so a strain wave mount will be in my future for portability with those. Have a color camera with the Sony 585 cmos and cooling for those. Will run the S50 and the S50 Pro side by side on the same object to compare the 2. The S50 will be sold after that as I don't need another scope.

I would suggest Cloudy Nights website if you not a member. Lot of info there.

 

[chris35745]

Cloudy nights is OK. I go there every once in a while to see if there is anything anyone is talking about that would pertain to what I am doing or looking at. It is just mostly the same stuff day after day and week after week. Not very much new or interesting topics, so I just check in once or twice a month.

As for comparing the Origin to the S50 Pro, not even close. 6 inch aperture vs 2 inch aperture. That equals 28.27 square inches vs 3.14 square inches of aperture. There is a center obstruction in the Origin which takes up 41% of the aperture. The Origin can pull in more than 5 times the amount of light as the S50 can for the same exposure time with this obstruction. Factor in the fast F2.2 focal ratio of the Origin, and there is no comparison between the two. I agree that the cost is fairly high and I would not even consider it, but I am getting a fair amount of money and decided to splurge on something nice. As for the weight, I dont mind that when setting it up in my yard or even traveling to a better dark sky site by car. This is NOT a scope you would travel by plane with, unless you carry it in its own travel case and dont mind lugging that much weight with you. Recently, I went to Hawaii and took my S50 with me and got some pretty good images of objects that I can not see too well from my location. With that in mind, I will not rule out the S50 Pro as a replacement for my S50 at a later date.

 

[sanford12]

I understand what its features are I was looking at it at the origin at one time. It just depends on how much you want to spend and what you think the perceived value is. I've owned many different scopes some with large apertures so I know they're capabilities. I have enjoyed the s S50 more than any other scope I've ever owned hopefully you'll get the same experience with the Origin

 

[sanford12]

ZWO S50 Pro is on the way. Hopefully sky conditions will improve. Have had only a few of nights of good viewing in the last couple on months. Worst stretch since buying the original S50. Heading into prime nebula viewing season. Smart scopes are improving so fast. It hasn't even been 2 years with the S50. Kinda reminds me of how quickly computers turned over when they first came out. That was a very expensive time to be into computers. My DX33 chipped first computer was just over $3,000 with the monitor and was close to useless a year and half later. At least a smart scope is still relevant and useable.

 

[sanford12]

Got the S50 Pro yesterday. Easy setup. Shot the dumbbell nebula last night. Set it to 30 second shots. It's a faster scope. After the first shot the dumbbell nebula popped onto the screen. I'll post the image later.

 

[sanford12]

When shooting last night the scope only had 48% battery so these were not long sessions. The USB plug-in wasn't wide enough for the bigger magnetic USB plug to fit. Didn't want to use the power pack without the the break-away of the magnetic USB so worked with the power available. This is a much better scope and being able to shoot 30 second subs, better bigger sensor tracking with no backlash means better results all around. Used Stacking Wizard then AstroWizard then ran the results through Adobe Photoshop for Android. Here's the results. For the first night I'm very happy especially with right at 2 hours per image. Stacking with multiple nights data will much improve the images.

 

[chris35745]

Very impressive pictures. Better than what the S50 is capable of. I just saw the upcoming Dwarf Labs Draco SHO that looks extremely appealing. I might get that instead of the Celestron. Did you also get the tripod head so you can use it in EQ mode? Even with this new S50 Pro, it looks like we are still in the first stages of smart telescope capabilities. The analogy you used with computers is relevant with smart telescopes. Look where we are with them since the S50 came out. We dont know where they will be in another 2 years. Looks like I may just have to wait a bit longer to see what comes out before I replace my S50. But, in the mean time, I love what your S50 Pro can do and look forward to seeing more. You may just tempt me into buying one.

 

[sanford12]

Sounds like the Draco is pretty nice. I'll wait to see if the rotating sensor proves reliable. Started with a Sky Watcher EQ wedge. It did the job but it's not really a quality piece. Upgraded to a Williams Optics wedge. A real solid wedge that adjusts easily and stays put. It's not cheap Took the S50 off and installed the S50 Pro. That night went to the pad and it held the latitude. 30 sec shots were flawless. I'll try 1 minute if the weather ever clears.

 

[sanford12]

Here's another pic of the M31 galaxy with 300 30 sec subs added and processed I'll get better as I learn the programs/apps.