Initial impression of DwarfLab and the Dwarf 3

Editor note: This post is shared from the TTG Astrophotography blog.

It’s only 1 days since I received my Dwarf 3 telescope, but I must say: I’m impressed.

Astrophotography used to be an expensive hobby and probably still is, subject to how expensive you want to make it. However, I remember the time when I was a kid. You know those cheap kid level telescopes… allowing you to see the Moon a bit closer. Not much else you could actually do with it, and the distance between that and real telescope you could use to explore the dark sky has always been immense. Separated by a big budget gap.

Due to other hobbies, as well as the cost for a decent telescope, I’ve never really pursued diving into astronomy and astrophotography. I’ve always kept a big interest for the matter, following related news, discoveries and development, but never got into practicing it. Until recently where I first stepped into the world of astrophotography by backing the EduSnap kickstarter. I’ll not elaborate the struggle we all had to get our scopes delivered, and some issues with firmware and app versions, because the thing is: after all it’s a good project for it’s price set and targeted audience: kids and basic educational purposes.

It triggered my interest into getting further into the realm of astrophotography and astronomy in general. I actually have been following Dwarflab for quite a while now, but wasn’t ready to spent the money for something I may not end up starting a real new hobby with. However, comparing the limited quality level of images the EduSnap Astro 53ED was able to produce, with the captures people posted online using their Dwarf 3, I asked myself why I would be spending the same amount of time (or more) trying to capture images from deep sky objects at night… while there is a much better smart telescope out there.

Ok, agreed, another price set, but actually not that big of a difference. Not talking about 5 digit priced scopes here. No, still within the price range around 500-600 dollars/euros.

So it happened, I ordered the Dwarf 3 and first thing I did was to point it at M31 Andromeda the same day it was delivered:

I’m not a astrophotographer… yet… or am I… just by the act of taking a picture from a deep sky object or distant galaxy… debatable, anyway, what I mean is that I don’t have any skills or experience in stacking and post processing any kind of photography. Nor do I have any extensive knowledge in astronomy. I know some basics and can understand what people are talking about when mentioning Messier, Nebulae, Galaxies, Novas and Supernovas,… I also understand the concepts of polar alignment, plate solving, field rotation, … that kind of things (being a nerd reading up about those things)… but actually using a telescope in such a way that you get this kind of captures out of it… no, zero experience.

And that is exactly what impresses me the most with what Dwarflab has achieved here: it puts all this in the hands of people to enjoy, no knowledge or expertise required. Whether you just want to enjoy taking pictures, using the automatic post-processing features Dwarflab developed, or aspiring to dig deeper into astrophotography…. Dwarflab and their Dward 3 have you covered!

Some may say it’s a bit early to be so enthusiastic about something I only enjoyed for 1 day, let alone only used it to capture 1 target like M31…. but it’s way more than that! Prior to deciding to purchase the Dwarf 3, I’ve been talking to a few people, reading up on what Dwarflab has been doing with the previous models, watching a lot of reviews on YouTube and other sources, and following the captures other people published online...

Yes, I did consider alternatives like the Seestar series, and yes, in the mean time I played around a bit with the EduSnap (which, like I said, for it’s price set allowed me to get the feeling of capturing deep sky objects myself… but a another level of course)… The Dwarf 3 continued to come out as the scope I wanted for what I want to achieve with it.

And oh boy, so happy I did go for it!

The easiness of settings things up, the EQ mode which only takes a couple of minutes (at max), the additional features Dwarflab added recently (like the Stellar Studio)… it’s just amazing what technology can do for us nowadays. For a nerd like me, the moment the 2nd or 3rd stack is added while you’re eagerly watching your smartphone screen… that moment that black boring view you see with the naked eye turns into the deep sky object … it triggers pure nerd happiness.

Looking at what Dwarflab has done so far, and what they are working on, I’m sure we havent seen the end of their capabilities and those of the Dwarf 3 yet! Amazing stuff!

I’m not, by any means, affiliated to DwarfLab, but if you’re a nerd like me who wants to jump into the world of astrophotography, go have a look at their website dwarflab.com.

I guess my night sleep will be massively impacted by this purchase in the near future… or no wait… Dwarflab has me covered there as well it seems, with the planning mode to automatically schedule captures through the night! Tell the scope what you want to capture during the night, walk away and go to sleep… that’s something I’ll need to test for sure!

Amazing times ahead, full of nerdy joy and happiness! That’s it for today, just wanted to share my excitement and I’m looking forward to share my learning experience and adventures with the Dwarf!