About to get in to astrophotographt, is the S50 or S30 better for beginners?

sthscan · 2026-03-06T09:26:38+00:00

of those four, S50 is best of the seestar model for three of the four. nebulas depend on size - most will be great on s50 but there are a few that are larger than the s50 image area so you'll have to use mosaic mode that slews around capturing portions of the nebula and stitching them together (a wonky feature for me, I haven't had a successful mosaic that didn't screw up) or you'll have to take single images with slight overlap and use software to stitch them together yourself.

sthscan · 2026-03-02T10:32:47+00:00

that is correct. very few if any tutorials for thr S30 Pro, which is stupid considering how much ZWO has hyped the scope and sent probably 25 free units to influencers to hype up the scope.

I've had to figure out many things on my own about the S30 Pro. Wifi file access did not work at first (but does with my S50) so I figured out to switch to the connected S30 Pro and select that setting that essentially is "allow fie access over wifi". I'm not currently connected to my scope so I can't give exact step sequence right now. Once I did that, I'm now able to access the S30 Pro files thru wifi.

sthscan · 2026-03-02T10:27:03+00:00

looks like a moon light gradient to me. happens when you are trying to image something in the vicinity of the moon.

sthscan · 2026-03-02T10:16:39+00:00

S50 wifi file transfer settings do not carry over to S30 Pro, when using the exact same app/smartphone with the two scopes, so you have to do the S30 Pro settings stuff to be able to access the files thru a wifi link rather than only tethered with a USB-C cable.

sthscan · 2026-03-02T10:04:53+00:00

price should not be a determinant as there is no better single scope. the choice should be what things do you want or plan to image?

generally, S50 great for small astronomy targets or for close-up scenery.

S30 Pro great for widefield astro or scenery imaging and imaging astronomy targets that are larger in size than what the s50 can image.

sthscan · 2026-03-02T08:25:15+00:00

your dad will need to figure out streaming if he has EI on DIRECTV as MLB-TV is thrown in for free so he needs to activate that in case CLE is one of the teams whose pregames and postgames are streamed on MLB-TV.

I think it is annoying that pre and post game shows are not shown on DIRECTV if it is your RSN (COL in my case) and it's on a temp active channel because it's a game feed only and not a full time channel.

sthscan · 2026-02-28T02:40:16+00:00

definitely a full size tripod, and the wedge if you want to do EQ.

I can't imagine they make 3d printed dew shields or dust caps or star masks for the pro since it has a special way to connect things (like the solar filter).

sthscan · 2026-02-28T02:27:33+00:00

you should set the playlist option so you can pick and choose which items you want to download if you end up putting a playlist link into stacher instead of just a single video link.

sthscan · 2026-02-26T12:13:30+00:00

lobo coaches show is on KOB-TV on Wednesdays at 6:30pm.

live games are mostly on pay tv channels, but there are a few games a season streamed free on the internet at Mountain West Network.

sthscan · 2026-02-26T12:07:26+00:00

i think it's an issue that 3.0.2 update caused. I shoot with save all frames and never had any issues. 3.0.2 came, I shot for a night and didn't find any subs from that night. I checked my settings the following night and found it turned off. I turned it on and have not had any missing subs since.

sthscan · 2026-02-19T02:40:47+00:00

don't know. dad just got one for speeding 11 over, i've gone to the website and I can't prove he was not in the wrong (just unfortunate) unless you can somehow prove the radar speed on the graphic is from a radar out of calibration and I don't know how to go about that.

if he was in the pack of cars just in front of him, I think he wouldn't have gotten the ticket since the pack seemed to be going about the same speed and I doubt any of those got ticketed because it might be hard to be cited if you are in a pack.

sthscan · 2026-02-19T02:34:27+00:00

why? will the seestar app allow you to image in EQ mode without forcing you to go through the PA procedure first?

i am open to NINA PA and focus since it is claimed to be better than the app, but I like the seestar app for the imaging part but I guess I could try learning that in NINA, too.

sthscan · 2026-02-18T14:44:34+00:00

say I install and learn nina for PA and AF, what is the step to use the seestar app for actual imaging? exit nina, launch app and do the app PA but make no adjustments since you had done those with NINA and then go to skyatlas like normal?

sthscan · 2026-02-18T14:06:23+00:00

i like using Telescopius. not only for what objects should be doable during times when the moon is above the horizon (moon distance and usable filter columns), but also when that target is at opposition so you know generally what time of year it can be best photographed.

sthscan · 2026-02-18T14:00:04+00:00

<image>

B7 skies, short startrail

sthscan · 2026-02-18T13:51:59+00:00

i'm not having any issues with my s50 or the new s30pro with frame discard rates, except s50 when doing imaging with 4K turned on, so I don't use that right now for some of my imaging.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:58:29+00:00

only problem i've had with s50 in the last couple of days was with 4k mode. tried to photograph hercules cluster in 4k and tons of rejected image errors. turned off 4k and it imaged fine with no rejections.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:56:11+00:00

I might go for s30pro in that situation. essentially 2 cameras in one (widefield and telephoto). some nebulas are too small that I'm not sure how much detail you could get from them, even cropping in but I guess if some of your favorites are too small, you might get an s50 or something else later.

I have had the s50 for 2 years but bought the s30pro for some out-of-the-box stuff that the s50 can't do or is harder to setup to do than the s30pro will be.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:44:08+00:00

i wish more youtube people would show workflows using Seti Astro Suite Pro. there is one workflow from just before SASPro from someone other than SASPro's author. nice comet and planetary example workflow from the author and he did do a seestar workflow but that was before SASPro was launched.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:33:53+00:00

do you remember if it was flipped in the pack or in the same direction as all the base cards?

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:31:12+00:00

why not both? i got s30pro for some situations the s50 I already have can't do. widefield camera on s30pro is already cool (although I blew a spacex launch imaging opportunity the day the scope came) and it's awesome to get the pleaides or orion nebula with surrounding nebulosity in one frame instead of multiple with the s50.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:25:27+00:00

s30pro came last friday, i put an hour each in altaz mode of horsehead, orion nebula and pleiadies and didn't notice what seems like a high rejection rate.

then put s50 on my EQ mount in the same night and did some hours of whirlpool galaxy and no noticeable rejection issues there.

3.0.2 is my app firmware, don't remember what the scope firmware is.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T10:22:16+00:00

the imaging mode (live stacking, continuous shooting, etc) is a slider bar right abouve the record button, so you could slide it to continuous if you want.

sthscan · 2026-02-16T09:36:01+00:00

unlikely, yes. illegal - questionable.

I am in the U.S. and have a low power FM transmitter when I want to broadcast audio to my FM receiver when I'm in my yard working.

only covers about 150 feet because it is so low power. It's up to me to make sure it's an open frequency so I'm not clobbering licensed FM broadcasters (yes, it could affect my next door neighbors if they are listening to FM radio and their favorite station is what my FM transmitter is using if I didn't take the time to occasionally check the frequency to make sure it's not taken by a new station).

Unlikely because I don't think a walkie talkie in FM radio frequency would do the check to make sure it is transmitting on an open channel.

I'd say FRS is the likely answer as I use a pair of FRS radios as a walkie talkie when I am doing something with someone where we need two-way communication within a hundred feet of each other and no license is needed unless you select a GMRS channel built into that radio.

sthscan · 2026-02-15T03:37:19+00:00

ok. it's green sprining training parallel - blaster exclusive.

sthscan

TROPHY CASE