SeeStar/ZWO have essentially confirmed in the last few weeks that a seestar s50 pro is on the way. That one will probably perform better than the s30 pro due to improved sensor and larger aperture. Not sure how the compare to dwarflab. Answer from astrocomrade on reddit.com
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/telescopes › dwarf 3 vs. seestar 30s pro
r/telescopes on Reddit: Dwarf 3 vs. Seestar 30S pro
January 22, 2026 -

I want to buy a small smart telescope. I’m torn between the Dwarf 3 and the Seestar 30s Pro. The price difference between them isn’t a deciding factor for me.

The Dwarf 3 has slightly better aperture (f/3.5 vs f/3.0), however it has smaller pixels (IMX678).
The Seestar has a better sensor (IMX585) but a worse f-ratio.

The Seestar has a larger field of view, but wouldn’t that make the resolution per pixel worse than with the Dwarf?
(Sure, with the Dwarf you need to shoot Andromeda in mosaic mode, but everything else fits into the Dwarf’s field of view.)

In some reviews I read that the Dwarf allows more manual settings, but it’s not entirely clear to me what that means. In the end, it seems like everyone does stacking in some external software anyway.

So, please: which one would you choose and why? (The goal is, of course, the best possible results—the best possible photos—even with the assumption that I’ll stack them manually in external software.)

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askastrophotography › dwarf 3 kontra seestar s30 pro
r/AskAstrophotography on Reddit: Dwarf 3 kontra Seestar S30 pro
January 19, 2026 -

Zaglądam tu, bo chcę po prostu zacząć przygodę z astrofotografią. Mam doświadczenie z łączeniem zdjęć w innych ustawieniach, więc chciałbym wyciągać zdjęcia do łączenia w innym oprogramowaniu. Chciałbym skonfigurować i używać w trybie Eq, żeby wydłużać czas naświetlania. Mam już całkiem niezły statyw fotograficzny. Jestem w obszarze Bortle 7-8. Pole 30 mm jest dla mnie odpowiednie na początek. Mogę używać szerokiego pola do zdjęć Drogi Mlecznej, ale nie jestem pewien co do trybu śledzenia gwiazd, który ma S30 pro.

Co myślicie o Dwarf 3 kontra S30 pro? Dużo porównań z S50, ale teraz ogniskowe są w zasadzie takie same. Czy nieco większa apertura w Dwarf robi różnicę? Czy jest znacząca różnica w sensorach? Wygląda na to, że oprogramowanie Seestar może być "ładniejsze", ale oba są funkcjonalne.

Może więcej osób musi wziąć do ręki S30 pro, żeby można było porównać. Prawdopodobnie nie można się pomylić z żadnym z nich jako punktem wyjścia.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askastrophotography › zwo seestar s30 or dwarf 3?
r/AskAstrophotography on Reddit: Zwo Seestar S30 or Dwarf 3?
December 9, 2024 -

Hello!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been going through the options of getting a digital telescope, due to being limited with portability and price, I’ve come down to the option between the dwarf 3 and the zwo seestar s30. I’ve heard great things about both of them but I don’t know which is actually better in practice. The 200€ gap between the two isn’t really a problem, but I do want to know that I’m getting the best possible option between the two.

Thanks to anyone reading and a great day to you all!

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/dwarflab › dwarf mini, dwarf3, and seestars30pro - a comparison
r/DWARFLAB on Reddit: Dwarf Mini, Dwarf3, and SeeStarS30Pro - a comparison
April 23, 2026 - I find the Seestar software far superior to Dwarflabs, I do stacking and post processing myself in Siril, and the S30P is just superior tech in terms of sensors and optics. The Mini is a great piece of tech, especially for the price, but I just ...
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AstroForumSpace
astroforumspace.com › home › resources › telescopes › smart telescopes
Best Budget Smart Telescope in 2026 – Seestar (S30, S30 Pro & S50) vs Dwarf 3 and Mini – Wido's AstroForum
February 10, 2026 - This additional element is designed to further correct chromatic abberation. Sextuplet APO Design (6 Lenses): The DWARF 3 utilizes a more complex sextuplet design featuring six lens elements, integrating the field-correcting elements directly into the internal lens group to provide a flat-field ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/telescopes › please help me decide between dwarf 3 and s30 pro
r/telescopes on Reddit: Please help me decide between Dwarf 3 and S30 Pro
April 28, 2026 -

Both telescopes would cost me about the same amount.

Dwarf 3 pros:

  • Apparently better software.

  • Larger aperture.

  • Also good as a daylight robotic camera.

  • Tighter FOV (also a negative?)

S30 Pro pros:

  • Better sensor.

  • Wider FOV (also a negative?)

  • Better wide camera for star trails.

  • Software is available on macOS via iPad version.

  • Can be used with third party software?

I'm not sure which to choose. Hardware wise, I think I prefer the better sensor and wider FOV of the S30 Pro, but I feel apprehensive about the software for some reason. I think the reviews I've watched made it seem like Dwarflabs makes better software. But then again, the Seestar app does work on macOS which would be more convenient to use than solely relying on my phone. And I think the Seestar can be used with third party software.

I'm sure I would be happy with either, but please help me decide!

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Cloudy Nights
cloudynights.com › forums › astrophotography and sketching › smart telescopes
Dwarf 3 vs Seestar S30, pros and cons - Smart Telescopes - Cloudy Nights
March 17, 2026 - I'm thinking of adding a quick grab and go smart telescope to my collection and recently watched Astrobiscuit's testing of a Dwarf 3 and the SeeStar S30. While he had a very small sampling, his results leaned towards the S30. Does anyone else know of any comparisons or had real world experience w...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/seestar › which to buy?
r/seestar on Reddit: Which to buy?
April 13, 2026 -

Dying to get into astrophotography and been researching S50 vs S30 Pro vs Dwarf 3. I now see s50 is out of stock and discontinued? For first rig do we recommend s30 pro or dwarf 3? Or wait for something new? I have access to pretty dark skies and am 2 hours from Joshua tree / Anza. Dwarf 3 is attractive because it’s available on Amazon. Any help is greatly appreciated!

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The future of the S50 is currently quite unclear, as the current S50 model has been discontinued. An S50 Pro version has been announced, which is expected toward the end of the year at the earliest. (There’s a chance there will also be a new S50 base model, but there’s no reliable information on that yet just some hints mined from the app.) To be honest, there isn't much difference between the S30 Pro and the Dwarf 3, or between the S30 and the Dwarf Mini. They feel like clones of each other. It mostly comes down to your personal preference, I don’t know the Dwarfs well enough to give reliable information about it. But if I had known how ZWO handles the app, I definitely wouldn’t have chosen the Seestar.
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For what it's worth, ZWO acknowledged today that they're working on an "S50 Pro" and expect to ship it around the end of the year. Sounds like it will be a similar upgrade as the S30 Pro is to the S30. That said I just recently purchased an S50 and feel no regrets, it's a great scope. The S30 Pro sounds awesome too. It really depends on what sort of targets you want to capture, how important portability is, etc. Being close to really dark skies means you have good opportunities to do wide field and Milky Way photography, so I guess I would lean towards the shorter focal length scopes with the wider FOV. I don't own a Dwarf 3 or an S30 Pro, but from my research I think the S30 Pro would be a better investment today, with a better sensor and optics, and because it is at the start of its product lifecycle, and it's probably fair to say Dwarf 3 is mid-cycle or late-cycle. Not sure why buying from Amazon is an advantage; there are good specialty vendors online who can probably give you good advice before and during a purchase.
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Stargazers Lounge
stargazerslounge.com › equipment › discussions - eeva equipment
Dwarf3 or Seestar S30? - Discussions - EEVA Equipment - Stargazers Lounge
December 8, 2025 - I can currently see the Dwarf3 for £466 and Seestar S30 at £369 on FLO I had been waiting on a deal on an S50 but they seem fixed at £539. I am looking to pull the trigger and am looking for advice as to which provides the best route into casual astrophotography for a beginner.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/telescopes › taking my first photo with the dwarf3
r/telescopes on Reddit: Taking my first photo with the Dwarf3
September 26, 2025 -

My friends had been asking me to test a Dwarf scope for quite some time, as I've been using the Seestar S50 and then the S30 for the last couple of years. I let the camera roll while I was testing it, and cut it down to the attached short (posted here). Some of the challenges, mainly stemming from coming off the SeeStar, was the interface. There were several instances where I wanted a window to go away, and I'd tap at various places on the screen, and nothing would happen. It also "thinks" or processes at strange times, without explanation. The other interesting thing I noticed is that it seems to reset to the default imaging settings, I guess when changing targets? I set up custom settings, (mainly gain 100 and 30 seconds exps for EQ mode), it asked me to take darks which I did, but when I started capturing images, it was doing so with 15 sec exps with a gain of 60. It worked out okay (the image was not bad considering the clouds rolled in). Can't wait to do more testing! I'll try to post some more test runs on the LearnToStargaze YouTube channel.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askastrophotography › seestar s50 vs dwarf 3
r/AskAstrophotography on Reddit: Seestar S50 vs Dwarf 3
May 5, 2025 -

Let me start by saying I have spent hours reading every comparison out there and watching all good comparison videos on YouTube and I still cannot make my decision. I also have read the existing threads on here so I apologise if this seems repetitive but they didn’t seem to answer my specific questions, so here goes…

I know it’s a personal thing. Wider FOV and slightly less detail (Dwarf) vs smaller FOV and more detail(S50). Which is further complicated by the fact S50 now has mosaic mode and EQ mode - making them even more similar (although I don’t know how well the mosaic works with regards to noise on S50)

Stellar Studio which allows onboard post processing on the Dwarf is a pretty solid selling point for me- as I don’t foresee me spending an awful lot of time post processing on anything else (Siril, Pixinsight etc) I’ve googled and couldn’t find much on what onboard post processing the SeeStar offers if any? (Please advise if anyone knows?)

All of these ramblings boil down to one main question really. If you have had experience with both, which one would you choose if you could only afford one and your main goal was DSO photography? Any advice appreciated.

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I had the same dilemma recently and went with the S50. As you say, the mosaic and EQ modes for the S50 significantly diminish its drawbacks and it is readily available now. The clincher for me was that it's now galaxy season, and most targets are already pretty small on the S50. If I had the Dwarf 3 I know I'd be constantly comparing galaxies to the S50 and I'd regret my decision. One thing you haven't mentioned which is a huge positive for the Dwarf over the S50 is portability. I recently took my S50 on a flight and it either counts as your personal item / backpack or takes up half the space maybe more of your carry-on case (you can't put it into the hold due to the batteries). With a Dwarf 3 or S30 I could just chuck it in a bag whenever I want and not think twice about it. With the S50 I have to really want to take it and really plan it out. As for post processing, there is some. Very good AI de-noise, and standard contrast and saturation adjustments. It's nothing compared to stacking and processing yourself though. I'd love better in-app capabilities and I think it's going to be a major area of competition in the Smart Scope market, but I do enjoy learning the process on PC too. I don't know how this compares to Stellar Studio but I'd guess it's better than Seestar's app but still nowhere near what you can get through Siril, graxpert etc.
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S50 1000%. I have both don't use the dwarf, the dwarf 2,. Seestar is plug and play, the dwarf is set up and pray and then get frustrated
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Skies & Scopes
skiesandscopes.com › zwo-seestar-s30-pro-review
Seestar S30 Pro vs Dwarf 3 (plus S30, S50 & Dwarf Mini) — Skies & Scopes
January 9, 2026 - The Seestar S30 Pro is arguably the most versatile budget smart telescope of 2026. While it doesn’t replace the S50’s light-gathering power or the Dwarf 3’s resolution on small targets, it offers the most “complete” package for hobbyists.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askastrophotography › zwo seestar s50,s30, or something else?
r/AskAstrophotography on Reddit: ZWO Seestar s50,s30, or something else?
January 29, 2026 -

Hello!! I’m a high schooler just starting to get into astronomy and astro photography. I believe I want to do something in the field when i’m older and want to start learning more. I’m looking to purchase a relatively affordable but nice telescope. I was looking at the ZWO Seestars but had no clue whether to pick the s50 or s30. Or would a completely different brand or telescope be better?

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I think for your case, the main practical difference between the s50 and s30 will be the framing, the s50 is more "zoomed in" to use a nontechnical term - which is cool for smaller stuff, but it can make capturing big DSOs like Andromeda more difficult and time consuming. Overall I think most agree the s50 is better between the two for general use, but there are cases where the s30 will be better. Another to consider is the Dwarf 3 - I'm biased, because it's what I have, but after much research and consideration it's the one I went with. The biggest factor in my decision making process was the framing of the sensor and the field of view - it takes landscape shots as opposed to the seestars portrait shots, and the field of view is much wider than the s50, so it can capture big DSOs much more quickly and easily. Honestly though, you'll have a blast with any of the Seestar or Dwarf lineup - if you look at side by side comparisons online (tons of youtube reviews out there doing exactly that) you'll see that the difference between each scope are relatively tiny. With any of these scopes - you'll get way more quality from your captures by learning to process them properly than a tiny benefit from one scope vs the other would get you
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Welcome to the hobby! I think a SeeStar is a great way to get started. It takes a lot of the hassle out of larger rigs. Plus it's way more affordable. You won't get the super vibrant photos you see from $3000+ rigs, but it's easy to setup, uses your phone for most of the process and is easy to carry from place to place. Probably the SeeStar30 is a great choice IMHO. However, the 50 is pretty neat as well. Have fun! Go check out Astrobin.com. Do a search for Seestar and you'll see what others are shooting.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/telescopes › seestar s50 vs dwarf 3
r/telescopes on Reddit: Seestar s50 vs Dwarf 3
August 17, 2024 -

basically what the title says. which one is better for taking pictures of deep sky objects (specifically galaxies) Im looking at getting a smart telescope before I jump into the more expensive side of astrophotography and get a full blown rig.

My only dislike between the two is the fact that the Seestar has the wierd FOV that reminds me of a phone screen. otherwise any suggestions would be amazing.

Edit: I know the dwarf 3 is also very new, so some comparisons could be made to the dwarf ii

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/astrophotography › dwarf 3 or seestar s50?
r/astrophotography on Reddit: Dwarf 3 or Seestar S50?
July 29, 2024 -

I'm a novice to astrophotography and I've stumbled across the Dwarf and Seestar telescopes and I'm curious which one seems like a better buy? I own an Orion Starblast 4.5 dobsonian but there are a lot of limitations to this telescope, mainly that I live in a very light polluted area, it's not easy to transport, and has manual tracking. I have some physical limitations so having a portable scope to take pictures of deep sky objects with very little equipment is appealing to me. I've heard a lot of good things about the Seestar telescope, but the Dwarf 3 appears to have a tracking feature but is slightly more expensive. Any thoughts on this?

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AstroForumSpace
astroforumspace.com › home › resources › telescopes › smart telescopes
Dwarf III vs Seestar S30 vs S50: Best Budget Smart Telescope in 2025? – Wido's AstroForum
Focal length works like a zoom lens—at 150mm, you get a wider view, whereas at 250mm, you’re zoomed in and get a closer look at celestial objects. F-Ratio & Light Capture: The Dwarf 3 has a slightly faster f/ratio at f/4.3, while both Seestar models have an f/5 ratio.