I would appreciate some general gear advice from experienced people...

JohnnyAstro · Jan 26, 2026, 10:42 PM

Hey all, firstly this community seems excellent. A lot of people and a lot of knowledge. So, I was hoping I could get some general advice here.

I’ve been very interested in space since I was a kid. The subject of Astrophotography always seemed too out of reach for numerous reasons. Well, a while back I decided to get a tripod and mess around with my phone. That only piqued my interest, and even then, just seeing that purple glow of M42 for the first time, GOT ME! Since then I have been doing what I can.

I have a Nikon D5600, with a cheap/junky tripod. If you look at my first (And only!) picture, I got that image of M42 with about 300 lights. No EQ, so after about every 50 shots or so, I had to re adjust to keep M42 back into view, as it would drift across my view. I messed around and followed a tutorial in Siril, and that was my first image. I am so proud of that image, and I gaze at it in wonder daily (Knowing it is very, VERY amateur!) But it was so satisfying. The whole process.

Now, to my question that I would like to get some input on. The way I see it, I can go one of two routes to improve my imaging:

1 - Slowly improve my current set up. From my very inexperienced view, I would think the next upgrades would be an EQ Mount, good Tripod, then later on a better scope etc etc etc.

2 - I am very tempted to pre-order the new SeeStar S30 Pro. I realize many will boo hoo this. And believe it or not, I can understand why. Even just using my Nikon and crappy tripod, it was fun trying to figure things out and I felt I really earned that image and was proud!

That said, I also believe there is nothing wrong with using new technology to enjoy a hobby or field of interest, and the S30 Pro would certainly give me many nights of awe and wonder at the images of distant worlds I love to think about and ponder before bed. Not to mention enhance my knowledge of the night sky.

Any thoughts or recommendations, throw them at me. I am open and am willing to learn.

So, to wrap it up, I think if I went with #2, after a while I would hit a ceiling and, knowing me, will want to tinker more and will eventually build a rig anyway. But it does seem like a great tool for a beginner, and one that would compliment my set up even later if I build a rig as something I can just grab n go without much fuss.

If you read this far, thank you for taking the time and I wish you clear skies!

John

Hey! I’m a beginner myself, and personally, if I were in this situation, I’d go the Seestar route. I got an S50 back in November, and it took a bit to start truly getting those good images, but it was amazing to see how good they can be. Of course, if you like the feeling of slow improvement, please go with the first option. But if you are chasing better images quicker, go with the second option. It’s really about what you want out of AP.

It doesn’t hurt to go with the SeeStar to begin and then upgrade. I got my grandson (age 11) interested in astronomy by buying an S50 summer 2025. He was hooked in astronomy (you are already hooked and looks like you are on your way in this hobby). After a summer of S50 and learning the night sky he now wants to step up to using my larger setups (MACH2/AM5/etc). Use the S30 for some time and save $$ for a nice astrophotography set up as others have mentioned. Also, The S30 or S50 are great travel scopes for air travel. I took the S50 to Yellowstone (some great clear nights) and plopped it on the ground in a dark parking lot and imaged for hours. There was no way I was bringing my other rigs and portable batteries via airplane (other astronomers do this all the time, not this cowboy).

JohnnyAstro · Jan 28, 2026, 03:42 PM

can I take the RAW images out individually myself, and essentially post process just like I do with my Nikon images in Siril

Yes, you can, assuming you’ve told the seestar to store each individual sub (I think that’s a slider/checkbox under the advanced settings in the app).

Note that the seestar saves the “light” subs with preprocessing already applied, so you don’t get a separate set of biases, flats and darks off the device.

If you have access to reasonably dark skies, it is definitely worth getting an EQ wedge (and probably a USB powerbank) to have it run 30 or 60 second subs over the course of a long night. It’s what I do with my S30 and the results are amazing, given what the device is and what it costs. Good enough that an S30 Pro is now on a plane on its way to me ;-)

cafuego · Jan 29, 2026, 10:03 PM

an S30 Pro is now on a plane on its way

It has since arrived and I’ve used it (under a full Moon only at this stage) and I must say the image quality is a lot better than the non-pro version, which had quite distorted stars in the corners. Not so much with the pro.

Here is it’s first light mosaic, about 3 /12 hours of 60 second subs on Carina with the mosaic field of view set to maximum. This is stacked on the device, not by me.

📷 Stacked_209_mosaic_NGC 3372_60.0s_LP_20260202-055958.jpg
Whether you should get one or invest in more traditional gear kind of depends on what you want to do and where. I specifically got a seestar because my traditional gear is not what you’d call portable. The seestar weighs as much as a carton of milk and its case can go in my backpack with a bunch of other stuff and it takes all of 30 seconds to set up and align before imaging.

That is the trade-off versus the proper scope, which needs a decent sized car and twice weekly trips to the gym to move and set up ;-) I use it in the back yard but I can’t take it with me on holiday and I tend to think twice before dragging it off to star parties.

As ever, the best one is the one you end up actually using.