Wow! What a review! Thanks for the effort! Astronomy is really something that must be encouraged. When people start to look up and to realize how amazing is our universe, they tend to get happier and in good spirits. And nowadays this is one of the most needed things in the world.

By far, the best review of the DWARF II Smart Telescope! Well done. Thanks for all the effort in preparing this video!

I am a reasonably experienced AP user, but I run a small Astronomy club and I have bought the Dwarf for outreach work. Also based in the UK, means that clear skies are at a premium- so fast setup is handy. Thanks for the data from the dark site.

Thank you for such a detailed review, including warts and all. Even though I was a seasoned astrophotographer, up until about 15yrs ago, I pre-ordered the Dwarf2 (camera) last month. I still own an eight inch F4 Schmidt Newtonian I used for deepsky, and a 127mm F9 refractor for planetary/Lunar imaging, I’ve been unable to use them for the last fifteen years due to a degenerative illness. So instead of photons they’ve been collecting dust. I’m in no way under the illusion that I’ll be able to obtain the same results with the Dwarf2 that I could with my two much more sophisticated rigs, but at least I’ll be able to do something again. And like you with your daughter the Dwarf2 is small and simple enough for my wife to setup outside for me while I can then connect and image from inside my house. When you consider the other functions of this camera for terrestrial use, including 4K video, object tracking, panorama, etc, it is actually a lot of “Bang for the Buck”. More so than the much more expensive Smart Scopes with their far superior optics, as they can only do one thing, and our weather in the Northern Hemisphere often limits the use of such a large financial investment when you want to do that one thing.

I've already ordered the Dwarf 2. Can hardly wait to get hold of it and play. I can see a good public outreach role for it. I had thought of the barlow as well, glad you mentioned it. A tiny filter sized Batinov mask if they don't perfect the focusing routine. TBF with how responsive DwarfLab seem to be listening to their beta testers, I'd really like to see the Dwarf 3 with bigger glass, say 50-80 mm aperture. I know this puts them up in the EVscope range but their folded periscope optics would still be an advantage. Of course the software development is the crucial advantage that DwarfLab will have. Cheers and thanks for the considered review.

I’ve seen another youtube presentation in November and were thinking boy if it only delivers 20%… I immediately ordered and wait gor it. You completely described my usecase. I don’t have the time to really step into astrophotography. I just want to make my own pics from the moon, sun and the galaxies nearby. Thanks for the great review and I really love what you wrote in your update.

Thank you for the thorough review. I have purchased a Dwarf 2 through the Indiegogo crowd funding back in July. While I sift through updated product information and new reviews, I am happy to see that Dwarf Lab has been updating the software. I am one of the beginners that I think you are speaking to/of in your review. You are for sure right, at least in my case, that the planets are my big reason for buying a telescope. I currently have a Celestron StarSense Explorer DX and though it is nice for what it is. It is bulky, doesn't travel all that well given its size (I am sure my setup is not near the issue as most) and is completely manual (the app for finding what is available in the current night sky is very helpful but there is no GoTo feature). I am disappointed to hear that the Dwarf 2 will not be good for planet observation as this is my big reason for looking up at night. That being said, I am looking forward to seeing the galaxies and nebulae that I didn't bother with in a more travel friendly product. Unknown to me until just recently, it seems the Dwarf 2 requires the importing of the image files into perhaps a 1st stage software (DSS, Siril...) and then into a 2nd stage software like Photoshop for further tweaking and polishing. This for sure opens up more complications for us beginners as well. Now looking into file types and the need for shooting dark images, biased images (not sure if that's right :))...becomes overwhelming to an extent. I hope Dwarf Lab will help us figure out how to shoot the other needed image types. And to your point, going down a rabbit hole as more is needed (new computer in my case to run the software). But this is astrophotography as I am learning. I remain optimistic though a little disheartened and look forward to my Dwarf 2 arrival. As a side note, I live in mountainous area, so I had proposed to them a suggestion that it would be nice if the Dwarf 2 would be able to wake up when a "target" would be in view later in the evening and start to auto track and photograph. They said: " This function can be realized theoretically. After the essential functions are completed, we will upgrade the OTA software to add this function." Fingers crossed.

As a suggestion, for new updates of the application, I think it would be interesting to add the tracking of the object that we can mark on the screen, I think especially in the case of nearby comets, in which their movement with respect to the background is so fast that it would be impossible to photograph them.

Thanks for this lovely review! With 3 young kids, a super-tight budget and limited time, this is something I could learn and bring with us on our family trips and my dobsonian. Thought I would be purely visual forever, but love the accessibility (both in terms of cost and learning curve) of this device.

For stuff like scout troops, this could be really cool, especially if they can make a mode where everyone viewing can view it stacking on their own phone. Go on an over night trip, set this up, and watch it fill get better and better. There is just something about taking the images yourself, that really gets kids interested in science, compared to seeing it in a book/screen.

Great review. Seems to take a long time to get the results shown compared to my eVscope. I usually go 20 to 30 mins max. Also requires more manual intervention but then for the price it's currently pretty good. I like the wider field of view and the mosaic feature particularly. If they take note of your and other reviewers feedback it will become a pretty good investment IMHO.

Thanks for such a step by step review. Just found your channel and subscribed and ordered the Dwarf 2. I appreciate you breaking it down for beginners like me. I've been watching astro photography youtube channels for a few years now and dreamt of getting the whole setup but never quite had the ability to shell out the investment for a good astro photography setup and the busy-ness of life. I have a telescope and this seems like a great way to get started and not have it hit the pocket book so hard. Knowing full well the quality of images aren't as great as those of yours and other astro photography creators on KZfaq with the great setups you use. Thanks again for your great review and introducing such an affordable alternative to beginning astro photography enthusiasts like me.

Thanks, I have ordered it, but do fear that it will lead me down a path of wanting better images :-) It is the reviewers giving positive info about the software updates that makes me feel better about putting my money down.

Amazing product and a great presentation. Looks like a good way to introduce young and old alike to astrophotography at an affordable price. Thank you for taking the time to make this wonderful video.

Why can't all reviews be this thorough? Great video and thanks for helping me pull the trigger on getting one!

Amazing review and tutorial... Well Done! My biggest dissapointment is the Dwarf II does not do Planetary capturing. I love your idea of the Barlow Lens. It is my sincere hope that Dwarf Labs listens to it customers and comes up with a suitable lens for viewing. This would make it a COMPLETE package and I really believe sales would zoom with it! Again, excellent resource video and I have become a subscriber!

Interesting device. I would recommend making a little lens hood for the tele lens to cut down on stray light. As long as it doesn't show on the image it will always help, especially in more light polluted areas.

I have a dobsonian which weighs a gazillion kilos. I use it only visually. This smart telescope shows so much more (e.g. M42). The one thing this smart telescope doesn't do compared to a big ass dobsonian, is planetary imaging or give you a physical work out 🙂

Thanks for your time and work reviewing the Dwarf-II telescope. A couple of request for the DwarfLab team: - Calibrate Add a quick message about the starting telescope position (unobstructed, etc) - In the target selection, please expand the catalogs and, rather than selecting from a list, please add a search text field - The ra/dec input based on list needs a revision. It's quite uncomfortable to use in my opinion - And of course auto-focus Thanks!

Thank you for a great review of this product. I have one on order which should arrive in two or three weeks; can’t wait to start playing around with it!

Good video! Never heard of his scope until today. The price is EXCELLENT. I own an evscope (I was a backer) and it works great but costs a LOT more. Looking forward to seeing more videos on this telescope.

Since a wide lens is already built in, i want dwarf lab to somehow enable the wide lens to be able to autoguide a selected star to improve tracking accuracy.

The review is honest and 100% on point. Dwarf 2 should calculate the object's location based on the GPS and calibrate for best gain and autofocus. Then it should stack all the pictures make a movie, and save it internally so I can connect Dwarf via wi-fi to my big 4K tv screen for viewing the final product.

Great review and an honest appraisal of the DWARF II. It would be something someone traveling to the opposite hemisphere could toss into their luggage and allow them to bring home some images they might otherwise never be able to capture. One point of correction is that the companion galaxies to M31 are M32 and M110, not M32 and M101.

Wow! Excellent video. Very thoughtful. If I weren't waist deep (and poor) from RC hobbies, living in a shoebox apartment, I'd buy this this second. Really man, great job. 👍

Fantastic, in-depth review. Can't wait for my Dwarf 2 to arrive!

It is like owning a DSLR and a mobile with good camera. Most of the times I will have my smartphone with me. Sure if I had my DSLR maybe some images would be a tad better. But boy how much nice and astounding images I would have missed . So I see a big point here.

It's a pretty cool gadget, was about to order one, but then thought... why? I will then have some average photos of sky objects, along with every other one that bought it. What's the point then? Maybe if it would have some sort of "crowd astronomy" feature built in, perhaps I would be the lucky one to name some asteroid after me? Now that would be cool.

Such a great review. Well done Chris.

Good review and as a backer looking forward to receiving mine 👌🏼😎

I have an Astromaster 114 right now (hated by many and even though we have a love/hate-relationship, I really like it lol) and I just have to admit, that I'll never spend the amount of money needed for a decent setup with telescope, mount with goto, camera and so on. This device might just be my next purchase, it really looks amazing for the money. Great review 🙂

This looks promising. I have tried few low end Celestron telescopes and soon realized that I will need a better goto telescope with much bigger lens. And that will be extremely expensive and hard to carry and not to mention the efforts to set them up. This will work for me.

Great review of the DWARF II system. Thank you Chris

You nailed it: software is everything and where improvements can be made. I use the eVscope & Vespera which both incorporate all of your suggestions for improvement.

Being a beginner of about 18 months, this would suit me to run alongside my 150mm reflector. Would be brilliant if they could improve the viewing/photography of planets. My current telescope is rubbish at any photography unless I attach a 2x Barlow, but, is then still very limited.. Maybe a Barlow lens connection for the Dwarf 2 as you suggest.might just be a game changer in this regard. I might just have ton wait for Dwarf 3.

So many people got this telescope for review. I wish they would have also sent a few to their customers that already paid for it.

Might be nice to have a power line/poe connection kit for longer runs. With long term improvements I could see attaching a retractable dome/base onto a solar install rail and help with object tracking/data gathering. Long way to go but some of the choices they made seem like that could be more viable in the next decade.

I found your review really useful and informative. Pls keep up the good work

A excellent talk on the Dwarf 2 astro imaging. It's on my shopping list as a handy small astro imaging scope...

I never knew there was so much to a 21st century telescope. My grandfather was a Nasa engineer and was involved with the Saturn V design. I was 6 or 7 yo in 1970 when he told me (my mom and dad) some crazy stuff about what was really going on. This was my moms father and they parted ways and I was never involved with them again. Well, my question is how close to the moon can this go? Could we see around craters and such? Although this channel is higher tech than I, I subbed because you are close to 10K and I like this telescope and I try and follow you while you review. Thanx!

Wow. For $400, this is an absolutely excellent product! Off the top of my head, the only competitor I can think of at the moment is something like an Svbony SV905C and SV106 bundle on an MSM tracker, but this won't plate solve or process or anything (I don't think the MSM can goto). I would then use a Raspberry Pi to run Astroberry for imaging. Such a setup would sacrifice imaging time for setup and fiddling. I don't even think this would match the Dwarf 2 for imaging quality, unless you're willing to put in a whole lot of extra effort. And an excellent video, thank you!

Excellent review, thank you 🙂 I have all, well almost all, the gear for astro photos but the beauty of Dwarf II and why I shall probably buy it, is that I can take it with me when I go on holiday to those places that don't suffer SE Englands light polution, and still get acceptable results.

Starkes Video. Alles verständlich erklärt. Ich finde das kleine Gerät sehr interessant. Ich bin durch Neowise in die Astrofotografie eingestiegen. In der Zwischenzeit bin ich bei der Milchstraße angekommen. Bisher ohne Tracking (aber mit Stacking). Der nächste logische Schritt wäre nun Tracking. Du warst so nett und hast mir eine wichtige Frage beantwortet, ob sich der Dwarf II für mich lohnt. Da ich die Woche erst den Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i gekauft habe, werde ich mich erstmal darauf fokussieren. Nichts desto trotz ist so ein kleines Go-To Teleskop natürlich extrem reizvoll. Schließlich ist das leichter und schneller mitgenommen als meine Fotoausrüstung. Aber es ist sinnvoller mich erstmal ins Thema Tracking selbst einzurbeiten bevor ein smartes Teleskop die „Arbeit“ für mich übernimmt.

Excellent review with all the details someone thinking of buying this could need to make a good decision. Clear skies

What a great review! This s=looks very promising, hopefully an importer in Australia will look at stocking this!

Thanks for this great review; good points covered, pro/con, and the firmware update issue, right out of the gate. This looks like a quick and fun way to get some at least decent viewing (on the phone) and imaging done when on the the go, on short trips, etc. I am assuming if it works on a phone, it should work on a tablet. Will see I suppose. After watching your video and another review on a different channel I will be pre-ordering just to have a quick & easy on the go alternative to filling my truck with the OTA, tripod, mount, all the peripherals you listed.

If only this had something like a 400mm focal length. That's not long for a telescope, but there would be so much more to image. I love the portability of this thing. Maybe if the DWARF 2 is successful, then they'll come out with a DWARF 3 or 4 that has a wider aperture and a longer focal length, and only be a little larger and heavier. If they could pull that off, and keep the price reasonable, then they will sell lots of these things.

Proprietary battery is an issue. Good luck getting replacements in 10 years. Something standard like 18650 is easier to find.

Thanks for this great review. Being retired soon, I intend to start in this field and this device sound like the right starting point

Nice review! You covered the good and bad well.

Thanks for this. I was unaware of it, and it seems to have everything I would want in an intelligent telescope except an eyepiece - so maybe a virtual phone holder, get a VR image while it processes... Definitely impressive.

Can't wait to get mine , very excited, thanks for the very thorough video and testing. One question, is it possible to let's say track the ISS or would the tracking be too slow?

Hey, I think during your image processing you could saturate it more. These images look nice but lack that colour-pop you usually expect from astrophotography. If saturating increases the noise or gives any tinges, photoshop and siril have methods of removing it. Great review!

What a rreat review. The structure of the review, level of detail and delivery was excellent and clearly shows how much time you put into this so many thanks for sharing. I have been considering whether to buy the Dwarf II but on the strength of this and the review by Cuiv (Lazy Geek), I will do so. Thanks once again.

Ok, not sure why this video popped up for me, after consideration I pre ordered it. Now I’m not into Astro photography. I’m a back yard sky watcher with a common telescope. But this excited me. After a few hours of reviews and Google I went ahead and purchased. I would like to say as a beginner, yes I would love to capture the planets, comets as they pass, so I hope they change things to where I can explore our planets some. And of course with that new passion I can explore other deep objects. It would be helpful like you said for us newer to the realm.

What a GREAT review, man!!!!!!! Thank you so much!

I never realised I wanted this or had any interest in such a thing- then I saw this video.

This was very informative, and well produced. I am not sure any form of astro photography is right for me, after watching this. But, the Dwarf might be a best fit, as I would be a complete amateur. The alternative looks like I would also need to invest in a fork lift. Thank you.

Thx for this video. Had been eyeing the much more spendy Stellina. I even already have a SAM + Canon DSLR but, for our oft cloudy Seattle skies, the setup is a pain. Can’t wait to give this guy a try and love the bonus of daytime shots.

Barlow! That's ingenious! I was thinking of ways to increase the focal length, and even modding the device. I hope you sent the Barlow idea as part of the feedback :)

Hello Chris and Happy new year! Very thorough review! I was thinking also about a Barlow option, but i do not think it will work adding a Barlow in front of the lens, i believe it needs to be inside the telescope between lens and camera sensor. Until Fits files will be available in a future update, you can convert the tiff files using the conversion feature of Siril in to Fits (takes 2 seconds) and after stack the fits in dss or other software obtaining so a color image. I made a short video about it on my channel.

At $400 pre-order price it's at the very edge of being very appealing. At the post release $460 it's out of the price range.

Thanks for this opportunity, if this img come from Dwarf, i baught it.

my wish is to get the dwarf 2 but i dont even have money for celestron 70az (i really like astronomy and i wanted to explore the universe)

WOW amazing review, thank you! legit subscribed and liked.

for around 50 to 60 US dollar you can buy on amazon a wedge. The Kenko S Equatorial Wedge - RED, TO6-SEW-R. can be well used i think for the dwarf II. I also ordered one 2 weeks ago. I hope will be delivered end of februari

Nicely done. Greetings from ROW 🙂

IF you took this to a remote site where there is not cell phone connection, like where i live ,will the app stand alone and still run the telescope?

It would be nice an equatorial mode, to add compatibility with an equatorial wedge. It would improve tracking an time exposures without startrails.

Questions for DwarfLabs, 1. will they be providing a web API to the unit for configuring, triggering exposures, retrieving data and images, etc (they already have a C API, but it's more for writing programs that run ON the unit) - having an app is cute, but for my application, I need a fairly beefy computer calling the shots, so to speak. :) 2. Can this run off of an external power supply such as an external battery or AC? This looks really really nice! Thanks for the review.

Very informative review. Thank you.

Amazing! it is a concept of practicality, objectivity and portability! 👍👍👍👍

I have ZERO experience in AP. None. I took a picture of M51 last night that blew me and my kids away. I have super low standards, but I could see two arms of the galaxy easily. It was amazing.

Great review! Thank you!

They should add a stacking software as well with support and easy to use. Suggestion. Also add a polar alignment that could be a tripod.

Great video, thanks for the info. One question from a long time astrophotography fan but that has avoided it due to costs... can you clarify why Dwarf II is NOT a planetary imaging platform, and why a barlow makes a difference? Thanks.

Sounds impressive, but I would like to play Devil's Advocate here. Once a newcomer has found the brighter targets a few times, I suspect that the novelty will wear off due to its limitations when they find that the other targets don't pop out as much. 450 bucks for something that remains in a cupboard is not good value for money.

I am an absolute newbie to Astro viewing /photography . Like most people I had a small telescope back in the 60s where I never understood the instructions and lost interest now I’m very excited about this new dwarf 2 !! . But I do not understand why the unit will not attach directly to a laptop allowing me to view live images and download the information directly to the laptop as you get older your eyesight has a tendency to go to hell and you cannot view through an eyepiece

Would be nice to have chat gpt support, even better with voice, to get full information and ideas about what you are seeing, and for setup too . And may be if add sound and mic in a next model... But I agree it's already looks promising , could be great device

Mine is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow but I am frustrated that the app for Apple is not available yet so it will just be a paperweight for now! I understand the iOS app will be out at the end of the month so nothing to do but wait but obviously the app has existed before and is being updated and I wish I could use the old app now.

How did you get this telescope to work away from your home without Wi-Fi? Be mighty careful out there by yourself and thanks for sharing your knowledge. You’re right being able to view planets would be a game changer. Also being able to upload images on your iPhone easier would be nice.

Excellent review! The photos of M42, M41, the sun and moon look amazing too. Very interested in this, but I need to know if the app can be used in a standalone fashion, I.e. does it need internet access to the manufacturer's servers to perform any of it's functions? I've seen too many cool (and expensive) gadgets become useless when their apps or the product itself is no longer supported by the original manufacturer. This is a game changer for me.

The andromeda Galaxy was crazy!!

Awesome review. I may get one of these. Let's see if they fix the issues you pointed out. Especially no planetary imaging. I have a very stupid "smart telescope" sitting in the corner of the room because it SUCKED! So badly I can't recall the brand and don't feel like taking it out of the box. Each time I look up at the stars I wonder to myself, "I wonder who's looking back at me". Cheers from America.

Great informative video!

You mention a Barlow lens for planets, what other accessories and attachments would be ideal for the dwarf 2 do you think? I have pre ordered one and I’m just waiting now 😊

This looks amazing for a beginner.

The best DWARF review yet,thanks. Very interested how you would attach a Barlow though?

I've seen a few comments here about a dew removal system for the Dwarf. I asked and received a quick reply. Yes there is a dew removal system.

I have plege for dwarf 2 and i love looking through my Telescope and try to track some of universe,but I am deliberating now to stay with my telescope or keep my pledge and get the Dwaf, you have gone through all that is needed But it just sounds a tad to Technical for me??

Bought mine back in April and yesterday got it out its box and tried it out. Unfortunately it wouldn’t plate solve. An hour later still wouldn’t plate solve. Tried everything I could think of but to no avail. The app would also freeze (iOS) and the view would freeze. The OTA would still move around but the video or picture wouldn’t update. In the end the battery ran out of juice.

Does the DWARF 2 has a "wedge" option? So it can be mounted on a wedge to work like a polar eq mount and get more than 15 seconds exposure time? Should be possible to also 3d print a wedge but the software has to be updated for this. LG Daniel

Thanks for the review, very interesting. I'd like to see some way to adapt to an EQ mount. I've already placed an order as living in a city NW England, hauling all my gear out just for a few hours can be a bit much.

If this telescope can be easily ad-hoc set up and powered up to take a long range photo, it would be great at capturing UAPs.

Thank You! I got to get one!

Nicely done, sir.

Waiting for mine to be delivered from Kickstarter!

Excellent review.

Just randomly found your video and damn your from Niedersachsen too!? Gonna leave a sub and have a look around your channel if you dont mind. Crazy how far astrofotography has come.

sounds real nice but at my home im aming between trees to photograph. so i don’t think the auto calibration can work for me