ZWO Seestar 50

[Giles_B]

1 hour ago, Ande said:

I know it’s a bit nit-picky, but I find the fitting of the solar filter a bit of a pain. Not the actual inserting, but the orientation of the ‘scope. You almost invariably choose “Solar” from the parked position. It then asks you to ensure the filter is fitted before commencement. Again, almost invariably, it won’t be, and the scope is in the parked position so you can’t fit it. You then have to faff about getting it to target something that isn’t the sun, or move the scope manually, so you can get the filter on. Then it can go sun hunting. I don’t know why it just doesn’t raise itself up to 60 degrees or so when you choose solar, and then prompt you to attach the filter.  Like I said, a bit nit-picky, and not the end of the world. 

Yes, I'm absolutely on the same page - I haven't used it much for solar, but when I did I found myself hurriedly trying to fit the filter while the scope was in motion, undoubtedly placing a strain on the motor in the process. A simple, "maintenance" mode would be helpful - my SeeStar got caught in light rain last night when I sneaked a couple of hours during a break in the cloud - it was a real pest not being able to quickly check the objective was dry once I got it inside.

 

2 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi Guys , Forgive me for not reading back through the entire thread but has anyone printed a lens cover for the SeeStars yet ?

Call it OCD but i hate the idea of that lens being uncovered when its not in use ( yep i can use the solar filter , but i think thats not the best way )

KR Stu 

Yes, plastic ones being sold on ebay for a fiver, and metal ones on AliExpress for a bit more.

 

[M40]

When I have a go solar I start from scenery and park it about half way, then I fit the filter and switch to solar. If I try anything at a rush it has a habit of going badly wrong quickly 🤪

[M40]

I must admit to not being stressed over a dust cap. I have a cunning plan to reduce dew during play, awaiting delivery, but at end of play and when at the home position I think it allows a touch of ventilation to minimise any condensation.

[Stu1smartcookie]

15 minutes ago, Giles_B said:

Yes, plastic ones being sold on ebay for a fiver, and metal ones on AliExpress for a bit more.

many thanks Giles 

[LDW1]

4 hours ago, Ande said:

I know it’s a bit nit-picky, but I find the fitting of the solar filter a bit of a pain. Not the actual inserting, but the orientation of the ‘scope. You almost invariably choose “Solar” from the parked position. It then asks you to ensure the filter is fitted before commencement. Again, almost invariably, it won’t be, and the scope is in the parked position so you can’t fit it. You then have to faff about getting it to target something that isn’t the sun, or move the scope manually, so you can get the filter on. Then it can go sun hunting. I don’t know why it just doesn’t raise itself up to 60 degrees or so when you choose solar, and then prompt you to attach the filter.  Like I said, a bit nit-picky, and not the end of the world. 

I install mine inside my house before going out, I activate my SS, hit solar mode and the SS starts to find the sun while in the house, when it reaches about 45° I hit stop and put on the filter, then I carry it outside and finish doing my setup and solar work.  Works great, works fast, not one issue, every time !

[Giles_B]

To be honest solar was only something I tried when I first got the scope. I agree doing things fast was asking for trouble! In many cases doing things slowly doesn't make things much better and I'm forever dropping and misplacing things - it's a minor miracle my kit is still in good shape!

[DaveL59]

8 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi Guys , Forgive me for not reading back through the entire thread but has anyone printed a lens cover for the SeeStars yet ?

Call it OCD but i hate the idea of that lens being uncovered when its not in use ( yep i can use the solar filter , but i think thats not the best way )

KR Stu 

Not having a 3D printer I bought one of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276090459472

It is a touch loose in fit but does the job and not expensive at least.

[cimh]

Hi all. Picked up my ss from FLO today - For me there is a bit of a learning curve to getting started. Is this an appropriate forum to ask questions - or is there a better place? The android phone I am using is a bit old and does not have 5g wifi so the first hurdle was having to log on with my iphone to change the settings in the SS to 2.4g after that the android phone connected fine. 

1. Testing to look at the sun -ss had the elevation right but was looking in completely the wrong place - at least 90 degrees out horizontally (compass setting and tripod level was good). I read this might be a bug or is it  something I am doing wrong?

2. Managed to manually get to the sun and took 4 photos. But where are they and how do i access the jpgs? The /myworks folder in the SS is empty. I can't see them on my android phone anywhere like DCIM. But when the app is connected to the ss I can see the images so they must be somewhere?

Apols if this is not the right place.

 

[Ande]

Regarding the photos storage, my Seestar app asked for access to my photos during initial setup. Now, it just automatically drops the photos into my phone. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

25 minutes ago, cimh said:

Hi all. Picked up my ss from FLO today - For me there is a bit of a learning curve to getting started. Is this an appropriate forum to ask questions - or is there a better place? The android phone I am using is a bit old and does not have 5g wifi so the first hurdle was having to log on with my iphone to change the settings in the SS to 2.4g after that the android phone connected fine. 

1. Testing to look at the sun -ss had the elevation right but was looking in completely the wrong place - at least 90 degrees out horizontally (compass setting and tripod level was good). I read this might be a bug or is it  something I am doing wrong?

2. Managed to manually get to the sun and took 4 photos. But where are they and how do i access the jpgs? The /myworks folder in the SS is empty. I can't see them on my android phone anywhere like DCIM. But when the app is connected to the ss I can see the images so they must be somewhere?

Apols if this is not the right place.

 

Hi , I picked mine up yesterday and when you start using something new it's always a bit overwhelming . The instructions are a bit basic but relevant. The images once taken are stored on your device by default but I believe you may have to give access to your device at the set up .

[LDW1]

3 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

Not having a 3D printer I bought one of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276090459472

It is a touch loose in fit but does the job and not expensive at least.

It maybe a bit loose but when the SS lens is pointing straight down the cap still holds tight. That tells me it was designed to that diameter. ** Sorry wrong cap, I got mine at AliExpress, has the name ZWO SeeStar embossed on it ! It fits perfectly.

Edited October 30, 2023 by LDW1

[DaveL59]

1 hour ago, cimh said:

Hi all. Picked up my ss from FLO today - For me there is a bit of a learning curve to getting started. Is this an appropriate forum to ask questions - or is there a better place? The android phone I am using is a bit old and does not have 5g wifi so the first hurdle was having to log on with my iphone to change the settings in the SS to 2.4g after that the android phone connected fine. 

1. Testing to look at the sun -ss had the elevation right but was looking in completely the wrong place - at least 90 degrees out horizontally (compass setting and tripod level was good). I read this might be a bug or is it  something I am doing wrong?

2. Managed to manually get to the sun and took 4 photos. But where are they and how do i access the jpgs? The /myworks folder in the SS is empty. I can't see them on my android phone anywhere like DCIM. But when the app is connected to the ss I can see the images so they must be somewhere?

Apols if this is not the right place.

 

If you open a file explorer on the phone you'll likely be able to find them by checking the various folders. If it has a "recents" option then that'll show them also. 

Not had a chance to try solar yet so can't comment there.

Have fun, once you've got familiar with the app and the S50 I'll all seem easy 🙂 

[LDW1]

1 hour ago, Ande said:

Regarding the photos storage, my Seestar app asked for access to my photos during initial setup. Now, it just automatically drops the photos into my phone. 

And my iPad, works perfectly !

[powerlord]

1 hour ago, cimh said:

Hi all. Picked up my ss from FLO today - For me there is a bit of a learning curve to getting started. Is this an appropriate forum to ask questions - or is there a better place? The android phone I am using is a bit old and does not have 5g wifi so the first hurdle was having to log on with my iphone to change the settings in the SS to 2.4g after that the android phone connected fine. 

1. Testing to look at the sun -ss had the elevation right but was looking in completely the wrong place - at least 90 degrees out horizontally (compass setting and tripod level was good). I read this might be a bug or is it  something I am doing wrong?

2. Managed to manually get to the sun and took 4 photos. But where are they and how do i access the jpgs? The /myworks folder in the SS is empty. I can't see them on my android phone anywhere like DCIM. But when the app is connected to the ss I can see the images so they must be somewhere?

Apols if this is not the right place.

 

android now works similarly to ios, in that apps must be default write to their own sandbox area. so the pics, etc are stored in a directory specific to the seestar app. Hence, as has been said, check the app has permissions to your photos, etc so that it an copy them there. the local storage on the s50 is only used if i remember right, for videos and astro stuff (fits, etc).

stu

[cimh]

1 hour ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi , I picked mine up yesterday and when you start using something new it's always a bit overwhelming . The instructions are a bit basic but relevant. The images once taken are stored on your device by default but I believe you may have to give access to your device at the set up .

Thank you all for responding - I have checked permissions for the app - the only one not given was the camera - so I have allowed that as well - but still no luck - the images are still there in the app (see screenshot) - I have searched my phone even looking in hidden folders for files including the seestar hidden folder but no images - lots of stuff in the seestar/cache folder - but not in an accessible form, so I wonder if the shots are currently held as data in the cache and not saved to the phone -  I'll try taking some more shots tomorrow and see what happens.  Another possibility is that Im on android 9 so quite old - could be an issue there. I would use my Iphone but I use that for the brilliant PCAlign pro app with my 8" dob and I hope to keep using use the Dob while the seestar does its thing.

BTW This is a very long thread, I'm no expert but would it be worth having a separate area in stargazers for seestar and or dwarf, possibly in the EEVA section? It might make it a lot easier for those of us taking up this new area?

 

[DaveL59]

On my Note-10+ which is an uptodate droid, it seems to store the images under

internal-storage/DCIM/com.zwo.seestar

[cimh]

20 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

On my Note-10+ which is an uptodate droid, it seems to store the images under

internal-storage/DCIM/com.zwo.seestar

Thank you for that suggestion. I have that folder in Internal storage/android/media/com.zwo.seestar. Not in dcim but it is empty 😞

[powerlord]

I think ur right. Too old android. Alternative is to open in app and then share, and email them to yourself ?

The actual location will be something like this, but u might need a file explorer like fx file explorer to see them:

/android/data and then down there somewhere..

 

[Ande]

First problem….  Tried to open the .fit files into Photoshop, but the format isn’t supported. Any idea how I can convert the files to .tiff on a Mac?

[powerlord]

you don' really want to be opening these in photoshop - you won't see much as they are linear data and will appear almost black. To just view them - get quickfits from app store.

To do anything more with them - i.e. stack, etc - download Siril - it's free.

DO watch a few tutorials first though as it's not easy to use.

Alternatively I would recommend Affinity Photo - it DOES handle fits natively, AND will stack them all up properly - so no need for siril ,etc. And it is really easy to use.

Unlike photoshop, its a buy once product - no subscriptions - its 68 quid - which compared to PS is a bargain imho. It does everything ps does and much more (imho) - in particular having lots of astrophotography features that PS does not have. One of the main chaps there, James Ritson is an astrophotographer.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/#buy

30 day trial available, so download it and give it a go?

tutorial of stacking:

And it's native to mac and has a mac silicon version which is super fast if your mac is mac silicon.

stu

[cimh]

2 hours ago, powerlord said:

I think ur right. Too old android. 

Thank you powerlord and everyone else who responded. This morning I put the app onto my tablet running android 11 and it works perfectly with images sent automatically to the gallery via DCIM/com.zwo.seestar.

Problem solved. Cheers.

Edited October 31, 2023 by cimh
shorten

[Ande]

1 hour ago, powerlord said:

you don' really want to be opening these in photoshop - you won't see much as they are linear data and will appear almost black. To just view them - get quickfits from app store.

To do anything more with them - i.e. stack, etc - download Siril - it's free.

DO watch a few tutorials first though as it's not easy to use.

Alternatively I would recommend Affinity Photo - it DOES handle fits natively, AND will stack them all up properly - so no need for siril ,etc. And it is really easy to use.

Unlike photoshop, its a buy once product - no subscriptions - its 68 quid - which compared to PS is a bargain imho. It does everything ps does and much more (imho) - in particular having lots of astrophotography features that PS does not have. One of the main chaps there, James Ritson is an astrophotographer.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/#buy

30 day trial available, so download it and give it a go?

tutorial of stacking:

And it's native to mac and has a mac silicon version which is super fast if your mac is mac silicon.

stu

@powerlord Thanks Stu. Please forgive my naievity, but I thought the images had already been stacked on the Seestar? I had watched a couple of PS tutorials, and had purchased a ProDigital Astronomy Tools Action Kit for PS to help make things a tad simpler.  All I really wanted to be able to achieve in PS was to stretch the images to extract more data. I really am new to all of this imaging malarkey and, even with the Seestar removing all of the image acquisition workload, it’s still quite a steep learning cliff. So am I best off completely abandoning the PS route?

 

PS:

Re: Viewing the images….  I’ve actually downloaded ASIStudio which will let me have a decent gander at them in their unfettered form. So at least I have that bit covered 🙂

Edited October 31, 2023 by Ande
Omission

[powerlord]

24 minutes ago, Ande said:

@powerlord Thanks Stu. Please forgive my naievity, but I thought the images had already been stacked on the Seestar? I had watched a couple of PS tutorials, and had purchased a ProDigital Astronomy Tools Action Kit for PS to help make things a tad simpler.  All I really wanted to be able to achieve in PS was to stretch the images to extract more data. I really am new to all of this imaging malarkey and, even with the Seestar removing all of the image acquisition workload, it’s still quite a steep learning cliff. So am I best off completely abandoning the PS route?

 

PS:

Re: Viewing the images….  I’ve actually downloaded ASIStudio which will let me have a decent gander at them in their unfettered form. So at least I have that bit covered 🙂

Ah, sorry misunderstood. Yeh, so there are 2 directories for each target:

target

target-subs

target has one fit file in it - that is the stacked fit - which you see on the app, stretched and whatever else it does when it opens it.

target-subs has the individual subs if you wish to restack yourself.

As you've found out asistudio or Quickfits will let you view. I don't use asistudio so don't know if it lets you save ? But quickfits does - it allows you to export it as a stretched tiff, which you can then open in yer editor of choice. quickfits is free:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quickfits/id1551075981?mt=12

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by powerlord

[Ande]

Thanks Stu. I’ll have a peep at Quickfits. I watched the video you linked, and it looks very good indeed. Certainly a lot less intimidating than PS. 

[Ande]

@powerlord Downloaded Quickfits, and am delighted to report that it does, indeed, convert .fits to .tiffs. Much appreciated Stu 🙂. I’ll battle on and see if PS suits me at all, if not I’ll bag Affinity. Just trying to cling onto my £68 a bit longer if I can 😂