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Dwarf 3 telescope: test / review
Published on: 21-06-2024 / Modified: 21-06-2024
I bought my first telescope almost 30 years ago, an Orion 150/750mm and I still have it. I chose this telescope for deep sky observation and astrophotography. It may seem trivial today but 30 years ago, you really had to be motivated to do astrophotography. We had to set up the station, adjust a lot of things such as the motor to compensate for Earth rotation or the installation of the photo kit so that everything was stable. In short, a lot of work for setting up and observing and then still a lot of work afterwards to process the photos. After a few months, this passion for the stars fell to the bottom of the pile of all the things I wanted to do.
In 2023 my passion for the stars was suddenly reignited thanks to a crowdfunding campaign for an electronic telescope manufactured by the company Dwarflabs. Small, compact, portable, easy to configure, capable of taking long exposure photos, controllable from an application...I couldn't miss this chance, so I bought the Dwarf II telescope. This telescope was a total game changer compared to my Orion. While I could obviously get better results on my Orion, the ease and affordability of the Dwarf II was unbeatable.
A few months after testing the Dwarf II, I tested another electronic telescope which set the bar even higher but clearly Dwarflabs is not the type to let things go, this time it is the Dwarf 3 which will have for mission to help you conquer the stars. I should receive the telescope a little before it is released but I will already give you some information before testing it.
Where to buy?
Dwarf 3 is available for pre-ordering on the official website: Dwarf 3 / Dwarflabs
The telescope is available at a lower price for those who order it before launch, the risk of this telescope being of lower quality than the previous one is quite low.
About Dwarflabs
Dwarflabs is a Chinese company which has already marketed several successful products, including the Dwarf II which was bought by a few thousands of people. You should always be wary of new companies that market an innovative product through crowdfunding, but Dwarflabs has passed this milestone. I'm not sure that Dwarf 3 will go through crowdfunding, they now have a solid enough basis to take care of it themselves.
Zero risk does not exist but here it is still significantly lower than for a crowdfunding campaign launched by an unknown company.
Dwarf II vs Dwarf III
Dwarf III uses the same bases as the Dwarf II (photo above) The telescope is compact, it can very easily be folded up. transported in a small travel bag It does not need a tripod, it is able to orient itself on the horizontal axis with its rotating base and vertically with its optical rotation axis.
The Dwarf II was equipped with two optical units, a wide angle for spotting and a 100 mm telephoto lens for observation, the aperture is 24 mm. The telephoto lens produces photos of 8 million pixels, it uses a Sony IMX415 sensor. Photos are stored on an SD card which must be inserted opposite the optical unit. The whole thing weighs a little over a kilo.
Dwarf 3 brings some changes. First there is the aperture of the telephoto lens which goes from 24 to 35 mm which will provide a 45% gain in light. The optical unit is made up of several very low dispersion lenses. The wide angle also gains in aperture, going from 2.8 to 3.5 mm. Changes don't stop there. The focal length of the telephoto lens goes from 100 to 150mm and the sensor used goes upmarket with the Sony IMX 678 Starvis 2. The maximum exposure time per exposure goes from 15 to 60 seconds.
The battery increases from 5600 mAh to 10000 mAh and rather than relying on a removable SD card for storage, the Dwarf III will have 128 GB of local storage which you can download directly to your phone or to the PC via a USB port.
My only regret is the photo resolution, I would have liked more pixels to capture more details and be able to print the result on a large format.
Unboxing
Not yet tested
Overview
Not yet tested
Configuration
Not yet tested
Application
Not yet tested
Sun
Not yet tested
Moon
Not yet tested
Planets
Not yet tested
Deep Sky
Not yet tested
Battery
Not yet tested
Review/conclusion
I will detail my opinion once I have received and tested the product but on paper this new Dwarf 3 has everything it takes to set the bar significantly higher than the previous model. There are other brands of electronic telescopes with more efficient optical equipment but these are generally more expensive. I am thinking in particular of telescopes from Vaonis but here we are in a much higher price range.
LAURENT WILLENHead of myself on this blog
I share my passions on my blog in my free time since 2006, I prefer that to watching nonsense on TV or on social networks. I work alone, I am undoubtedly one of the last survivors of the world of blogs and personal sites.
My speciality? Digital in all its forms. I have spent the last 25 years working for multinationals where I managed digital teams and generated revenues of over €500 million per year. I have expertise in telecoms, media, aviation, travel and tourism.
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