Dwarf II Spiel: Astrophotography on Smartphones
I believe Dwarf II crowdfunding started back in 2021. I barely knew about the first Dwarf device, so when I heard the rumors of the new “smart” telescopes, I kinda wished I hadn’t invested so much on short tube telescopes already. There is something fundamentally beautiful, different even, being able to see through what the night sky hides from bare eyes — but being able to see something only through computational imaging can see, without much works or equipments, and converse about the observations, that was something I could not do on my own with traditional telescopes.
As much as I enjoy collecting and learning about telescopes, I’m not exactly living in a town or close to good spots for observations — It’s South Korea, and no doubt most people have already seen the satellite image of lit-up peninsula divided by DMZ. I could probably find an Airbnb, but that’s not my point. Being able to simply grab the whole package, take the image of nebula, and have a great chat about it is an experience enough, but it is not inherently unique experience to the Dwarf model of smart telescopes. The app, the device, and the platform they serve together surely have added benefit, but for the average consumers who wouldn’t be buying multiple telescopes to compare it against, I think it’s best to leave it at ‘it just works’. The telescope is small enough to fit in a bag, and my phone screen is big enough to see the observations with friends and families.
That being said, the reason why I am writing a spiel years later since the crowdfunding has more to do with the new phone Apple just released. The new iPhone Air, or possibly to be dubbed iPhone 17 Air later, has relatively weaker cameras than others in the same generation. The goal appears to be make a smartphone thin as possible at any reasonable cost. That is, the phone does not have dual or triple cameras like all flagship models do. One of the use cases that came to my mind is for users who need a smartphone as a center hub to connect other devices — such as a smart telescope, or the legend has it, smart mirrorless cameras without screens or a viewfinder.
There were several botched attempts from smartphone manufacturers to sell their smartphones as pseudo telescopes. I won’t name names. It was a hilarious marketing stunt back then, and I still think it is. There is a good reason why even an entry level telescopes recommend using a tripod and has a bigger lens than the ones on smartphones. I believe hobbyists have a better chance of getting the picture with Dwarf, a telescope priced at half, if not one third, of flagship models, hooked up to a smartphone. The app itself is more powerful and resourceful for stargazing, and the community of users are bountiful with ideas what to do next with the telescope.
note: Featured image is from Dwarflab