Photography has become my most consistent creative practice outside of writing. I’ve used my cameras for astrophotography with varying levels of success. The main issue I faced was a total lack of tools to track the motion of stars during the long exposures. Astrophotography is hard but it doesn’t need to be.
I’ve captured roughly 50,000 images in the 18 years since I bought my first digital camera, a Fujifilm FinePix S700. These days, I take most of my photos on a Google Pixel 8 Pro. Recently, I took one giant leap forward with the $549 DwarfLab Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope, a feature-packed compact telescope.
I’ve been testing the Dwarf 3 for the past two months and, not only has it changed my perspective on astrophotography without a bulky telescope and camera adapter setup, but I found it has excellent tools for other kinds of photography.
Excellent tech in a small package
The Dwarf 3 smart telescope includes almost everything you need — except a tripod
The Dwarf 3 is chunky, gray and rectangular, similar in size to a hardback book or a Steam Deck. At just under 3 pounds, it feels solid without being too heavy. I like that it comes with a handy carrying case, but the Dwarf 3 easily fits in a small backpack when space is at a premium.
Inside the Dwarf 3, you’ll find a Sony IMX678 Starvis 2 sensor, which specializes in low-light imagery, though its daytime performance is also good based on my testing. Dwarf 3 has two lens options: telephoto and wide. The focal length of the telephoto lens is equivalent to 737mm, which isn’t as powerful as traditional telescopes selling for the same price. Still, the built-in photography functions make up some of the difference. While I like the wide-angle lens, I mainly use it to find subjects for the telephoto lens in the DwarfLab app.
You’ll spend most of your time in the photo preview, but the app’s other tabs are helpful for secondary tasks.
Speaking of the app, it mostly works as intended. The biggest problem I encountered was getting it to connect to the telescope. In theory, you can use the smart telescope’s NFC function for a quick connection, but it often takes a few tries to connect. Connecting became less of an issue as subsequent updates removed some bugs. That said, I occasionally have trouble creating a stable connection with the app crashing at times — I hope this will be more reliable in future updates. (It works best when you disconnect from other Wi-Fi networks first.)
The app’s navigation is straightforward, with the Home tab hosting the photo menu, scheduling and toggles for the onboard lighting. (It’s a good idea to turn off these lights when shooting at night.)
As much as I like the astrophotography functions on the Dwarf 3, it takes a bit of work to get stunning images.
I recommend reading through DwarfLab’s online user guide before starting since a good image relies on several factors, like preparing Astro Darks, setting up tracking, choosing the right filter and experimenting with different exposures.
Astro Darks are essentially black images that the camera uses as references when stacking individual exposures into a finished photo. They account for noise on the sensor. But you must take the darks at a similar temperature and with the same exposure as the eventual photos. Thankfully, the camera can store up to 20 sets of darks, so you don’t have to repeat the process in every photo session. While you can skip the dark frames, the resulting images won’t be as good. Plus, the darks help cut down on external editing.
The Dwarf 3 telescope is a great jumping-off point for anyone interested in the hobby.
It took some trial and error, but the process felt natural after a few sessions. Once you master the basics, it’s a rewarding activity, and I loved sharing the photos I took with my friends and family. Even with the Dwarf 3, astrophotography requires a fair bit of patience. It was a great time to put on an audiobook and experiment with a few shorter sessions. That said, this smart telescope can run on a schedule for longer sessions, but I couldn’t use it without a yard.
Taking photos of the sun and moon
I spent most of my testing time capturing images of wildlife and scenery.
Dwarf 3 has quite a few other modes beyond astrophotography, hewing close to what you’d expect from some point-and-shoot cameras. The Photo and Video Modes work as advertised — I really enjoyed finding birds and interesting subjects to photograph. I love how you can quickly toggle between the telephoto and wide lenses in the app, and there’s even a preview option that opens a small window showing what the lens sees, even when you’re not currently using it.
You can even use object tracking to follow subjects while capturing the still shots along the way. Once tracking is on, you drag a square around the bird, person or anything you want the camera to follow. Sometimes, the Dwarf 3 will get confused when birds cross paths — but you can quickly reset the tracker to your intended target. Burst Mode isn’t much different than Photo Mode, except that it offers a faster way to capture multiple shots in a row. I didn’t spend much time in Burst Mode, but it’s great for catching stunning images of a bird taking flight.
DwarfLab says it will eventually add a panorama stitching feature, but I found Pano Mode mostly unusable in my tests. It could work for me if I had a little more time and patience, but I look forward to having an automatic solution in the future.
One of Dwarf 3’s most exciting features is the option to take massive gigapixel panoramas with the telephoto lens, but it wasn’t ready in time for my tests. To use this mode, you center the telephoto preview in the middle of the panorama you want to take and choose how big the grid should be. Unfortunately, there’s no preview of the final panorama yet, so you have to make your best guess.
Another issue I had with Dwarf 3’s panorama mode is that there’s no stitching function available. You need to use third-party panorama software, though none of the free options I tried on my MacBook really worked. I also tested DwarfLab’s recommended process for Windows but gave up after the software crashed a few times. Paid software is probably your best bet here, but I didn’t try it for this review.
The Dwarf 3 is an entirely different kind of smart camera than I’m used to, an actual telescope.
My focus on the smart home typically has me spending an inordinate amount of time around security cameras, which usually aren’t as fun to test as the Dwarf 3 has been. It’s understandable since security cameras aren’t made for photographers, even when they come with creative features like time-lapse.
Most of the features are easy for beginners, and even advanced users will find something to like. While I don’t think it will replace the traditional tools that astrophotographers and nature fans use, it’s an excellent way to expand your arsenal or take up a new hobby. At $500, it’s probably a little too expensive for an impulse buy, but affordable for enthusiasts.
Overall, I’m a fan of the Dwarf 3 smart telescope and how portable it is. It takes a lot of the stress out of photography and reminds me why I love the hobby in the first place.
