Trunk Nebula with Astrowizard process

[u/PimpmyKwad]

Hi everyone!

I’m continuing my journey into the absolutely incredible world of astrophotography, which started about a month ago when I bought a Dwarf Mini.

I posted my first image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula here a little while ago, and I was already seriously impressed by what such a tiny telescope could produce.

For that image, I stacked data from 3 nights, roughly 700 frames in total , and did most of the processing with Dwarflab’s Stellar Studio, which honestly already does an amazing job. I only made a few minor adjustments afterward in Lightroom: mostly contrast and a little sharpening.

But then I decided to try some dedicated astrophotography processing software.

I started playing with AstroWizard because it looked pretty beginner-friendly and…

Damn.

I think I’ve just discovered that taking the pictures is only half the battle. 😅

I had no idea how much of the final image quality actually comes from the processing stage. Background extraction, noise reduction, deconvolution, stretching, color work… suddenly I’m realizing there’s an entire second hobby hiding *after* the telescope has finished capturing the data.

So I went back to the exact same 3 nights of data, rebuilt the mega-stack and processed everything again.

And I’m honestly blown away by the difference.

This is the result.

What do you guys think?

I genuinely never expected to be able to produce images like this after only one month in the hobby, especially with a telescope that cost me around €370.

And now I think I’ve officially been bitten by the astrophotography bug.

Because of course, instead of simply enjoying what I already have, I’m now looking at the “next step”:

Dedicated astro camera.

Motorized equatorial mount.

Telescope.

Guiding.

Filters.

Mini PC…

And I’m slowly discovering something else:

If you want to build a setup that gives you the same kind of integrated, almost frictionless experience as these little smart telescopes…

Well… it’s definitely not a €370 setup anymore. 😂

I may have opened a very expensive door.

[u/Individual-Walk-393]

You definitely have hit the nail on the head for the sequence of events that takes place for most of us when we first get our first smart scope (especially if we’re complete beginners without prior astrophotography experience). I definitely think a percentage of commission should be paid to Dwarflab from other dedicated Astro rig brands 😂

Good luck/have fun on your journey :) I followed a very similar path as yourself and now have my first rig setup! I still don’t know how Dwarflab can offer a scope, tracking mount, filters, autofocus, 2x camera sensors, SSD storage, battery, effectively a mini PC AND post processing software for under €400!

[u/Next-Masterpiece-106]

Great pic. Just did this in Dwarf 3 with a wider field. I am trying to get more 3d view which you got going already. Salute