Verdict
oculus - wateringly expensive and a bit bulky to move around , this automatize telescope and camera will however provide impressive look-alike of nighttime - sky aim such as nebulae and galaxy with rest . The downside is that you ’ll need to focus it manually , put up with its temperature and wind limitation , and get it under clear sky .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Unistellar ’s EVscope 2 is a camera in a telescope with a motor attached .
design to cut its way around the night sky guided by an app , it has integrated figure of speech processing and intimate database of objects , tracking them and providing long - exposure images to show the faint glow of nebula and detail of the Moon ’s surface .
The EVscope 2 also has an eyepiece , unusual on this kind of fully electronic twist , so you may peer through it rather than look at your phone screen .
If you ’re prepared to pay the gamy Mary Leontyne Price then the eVscope 2 has a lot to offer , but there are some drawbacks to the arrangement that may make it less attractive .
Design and features
Assembling the EVscope is very easy , as it comes in almost one while : once you ’ve extended the three - plane section tripod legs , it just slots into the top and is admit in place by two screws you may do up with your fingers . You ’ll take to get it level , using the house of cards built into the tripod , but from there the system can graduate and locate itself once you ’ve connected a phone or tablet to the Wi - Fi hotspot it create , and relate the app using a unequaled ID issue on the bottom of the scope tube . Up to 10 hoi polloi can connect in observer fashion , and benefit from viewing the simulacrum without read ascendence of the telescope itself .
The scope here is a reflector , with a focal distance of 450 mm and an aperture of around 5.5 in , for a focal ratio of f/4 . This give it a limiting order of magnitude in the region of 18 , so you’re able to use it to pick out quite black objects . There ’s a 7.7MP photographic camera attached , and the motorised alt - az mount lets it chase deep - sky objects while send the stacked and swear out results to the headphone app .
It ’s an excellent system that removes a caboodle of the bad part of astrophotography and stargazing – the need to set your equipment up beforehand , and constantly be outdoors in the dusty peering through the ocular at something you’re able to scarcely see . The Wi - Fi hot spot on the EVscope 2 does n’t have a particularly long chain of mountains , especially if you ’re colligate to it through a closed threshold , but it allows you to sit indoors once you ’ve position it , and daydream with a cup of tea .
With its silver and black finish it ’s a unspoiled seem scope , for something that will be chiefly used in the dark , though the all - black tripod needs heedful siting so you do n’t catch your foot on its stage when walk near it . A lone light on the great power button – the only control that ’s in reality on the telescope beyond the focussing rack on the back of the tube – uses colouration to tell you the Wi - Fi status .
There are a pair of USB ports for charging ( Type - C ) and a USB - A port that weirdly seems to have no actual use .
As the tube does n’t come apart or fold up down in any direction , it can be cumbersome to carry . A consecrate backpack is available to take the scope with you , but it ’s an extra £ 335 .
Performance
The trouble with astrophotography and stargazing in the UK is the weather condition , with the best night tending to be clear and dusty , and any cloud ruining the experience entirely . The eVscope 2 adds an element of spontaneity to back - garden uranology , as it allows you to apace set up and get viewing .
The standardization procedure for the EVscope 2 is quick and easy . Once you ’ve get it on the tripod in its rest upright position , have connected your mobile machine to the Wi - Fi hotspot and execute the app , it only need a aspect of the stars to calibrate itself , which only takes a few sec . A focus wheel allows you to get your view of the stars sharp before you begin , watching the app display or using the ocular to see the result of your changes , and a Bahtinov mask is included to avail with this summons .
From there , it ’s a case of pick out something from the app ’s catalog and waiting for the orbit to slew to consider and traverse it . It helps if you have a subaltern app , such as Google Sky Map handy , to immediately see what ’s above you and not obscured by tree and ground clutter – it ’s a CRO that ’s well used in readable surroundings – as the Unistellar app is n’t always clear about what ’s visible from your position .
Once you ’ve lock on to something you require to look at , you ’ll commence to see an picture emerge in the app . The EVscope 2 takes an photograph every few seconds and stacks them into a long - pic picture that it will automatically litigate . A button tap save a file to your sound ’s Photos app , from where it can be easy shared .
There are also some weather - based caveat to the use of the EVscope 2 . The tripod is not as heavily built as those under traditional EQ scope mountain , so it ’s vulnerable to the wind , which can make it rock slightly and soften your effigy . you may see this in action more clearly as you adjust the focus wheel – you require to let the telescope settle before deciding whether the image has better after your adjustment .
The eVscope 2 is also temperature tender , with the instruction manual monition never to practice it in temperature below 10 ° C or suffer battery damage . This throttle the number of decipherable winter nights the telescope will be useful on unless you hold out closer to the equator than my south - west UK test garden .
Charging of that battery comes via the USB - coulomb interface , and it ’s a bit finicky about which chargers it will accept . The profligate charger I ’m used to using with telephone and tablets may not wreak , with the telescope preferring a down in the mouth wattage machine . This is not much of a trouble as you ’re likely to rouse the telescope during the day rather than in a haste , and you’re able to also plug in a power cant to increase the custom time in the field . Once it ’s charged , you ’ll get up to 10 hours of observing metre out of it .
Image quality
The overstatement and aperture are idealistic for looking at full - field physical object such as the Orion Nebula or Andromeda beetleweed . For the nebula , an hour ’s worth of data point come together to make an simulacrum that was mirky but showed some structure . A bit more processing in the Google Photos app on the telephone set brought out the colours nicely , increasing the contrast so the Trapezium Cluster at the nebula ’s middle shone brightly and the reds and blue devils of the gas cloud could be seen . It fill the telescope ’s field of view nicely , make the most of the 7.7MP Sony IMX347 CMOS detector . you’re able to see the before and after processing mental image below .
Files come out at around 8 megabyte each , and are relieve in PNG format . They ’re not going to match those created by dedicated , cooled , astro cameras such as those from ZWO or Altair , however , as the detector is the size of a smartphone chip . The noise it generates is processed out , but at the cost of how much detail ?
turn it on the Andromeda coltsfoot resulted in a bright spot from the galaxy ’s gist but little definition in its spiral munition even after 45 minutes of pic . A view of Jupiter offer some unclouded grounds of its equatorial bands , though it appeared very small in the frame of reference . It also bring into clarity the importance of focusing in make good persona . If your centering is off , stars become less like points and more like band , with diffraction stiletto heel that are an artefact of the Newtonian innovation . Getting perfect focussing is the only manual part of EVscope 2 setup beyond put it on its tripod , and it would have been nice to see it automated .
you’re able to also look through the eyepiece if you care , but the Nikon - designed lens does n’t show you the scene directly down the tube , as with other Newtonian telescopes . or else , it indicate you a micro - OLED display of the tv camera feed , which can be less satisfying than the same thought in the app . you’re able to see some other sample photos below .
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Should you buy it?
An easy means to see the spectacular sight the night sky has to propose .
This scope is expensive , susceptible to the wind , has a manual focus and is bound in its image calibre .
Final Thoughts
The EVscope 2 is an impressive electronic uranology system , and it should be for the price . This is a far ranking scope to smaller unit such as theVaonis Vespera Observation Station , as its greater magnification and aperture , as well as the mellow resolution of the imaging sensor , provide it to create some fantabulous images of night sky object you would n’t see otherwise .
The ease of use achieved via the smooth and efficacious ego - calibration and app - based guidance is rather cave by the need to focus on your butt , manually and the in high spirits toll of the arrangement will admonish many casual astronomers from sample it out .
Trusted Score
FAQs
While most functions are useable through the app , there ’s also an ocular if you require to look forthwith – this scheme uses an interior OLED screen .