Autoguiding is an essential technique in deep-sky astrophotography, ensuring accurate tracking for long-exposure imaging. The ZWO 30mm f/5 Mini Guidescope, the latest addition to ZWO’s guiding lineup, offers a lightweight and compact solution designed for both beginners and experienced astrophotographers. With an improved optical design and a refined focal ratio, this guide scope enhances tracking precision while remaining affordable and easy to use.
Design and Build Quality
The ZWO 30mm f/5 Mini Guidescope is an upgraded version of its predecessor, featuring a slightly longer focal ratio for improved optical performance.
Specifications:
- Aperture: 30mm
- Focal Length: 150mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5
- Tube Diameter: 30mm
- Weight: 348 gms
The guidescope retains the lightweight aluminum construction and red anodized finish that ZWO is known for, ensuring durability while maintaining a sleek design. The compact form factor makes it ideal for portable astrophotography rigs.
Improvements
This new guide scope is the second one in ZWO’s lineup and an improved version. According to ZWO, the guide scope has five major upgrades over its predecessor:
- Upgraded high-precision focus knob, with positioning screws to ensure no focus shift
- Extended focal length for sharper guide stars
- Upgraded APO optical system for a more regular optical path
- High compatibility and high precision
- Sleek new look
Optical Performance and Guiding Accuracy
The shift from f/4 (120mm) to f/5 (150mm) offers an improvement in optical quality and guiding precision.
Key Optical Features:
- Apochromatic Lens: Provides sharp star images with minimal chromatic aberration.
- 150mm Focal Length: Enhances guiding accuracy by offering slightly better resolution.
- f/5 Aperture Ratio: Maintains a good balance between light collection and depth of field.
The extended focal length makes it a better match for medium focal-length telescopes (e.g., 500–1200mm imaging scopes), improving tracking accuracy without sacrificing too much field of view. The 1.25” helical focuser allows easy fine-tuning, ensuring pinpoint sharpness of guide stars.
The ZWO 30mm f/5 Mini Guidescope is a well-designed, lightweight, and highly effective autoguiding solution. The increase in focal length over the previous f/4 model offers better-guiding precision, making it a great choice for mid-range imaging telescopes. While it has some minor limitations, such as the lack of a focus lock, its affordability and performance make it an excellent option for both beginners and experienced astrophotographers looking for a compact and reliable guide scope.
For those seeking a portable and budget-friendly autoguiding system, the ZWO 30mm f/5 Mini Guidescope is a fantastic investment that will help improve tracking accuracy and image quality in deep-sky astrophotography.
Clear skies!
