This Dwarf 3 Quick Start guide is the short version. The full reasoning behind every number here, the EQ setup walkthrough, dark frame calibration, and solar imaging, lives in the Settings and Calibration Guide. This page exists for the night you do not want any of that: you just unboxed a DWARF 3, or you have five minutes before the clouds roll in and need a number to type into the app, not a reason for it.
If that is you then us the following: 30 to 60 second sub exposures in Guided EQ mode, gain 60 to 70, Astro filter. Switch to Duo-Band and gain 80 to 90 for emission nebulae, or any night the moon is more than about a quarter full. These numbers come from real sessions logged on this site everywhere from 8 minutes to 157 hours over the past year, not a spec sheet, so treat them as a starting point rather than a rule. The table below covers the rest of the common cases.
Quick Reference
| Target Type | Exposure (EQ) | Exposure (Alt-Az) | Gain | Filter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Clusters | 15 to 30s | 15s | 50 to 60 | Astro |
| Galaxies | 30 to 60s | 15s | 50 to 60 | Astro |
| Standard Deep Sky (mixed targets) | 30 to 60s | 15s | 60 to 70 | Astro |
| Emission Nebulae | 60s | 15s | 80 to 90 | Duo-Band |
| Moonlit sky or heavy light pollution | 60s | 15s | 80 to 90 | Duo-Band |
| Solar (sunspots, white light) | Manual bracket, filter dependent | same | 0 | Front solar filter, internal VIS or Astro, Sun Track mode |
Alt-Az sub exposures are capped at 15 seconds on the DWARF 3. Past that, field rotation starts to blur stars toward the corners of the frame. Anything longer than 15 seconds requires Guided EQ mode.
Exposure
Exposure time sets how long the sensor collects light for a single frame. Below about 30 seconds, read noise from the sensor starts to dominate the signal, which is why 30 seconds is the practical floor for most deep sky targets. In Guided EQ mode the app will accept exposures up to 120 seconds, but 60 seconds is the recommended ceiling. Past that, thermal noise accumulation and any residual tracking drift start to cost you more than the extra light gains back.
Gain
Gain amplifies the signal after it leaves the sensor. It does not collect more light, it just makes what you already captured louder, along with the noise riding along with it.
Gain 60 to 70 is the standard starting point for most targets. Gain 80 to 90 is worth the added noise for faint emission nebulae shot through the Duo-Band filter, since the filter is already suppressing background sky glow and the tradeoff shifts in your favor. Stay away from gain 100 or higher for deep sky work. It costs dynamic range faster than it buys signal.
One published session (the M13 Hercules Cluster, 30 second subs, Astro filter) used gain 40 and produced a clean result. That sits below the 50 to 60 range above and should not be read as a general recommendation, it worked because M13 is a bright, high surface brightness cluster. Treat it as a documented exception, not a new floor.
Filters
The Astro filter is the default for galaxies, star clusters, and broadband targets. The Duo-Band filter isolates H-alpha and OIII, which is what lets you shoot emission nebulae through a bright moon or a Bortle 7 to 9 sky. Do not use Duo-Band on galaxies or clusters, it blocks most of the light they emit and turns them an unnatural red. Solar imaging uses a completely different filter setup, covered in the full guide.
Before You Start
Power on the DWARF 3 15 to 20 minutes before your first exposure. The sensor is uncooled and needs that time to settle to a stable operating temperature, and starting cold and letting it warm up is more reliable than trying to image right after a hot afternoon indoors. The full Settings and Calibration Guide covers the sensor temperature rule of thumb and why the warm up direction matters.
Troubleshooting
- Image too dark: increase exposure time first. Raise gain only as a last resort.
- Stars elongated: your exposure is too long for your current tracking accuracy. Improve your EQ alignment or drop back to a shorter sub exposure.
- Image grainy or noisy: lower your gain and add more frames instead. Total integration time matters more than any individual setting.
Final Summary
Exposure determines how much light you collect per frame. Gain determines how loud that signal gets amplified. Total integration time, meaning hours of stacked frames, matters more than any individual setting on this page. Dark frames must always match the exposure and gain you actually used for your lights.
Ready to go deeper? The full Settings and Calibration Guide covers EQ mode setup step by step, dark frame calibration including how to catch a bad one before it ruins a stack, sensor acclimatization, and solar imaging settings.