Mikel56

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Date 16th May 24 Celestron 9.25 iPhone SE Celestron Universal Adapter (Holder) Software Used - IPhone SE (single frame) Eyepiece - 8.6mm

Thanks Kon, That helps me understand what I need to be thinking about bearing in mind my basic knowledge, Regard

Thanks Peter. I’m waiting for a clear night ! Next time, hopefully by midweek, I plan to use an iPhone with a better camera. Should make a difference, I think. I’d like to take same photograph, same time and with same equipment of the moon using the Celestron and Swift in order to compare. I think it would be fair to aim for 100x so that design parameters not compromised for either. Thereafter enlarge to same viewing/display size for both. I’m not sure if there’s much to be gained however if the Celestron is my benchmark I would like to see a like for like Swift “effort”. From what my layman’s eye tells me it appears my old Swift performs, Regards

That’s an impressive photograph, much better than my recent efforts. I’m new to photographing the moon, anything in fact. Is the photograph a single shot or created from several photographs ? Is the view that which is seen in the eyepiece or enlarged in the subsequent processing? I enjoyed the detail of your photograph, Regards

Thanks Peter. I should have read your post before the four photographs above ! Regards

Hello, For the four attached I used the same single frame setup as above attached to a Swift 831 with a 6mm lens. Again I think that would be the limit for the telescope, Regards

Forgot to add the difficult part for me was focussing. A slight touch on telescope focus control and the “picture” jumped about. I think I need a hands free focus unit, something like that, Regards

Hello Neil, The holder isn’t of the best engineering quality however far superior to the cheap ones you can buy online. The holder in the photograph operates in three dimensions with three separate controls. Only took a minute or so to get the moon centred on the iPhone with a previously focussed telescope . The clamp fits around the knurled part of the eyepiece and accommodates different eyepiece external diameters. There’s still a slight movement to the setup but once working there’s no need to touch anything so the unit remains steady. I used the iPhone timer however without the timer, pressing the button gently, the photos turned out with no noticeable difference to my eye. There’s an app. called AstroShader. Apparently this app allows you to take several photographs and “stacks” them automatically. It’s a free download so I’ll give that a try weather permitting. Bottomline the holder was a good buy for my basic skills/knowledge. I noticed there are two similar holders. Mine is the Celestron. I noticed the other is cheaper but I suspect it’s a Chinese copy. Might be ok though, The attached photograph was taken with a 6mm eyepiece. I think that is at the telescope limit or my focus was rubbish ! Regards

The photograph showing the setup was taken at the same time as the photograph of the telescope (with the moon shown in the iPhone). The setup then included a 19 mm eyepiece, 2x Barlow and a fine focus all on to a right angle thingy. The “gap” was a consequence of the 3d holder and was in that position whilst moon in focus. The actual moon photographs were with an 8.6 m eyepiece, Regards

Hello, I haven’t been in contact for sometime but still read ! Many thanks for your help last year. Tonight was a good night here so for the first time I’ve managed to take a couple of moon photographs. Apart from the telescope (Celestron9.25) my equipment and skills are basic. The attached photographs were taken using an iPhone SE with a Celestron “holder” for positioning the iPhone over the eyepiece. The photographs are only “single shot” as I haven’t much of a clue about stacking frames. The eyepiece was 8.6mm and a mount with no goto. I’ve learned the moon travels fastish and my focussing needs practice ! Regards

Thanks Steve. It’s good to know I’m using something for which it was designed !

Attached is a photograph with an eyepiece to the left and a “unit” to the right. I have been looking for something to help me with fine focus and avoid a lot of image vibration, particularly on the Celestron 9.25. In a box I found the unit shown on the right of the photograph. It is graduated in mm from 0 to 10. When the knurled section is turned fully from 0 to 10 the unit extends by a measured 1 cm. I added the unit to the Swift 831. I can focus the Swift roughly by using the drawtube and indeed if I get that initial focus more or less correct for my eye I can fine focus with the unit however there’s not a lot of room for error. Is the unit designed for this purpose or something else ? If not would it be better to source a unit specifically to aid focus, particularly for the Celestron ? Thanks, M

Tonight with the projection fully extended and 32mm eyepiece. My focus needs attention z!

I’ll try tonight on the moon, thanks for that.