Mobile Phone Lunar Imaging; from 3 different camera phones...

[SteelRat]

Had such a nice evening out with my 110mm Tal1SLT Newt last night. Hope you folk had fun out there too.

At past first quarter the moon was pretty bright but M81 and M82 were still easily visible in the Tal 25mm plossl. Mars was a tad wobbly at x230 but steady and showing detail at x161. Saturn managed to find every single branch in our local Ash tree to hide behind during my time out but that didn't matter so much.

The moon was looking real nice in my little Tal1.

All wrapped up warm I had a good explore and also managed to rattle off a few pics with my (freebie) 3mp camera phone. Having just had a bit of a sort out I also had my old phones handy (and charged ) so took some pics with them for comparison. Please keep in mind that all three pics are single frames on full auto, taken afocally and handheld so the comparison may not actually be worth "all that" Also I have a lump of something in the lense of the samsung so I'm holding the phone at a slight angle for it not to show up - makes some of the image out of focus

Here's what I got from the;

Samsung D900 3mp CMOS camera phone

(click pic to make big)

Nokia 6630 1.3mp camera phone

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Nokia 5140 0.3mp camera phone

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The 5140 hasn't got a pc cable or bluetooth but has got infra-red. Managed to transfer the pics from that phone to my laptop using the infra-red linkup. Never done that before - thought it cool 8)

Cheers

Matthew(SR)

[SteelRat]

Had a play with the best bits of the 3mp jobbie. I suppose cropping the wobbly bits off helped;

(click to pic to make no bigger at all)

Cheers

Matthew(SR)

[rawhead]

When reviewing mobile phones its usually ease of use, size, video options, mp3 memory ring tones etc. etc.

This has to be first astrophotography shoot off between three mobile telephones :shock:

In third place:

Nokia 5140 – Nice contrasty image. Let down by definite pixilation (What do you expect for 0.3MP!!!)

Silver goes to the Nokia 6630 1.3mp. Those extra MP really make a difference. Still let down buy the over sharp sections in the more contrasty sections of the pic.

You are Gold! Samsung D900 3mp

Those mega pixels really do count! Lots of contrast and really smooth transitions from light to dark. An excellent pic in anyone’s book. Well done Matthew… :thumbleft:

[jgs001]

Matt, superb. As RH said, this isn't your average use of a mobile phone, but you seem to be able to pull it out of the bag every time. I'd like to be able to get images like that with my proper digicam

[thing]

Superb shots. I might try my Coolpix tomorrow night afocally if that's what you get with a mobile camera.

[lunator]

Matt

The Samsung definately has the edge

I always have to infrared my images from the Nokia for the same reason.

[Cloudwatcher]

Love 'em all,SR! The first one is so clear and sharp. To me the second piccy has an almost 3D look,suspended in the black rather than being a part of the whole, if you see what I mean?

Cheers

CW

[SteelRat]

The wife's gonna order me a couple of bags from a phone recycling place to send my old Nokias off in.

Hopefully should get £20-odd for em. The Samsung will go when I get my next free upgrade sometime in May. Hopefully I should get something in the way of a 5mp jobbie and then somewhere around the £50 mark from the recyclers for the Samsung.

Cheers folks

Matthew(SR)

[barkis]

You can certainly provide some moon magic with the phonecam Matthew.

You ought to sen a couple to the phone companies, I'm sure they could build an advert around their phone and your pics.

Could net you a bundle of money.

Ron.

[rawhead]

I’m going to have a crack at phone photography myself… :?

Just ordered a 2MP Sony Ericsson w810i for £30 from http://www.additionsdirect.co.uk/rf/add//navigation/product.do?D=410265992&thisprod=410265992&Mis_item_loc_id=1&Ntk=group_search&SNtt=PF464&N=85%20104Ν=this_product&Ntt=410265992&Dx=mode+matchall&Np=1&product=410265992&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpart if you use code ZG103 (£15 off and free delivery) at the checkout….. (It’s locked to T-Mobile / Virgin)

A right bargain :thumbleft:

Just need to hone my technique. (A primer would be nice SR?)

Cheers

Jon

[SteelRat]

I’m going to have a crack at phone photography myself… Just ordered a 2MP Sony Ericsson w810i... Just need to hone my technique (a primer would be nice SR?)

Yay! Should be a nice phone Jon. Never used a 2mp phone (went from 1.3 to 3) but y'BOUND to get some good lunar shots from an SE 8) Lookin forward to seein em. Not sure about that primer mate. It's been asked for before :shock: but I mean... I haven't even been able to put an observing report together yet :oops: I'll see what I can knock up.

For now though hows about;

Steady hands help so dress warm and relax. The old 'SNIPER' method helps; breath in... breath out... hold....

...click

I'm sure they could build an advert around their phone and your pics

Heheheh, can't see that happenin Ron But y'know; with the money I get from my two old phones put together with whatever I get for my Samsung - I might get a pretty good compact camera. Perhaps something somewhere around the 7mp mark, maybe even with one of those fancy CCD chip thingies built in? Next time I do a comparison it'll be between a 5mp phone and whatever CCD equipped compact camera I can pick up.

Cheers chaps

Matthew(SR)

Ps, Any 6+mp CCD equipped digital compact recommendations would be appreciated.

[jgs001]

That would be a very interesting comparison test. Can a phone beat a proper camera in imaging ....

[rawhead]

Ps, Any 6+mp CCD equipped digital compact recommendations would be appreciated.

Fuji F20 (They were under £50 in store at Tescos recently...)

[rawhead]

Thinking about it... The F20 might not have enough user control. (Make sure you check the specs)

The F50 would be cool (£115 from the Fuji website)

The F30 and F31 also excellent (but now difficult to get hold of)

[Beyond_Vision]

Great comparison test Matt you can certainly see the progression in the quality of the built in cameras. The shot with the D900 is a lot better than some peoples dedicated astro setups.

regards

Kevin

[Ant]

I tried myself to take some pictures with the phone... and it was a complete disaster - so once again I take my hat of to you mate!!!

Great results, Samsung D900 the clear winner!

Ant