The inaugural StuPOD, winner announced!

[Stu]

8 hours ago, JOC said:

Luna and Jupiter taken with a Samsung Galaxy S7 from my bathroom window - no processing, no telescope - does this count for an entry?

Very nice image JOC, but unfortunately revision 2 or 3 of the rules stated that the image must involve both a smartphone AND a telescope, and before you send in a picture of a telescope taken with your phone, you know what I mean!!  

[JOC]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

the image must involve both a smartphone AND a telescope

Rats!  Mind you I was pleased with the overall look of the picture - it was just a pleasing picture to me.  I was surprised at how easy it was to get a correct exposure with the smart phone, I have taken far more photos with a DSLR, but I think that particular shot was easier to take on the 'phone than it would have been on my DSLR which surprised me. 

[barkis]

1 hour ago, JOC said:

Rats!  Mind you I was pleased with the overall look of the picture - it was just a pleasing picture to me.  I was surprised at how easy it was to get a correct exposure with the smart phone, I have taken far more photos with a DSLR, but I think that particular shot was easier to take on the 'phone than it would have been on my DSLR which surprised me. 

Well  never  mind JOC, at least you didn't whine or  spit a dummy out   .
It's just a pity Xmas has passed, that would have made a nice Seasonal Card. Jupiter sitting atop the tree.
I reckon these Smart Phones are  getting more effective  with each version. 

[oobydooby]

13 hours ago, barkis said:

Well  never  mind JOC, at least you didn't whine or  spit a dummy out   .
It's just a pity Xmas has passed, that would have made a nice Seasonal Card. Jupiter sitting atop the tree.
I reckon these Smart Phones are  getting more effective  with each version. 

Too smart for their own good  

[Paz]

The sun taken with an LG5 phone through a MC-127 Maksutov with a Baader solar continuum filter.

It's struggling a bit with the contrast in brightness... and with focusing... and ghosting/scatter... and it doesn't look round for some reason... but apart from that I'm happy with it.

 

 

[Mognet]

Not quite as good as Paz's sun, but I got the moon with my phone up to a 5mm eyepiece.

[knobby]

HTC 10, no scope just a beer glass to hold steady for an 8 second exposure at ISO 400, manual focus, contrast and brightness tweaked with photoshop express (Android) to match the apparent sky colour.

The streaks are form next doors security lights !

 

Edited March 22, 2017 by knobby
Just seen rule about using phone AND scope ...ooops

[Art Gecko]

Thanks Stu for showing me this thread, I'll try not to clog up the "big boys" threads with my humble iPhone images any more!

So, in the interest of the competition, I'm entering a galaxy shot... As Stu pointed out to me, there are rules and one is that the picture must be entirely produced by smart phone, which my original post was not... So in the interest of sticking to the rules, my first picture is an unedited 30sec exposure at ISO 3200 of galaxy M82 taken through a SkyWatcher 130 newtonian on an EQ3-2 mount. It was a test shot, but you can just about see the soft smudge of the galaxy!

The second picture is where it gets interesting and is the image I posted in another thread (where Stu found me and lured me here) It is a stack of 31 x 30sec exposures at ISO 1600, with an attempt at darks and flats, Deep Sky Stacker to blend them all together, and Photoshop to tease the galaxy out of the noise. Same way people do it with DSLRs and CCDs, only on somewhat more of a tight budget!

Enjoy and clear skies to all, Art.

[JOC]

4 hours ago, Art Gecko said:

It is a stack of 31 x 30sec exposures at ISO 1600, with an attempt at darks and flats, Deep Sky Stacker to blend them all together, and Photoshop to tease the galaxy out of the noise. Same way people do it with DSLRs and CCDs, only on somewhat more of a tight budget!

But did you do all that on the phone?  Which I think is also one of the rules? ;-D

[Stu]

Thanks Art

The beauty of being a benign dictator is that you can decide to change the rules if it suits you  

So, for one time only (until the next time), we have a winner who took the image on a smartphone but processed it on a PC. Excellent result, well done! Amazing enough that you can see the galaxy on the single sun.

Now, enough of this processing nonsense, back to smartphones only  

[Art Gecko]

1 hour ago, JOC said:

But did you do all that on the phone?  Which I think is also one of the rules? ;-D

No JOC, I didn't, I used an old mac-mini for the stacking etc... The first of the 2 images was my entry for the competition as it was a smart phone only picture, it's not as plain to see, but M82 is just about visible in the sub... the second pic was just to show off really lol

 

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Thanks Art

The beauty of being a benign dictator is that you can decide to change the rules if it suits you  

So, for one time only (until the next time), we have a winner who took the image on a smartphone but processed it on a PC. Excellent result, well done! Amazing enough that you can see the galaxy on the single sun.

Now, enough of this processing nonsense, back to smartphones only  

Thanks Stu for the vote of confidence... I don't really want to break rules that others have been sticking to, that's why I put forward the 1st pic, but as you said in a revision of the rules, the judges verdict is final (even if unfair) so thanks... I do however enjoy trying to stack and edit photos on the computer, even if I don't have a "proper" camera, it's all a learning curve and good experience. So I hope you all won't mind me posting some more experimental smart phone shots on this thread while I save up for a more adequate camera? I don't expect to win every time, but it's nice to have somewhere to put the pictures where they can be appreciated... As well as helping others to learn from (hopefully) as I've learned so much from others here on SGL.

Thanks Everyone, Art.

[Stub Mandrel]

Rules? Rules?

I thought Stu governed this topic by diktat! Surely we don't need rules to make it complicated?

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, Art Gecko said:

No JOC, I didn't, I used an old mac-mini for the stacking etc... The first of the 2 images was my entry for the competition as it was a smart phone only picture, it's not as plain to see, but M82 is just about visible in the sub... the second pic was just to show off really lol

 

Thanks Stu for the vote of confidence... I don't really want to break rules that others have been sticking to, that's why I put forward the 1st pic, but as you said in a revision of the rules, the judges verdict is final (even if unfair) so thanks... I do however enjoy trying to stack and edit photos on the computer, even if I don't have a "proper" camera, it's all a learning curve and good experience. So I hope you all won't mind me posting some more experimental smart phone shots on this thread while I save up for a more adequate camera? I don't expect to win every time, but it's nice to have somewhere to put the pictures where they can be appreciated... As well as helping others to learn from (hopefully) as I've learned so much from others here on SGL.

Thanks Everyone, Art.

Feel free Art, whilst you are using a smart phone there is no problem posting them here. Only shots processed on the phone itself will be eligible for a win going forward though

I'm waiting for the day when I can stack shots using my phone, surely someone could write an app for that??

[Art Gecko]

41 minutes ago, Stu said:

Feel free Art, whilst you are using a smart phone there is no problem posting them here. Only shots processed on the phone itself will be eligible for a win going forward though

I'm waiting for the day when I can stack shots using my phone, surely someone could write an app for that??

Can you not add layers from your camera roll in Photoshop express and stack manually then Stu? I've not used the app as I generally use the mac... I usually use Adobe After Effects actually as I struggle with photoshop, but got a fair bit of practice with After Effects a few years ago while helping my ex-girlfriend's son make stop frame LEGO animations (long story!)... As you can see from the pic below, I can get a much more natural feel to the same shot processing in AE, but I do realise if I go down the DSLR route, I'm probably going to have to get to grips with PS..

 

[Art Gecko]

Well, as they say it's galaxy season...

[Stu]

Nice shots Art, amazing what is possible.

My winning entry for today is a Lunar and Solar double hit, no way this lot is going to lose (not while I'm the judge anyway )

I thank you  

[Tonynexevo925]

Hi Stu,

Took some images tonight - details in the lunar imaging section but as they were inspired by your handheld imaging I thought I'd post a couple here too for your consideration ???

Handheld iPhone 7 120ED and Ethos 13mm with Flannl app taking raw and jpeg but can only seem to load the jpeg - still new to the app but seems easy to use. 

Regards

Tony

[Astro Imp]

Cracking images Tony, well done.

[Nova2000]

I think I'm eligible. No processing done. Gso 8inch dob. Saturn is with a c14 and manual tracking (cge doesn't work) using a 3mtr focal length scope is hell for me as I'm a beginner  

Edited April 3, 2017 by Nova2000

[Stu]

Nice Ines Tony and Nova. I'll give it to the end of the day to award the winner  

[knobby]

C8 edge, AVX mount ( flat battery so just a glorified tripod) 18mm excel ep, HTC 10 phone.

 

[Uranium235]

Heres my entry for StuPOD... a godawful Sun through Helens Ha telescope

[Stu]

Rob, thanks for that....I'm literally speechless  

Winner for today is Nova2000s moon shot, many congrats, and thank all for your continued entries. Keep them coming!

[tooth_dr]

I've been lucky to have captured a very large solar 'lens' flare along with several 'sunspots' through a scratched Meade 26mm EP using an iPhone 7. 

[tooth_dr]

And a prominence: