Mobile Phone Eyepiece Adapters

[adyj1]

Now that we have a smartphone astrophotography forum, how about a thread which lists the different type of eyepiece adapters, with their pros and cons?

I'll kick off by saying I have a cheap ebay adapter (pictured).  It has a spiral clamp which centres as you tighten the clamp on the eyepiece, but doesn't have any adjustment for distance from the holder to the eyepiece. 

PROs:

- cheap! Less than a fiver delivered on eBay. 

- it works! Holds my wide smartphone at the perfect focusing distance from my kit 25mm eyepiece. 

- respectable results. Having 'wowed" at the moon and other objects visually as a beginner, taking an eyepiece smartphone picture allowed me to give other non-astronomer friends and family a good insight into exactly what I could see. (especially as it enabled me to take up to 30s exposures on my AZ Goto mount to get more light and detail) 

CONs:

- fiddly. You have to line up the centre of the eyepiece clamp with the eyepiece by hand, and hope that when you tighten the screw that adjusts this it doesn't move as you attach it to lens. 

- no inward/outward adjustment. If the eye relief of your eyepiece isn't the same as  the distance that the camera is held at, then you won't see the image.  For me, inly worked with my Skywatcher 25mm eyepiece

SUMMARY:

Would I recommend it? If money was no object, no. *But* if you don't have the funds for one of the more expensive holders than this is  a very reasonable option - as long as you have an eyepiece with suitable eye relief.

-------------------------------------------------------

So, over to you - which eyepiece adapter do you use for your smartphone? Would you recommend it to others, and why?

Ady

[Stu]

Excellent suggestion Ady, it is one of the biggest challenges of getting decent images with a phone.

I’ve tried a few different ones out. They all basically work, it’s the degree of stability and fiddliness you have to put up with which varies.

The first one I tried was the Orion Univsersal SteadyPix which was pretty good actually, still have it but have cannibalised the bits for other tasks.

I’m attaching some images of other options, I covered these in the Smartphone talk at SGL this year.

The Celestron NeXYZ is relatively new on the market but is excellent. Lightweight but quite rigid and above all has very easy adjustments in three axes including theZ axis ie distance away from the eyepiece. This makes it much easier to get the phone positioned correctly on the exit pupil of the eyepiece. It would probably be my top recommendation currently.

The other one is the Televue FoneMate which only works with certain Televue eyepieces, but does make a very firm connection by clamping onto the top of the eyepiece where the dioptrix option normally goes. I bought an additional adaptor for my 24mm Panoptic so that the FoneMate fits. This adaptor is excellent because there is no uncertainty over the position or connection, it is very rigid. Positioning the phone itself is also very easy with the adjustable supports. I did have to fit the two supplied rubber strips to hold the phone away slightly which helped put it in the right position.

There is now a new version of the SteadyPix based on the FoneMate which works with non Televue eyepieces. I’ve not used it but it looks like it is well worth a try out, although it doesn’t have the Z axis adjustment like the NeXYZ.

I will try to add some more detailed info on these as I try them out, assuming some clear skies!

[adyj1]

Stu, how much eyepiece 'neck' does the NexYZ need to be able to clamp on to? Some of my eyepieces (particularly the higher mag ones*) are quite short. 

Ady

* get me, with "higher mag eyepieces" - I mean the 6mm one ? 

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

Stu, how much eyepiece 'neck' does the NexYZ need to be able to clamp on to? Some of my eyepieces (particularly the higher mag ones*) are quite short. 

Ady

* get me, with "higher mag eyepieces" - I mean the 6mm one ? 

It can be a little tricky with the shorter ones. I used mine with my 12.5mm BGO and had to pull the eyepiece out of the diagonal a little way to give enough for it to grip on to, and to be able to get the phone close enough to the eyepiece. Worked ok though.

[PaulM]

 

On 24/11/2018 at 12:27, Stu said:

The Celestron NeXYZ is relatively new on the market but is excellent. Lightweight but quite rigid and above all has very easy adjustments in three axes including theZ axis ie distance away from the eyepiece. This makes it much easier to get the phone positioned correctly on the exit pupil of the eyepiece. It would probably be my top recommendation currently.

 

 

 

This is the one I went for as it can be adjusted in 3 axis when I was looking to get one for my Samsung S8

Works fine for me on a range of EPs including my large 25mm Meade, its solid in build and feels robust

After using it a few times you get used to how to best mount it and do the adjustments

I also shine my red light torch down the tube so I know I have the camera lens centrally over the eyepiece which is when I see a large perfect red circle