How I capture planets under 100 dollars ?

[Abhinav]

Hello , I just bought my new Newtonian, reflecter and I looked jupiter and saturn the views were great but when I tried to capture thwn with my smartphone they become white balls then I adjusted the exposure settings on my smartphone everything vanishes . I got a descent photo of saturn with cassini division but jupiter was still looking like a white balls . should I buy a ZWO 120 MC or modify a logitech c270 and if you have a solution  to fix that smartphone problem please help me out .

 

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The ZWO120MC is a safe bet. Yoiu might even get one second-hand, as many people upgrade to newer planetary cameras

[Stu]

It is possible to get planetary images using a smartphone. This is a single frame using an iPhone 6 and the ProCam app (was 5 at the time, now version 7)

You can also stack videos taken on phones by transferring them to a PC and using Registax for example. I’ve not done that so far but may do at some point.

[Abhinav]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

It is possible to get planetary images using a smartphone. This is a single frame using an iPhone 6 and the ProCam app (was 5 at the time, now version 7)

You can also stack videos taken on phones by transferring them to a PC and using Registax for example. I’ve not done that so far but may do at some point.

I used my smartphone for planetary imaging saturn was looking great but Jupiter is just a white ball. I tried focus but it was already in focus. 

[Stu]

That will be because it is over exposed. What phone do you have?

I’m not trying to put you off getting a proper camera, just saying that better results are possible (than you were getting) with a phone camera.

[Abhinav]

10 minutes ago, Stu said:

That will be because it is over exposed. What phone do you have?

I’m not trying to put you off getting a proper camera, just saying that better results are possible (than you were getting) with a phone camera.

Iphone X 

[AstroMuni]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

It is possible to get planetary images using a smartphone. This is a single frame using an iPhone 6 and the ProCam app (was 5 at the time, now version 7)

You can also stack videos taken on phones by transferring them to a PC and using Registax for example. I’ve not done that so far but may do at some point.

What were the settings for this please?

[alacant]

Hi

IIRC, iOS out of the box doesn't provide manual camera control. A swears-by-everything-apple mate tells me the best app to enable you to take control of the iphone camera is halide. I've not used it personally but have seen it being used. My guess is that given the correctly dialled in exposure with an iphone X held solidly and squarely to your focuser, you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference between Jupiter shots from it and a 120mc. Oh, and the app costs a lot less than a 120mc;) Even better, get a video app and stack.

Worth a go?

Cheers, good luck and HTH.

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by alacant