How do others get OK photos with their camera phone?

[RobH2020]

Hi all,

I'm interested in astrophotography in the most basic way possible, using my camera phone.

I've taken a few OK photos of the moon by holding it up to the eyepiece, but I've seen others took some OK-ish (for what they are) photos of jupiter and saturn. enough to give some impression of what you can see through the eyepiece anyway, even if they won't blow anyone's mind.

I don't seem to be able to do that at all, just can't get them to show up on the camera phone screen. What are other peoples' secret to getting an OK camera phone image?

[david_taurus83]

Think you need one of those phone holders that clamp onto the eyepiece so it holds it steady.

[AstroMuni]

Phone holders definitely help 👍 Like this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Solomark-Universal-Phone-Adapter-Mount/dp/B0188KP6T8/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1P0S36VCB88C4&dchild=1&keywords=telescope+camera+adapter&qid=1595331443&sprefix=telescope+came%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-3

or https://www.celestron.com/products/nexyz-3-axis-universal-smartphone-adapter

[Bruce Leeroy]

For wide field you'd want high ISO and high exposure and if possible a long shutter setting to capture more light, with possibilities of taking a burst of shots in quick succesion then stacking the individual frames into something like Gimp (free image manipulator), for the moon and planets you'd want a lower exposure setting (very low).

Quite often headphones with a built in volume control can work as a shutter release to eliminate camera shake, or there are some very inexpensive bluetooth versions I know poundland used to sell the bluetooth version for a £1.

Hope that helps.

[Aramcheck]

There are also Phone apps that allow more control over the camera settings (I'm not the person to ask though as I don't use a smart phone).

Cheers
Ivor

[Tenor Viol]

Night Cap is an app that you can use to control the phone

[lw2689]

I follow someone on Instagram who does iPhone Astrophotography. He created a guide on how to photograph the moon and planets with your phone.

It’s really informative

https://canadianastronomy.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/smartphone-astrophotography-how-to-photograph-the-moon-planets-with-your-phone/

 

I use my phone currently using an adapter on my eyepiece. Just been using it to see the sunspot, not a great photo but you can see the spot.

Edited July 22, 2020 by lw2689
More added

[RobH2020]

On 22/07/2020 at 17:44, lw2689 said:

I follow someone on Instagram who does iPhone Astrophotography. He created a guide on how to photograph the moon and planets with your phone.

It’s really informative

https://canadianastronomy.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/smartphone-astrophotography-how-to-photograph-the-moon-planets-with-your-phone/

Cheers for this, that's great!

Amazing what he can take of the Orion nebula with one frame and a smart phone. Buuuut... regarding light pollution, he's in Canada, and I'm next to London 😂

Looks very useful for capturing the planets though. 

[RobH2020]

Got my smartphone adaptor and took this last night of the moon with my handheld 10x50 binoculars and a single Astro Cam app exposure on my Samsung S7 (1/1000 shutter speed).

Obviously not a very impressive photo, but a significant improvement on what I could do before It's amazing just how small the moon is...

Will it try it on Jupiter with my 6" dobsonian when I get a chance...

One thing I hadn't been realising is that you need to leave a degree of "eye relief" for the camera when holding it up to the lens. No wonder I couldn't see anything through the camera screen!