Moon with my new smartphone adapter.

[wheresthetorch?]

Fr Christmas kindly bought me an Orion smartphone adapter, and this has been my first chance to use it properly.

Taken through an 8" f6 Newtonian at 37.5x

[jetstream]

On 23/01/2021 at 11:46, wheresthetorch? said:

Taken through an 8" f6 Newtonian at 37.5x

My niece wants to try this with her phone- is the image stacked and processed? Excellent image btw. Any advice welcome.

[Kon]

Very nice! 

[wheresthetorch?]

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

My niece wants to try this with her phone- is the image stacked and processed? Excellent image btw. Any advice welcome.

Thank you! No, not stacked or processed in any way.  I used an Orion Steadypix smartphone adapter to hold the phone steady over the eyepiece, but that was all - just took a snapshot. 

[Sunshine]

Nice! I have been experimenting with lunar phone imaging for some time now, tried every adapter and different apps, have managed some amazing lunar images with my phone.

One trick i use is making sure to tap the screen on a bright area just before activating the shutter, it allows for a nice exposure and black sky as most phones change exposure 

very quickly.

[wheresthetorch?]

3 hours ago, Sunshine said:

One trick i use is making sure to tap the screen on a bright area just before activating the shutter, it allows for a nice exposure and black sky as most phones change exposure 

very quickly.

I've just tried that on my phone indoors, and you're absolutely right - good trick, thank you.  

[PXR-5]

That's awesome for a phone!!!

I have one of those adapters, but haven't tried it yet, thanks for the motivation

[wheresthetorch?]

6 minutes ago, PXR-5 said:

 have one of those adapters, but haven't tried it yet, thanks for the motivation

I'll be interested to see how you get on - do post some pics.

[PXR-5]

21 minutes ago, wheresthetorch? said:

I'll be interested to see how you get on - do post some pics.

Not a chance LOL 🤣😆

I Bought a PST solar scope on Dec 27, nothing but clouds, rain and mud 😆😂

 

Maybe some month...

[jetstream]

5 hours ago, wheresthetorch? said:

I'll be interested to see how you get on - do post some pics.

I might buy one of these adapters- how do you like it? How long are the three eyepiece posts?

[Stu]

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

I might buy one of these adapters- how do you like it? How long are the three eyepiece posts?

Hey Gerry, long time no speak!

Some time ago I wrote up some reviews on the various adaptors with plenty of pictures of how they attach. Might be useful? Some pics show the length relative to an 18mm BGO and 24mm Pan so you can get an idea.

http://www.waltonastrogroup.co.uk/equipment-reviews.html

If you have Televue eyepieces which are compatible with the dioptrix then the Fonemate works well too.

[Stu]

12 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Nice! I have been experimenting with lunar phone imaging for some time now, tried every adapter and different apps, have managed some amazing lunar images with my phone.

One trick i use is making sure to tap the screen on a bright area just before activating the shutter, it allows for a nice exposure and black sky as most phones change exposure 

very quickly.

Depending on your phone, there are various apps you can use which give much better control of shutter speed, iso and focus. I use ProCam 7 or might be 8 now which I find very good on my iPhone for moon shots. For long exposure either the native iOS app or NightCap are good. Processing can be done with PS Express.

Lately I’ve been attempting to stack 4K videos, with reasonable results despite not having a clue what I’m doing! I use PIPP to preprocess the video stack, AutoStakkert to stack it, then ImPPG to bring out the detail. I then do a final tweak in PS Express.

Here are some recent efforts.

[Sunshine]

It would be nice to actually see the moon again, I haven’t seen it in two months. This is a phone pic from last year,
relentless cloud cover here.

Orion Eon 115 Refractor

9mm Baader Morpheus

Iphone 6S handheld

Edited January 28, 2021 by Sunshine

[wheresthetorch?]

10 hours ago, jetstream said:

I might buy one of these adapters- how do you like it? How long are the three eyepiece posts?

This is the one I used:

https://uk.telescope.com/mobileProduct/Accessories/Smart-Device-Accessories/Orion-SteadyPix-Quick-Smartphone-Telescope-Photo-Adapter/pc/1308/c/1382/118375.uts

It opens up to an eyepiece diameter range of 25-45 mm, and may mean taking the eyeguard off some eyepieces (eg BST Starguiders). 

The beauty of it is that you can line the phone's camera up with the adapter before you then connect it to the eyepiece, though you do have to be quite careful not to move it while tightening it around the eyepiece. And also make sure you tighten it to the eyepiece properly - I didn't once but thankfully my phone's screen didn't hit the ground when it fell off!

 

[jetstream]

9 hours ago, Stu said:

Hey Gerry, long time no speak!

Hi Stu!

Jut sitting here with a morning java looking out at the sub -30c temp lol! -35c last night by the lake. Great reviews, I didn't know you were into this- very nice work Stu. My niece wants to try using here phone on the moon and I thought I would help. Shes a nurse in a long term care facility so this could be a nice break from all that for her.

That TV adapter looks easy to use and would allow the Delos/Ethos to sit in the focuser. Or the Orion could uses a few of my other ones- I'm now thinking the Fonemate- thoughts?

I must review your apps mentioned too, no idea how all this works. I priced out cooled CCD astro cameras for DSO-ouch!!

[Stu]

4 hours ago, jetstream said:

Hi Stu!

Jut sitting here with a morning java looking out at the sub -30c temp lol! -35c last night by the lake. Great reviews, I didn't know you were into this- very nice work Stu. My niece wants to try using here phone on the moon and I thought I would help. Shes a nurse in a long term care facility so this could be a nice break from all that for her.

That TV adapter looks easy to use and would allow the Delos/Ethos to sit in the focuser. Or the Orion could uses a few of my other ones- I'm now thinking the Fonemate- thoughts?

I must review your apps mentioned too, no idea how all this works. I priced out cooled CCD astro cameras for DSO-ouch!!

That sounds chilly! We’ve got down to about -1.9C here recently and that felt cold! Had a whole inch of snow too, I guess that’s winter done for us now 😉

The Orion works well with flat sided eyepieces like the BGOs, but can be tricky on eyepieces with sloped sides. It copes with the 24mm Panoptic but can struggle on others. It does fit in my Leica Zoom well though so is handy for that.

I have fitted my Panoptic with the Dioptrix adapter so I can use the Fonemate on it. It is very simple to fit, always aligned and totally secure as it clamps in place. So, for compatible TV eyepieces it really does work well.

I also have the NeXYZ which in theory is great, but in practise can be fiddly and doesn’t always hold the phone perpendicular to the eyepiece. If you look at the attached image, I concentrated on getting the terminator at the bottom in focus and was a bit miffed to see the rest of the limb out of focus because the phone wasn’t held correctly. It can be resolved with some packing out, and the mount has the excellent benefit of Z direction adjustment which really helps get the phone right on the exit pupil.

They all have their merits. The main reason I don’t use the Fonemate more is that I’ve only got one eyepiece it is compatible with! It is simple, quick to use and secure. The Orion is more flexible, but a little less secure. It does self centre the eyepiece though which is good.

Fundamentally, the NeXYZ you clamp in place, pop the phone in the holder and the use the adjustments to centre the camera over the eyepiece. With the other two you have to spend more time positioning the phone camera exactly over the hole in the mount, but once done they self centre when you attach to the eyepiece. It is often easier to attach the mount to the eyepiece away from the scope, fit the phone and then centre it whilst point the eyepiece at a bright surface so you get an evenly illuminated field, then put the eyepiece in the scope.

Sorry for the lengthy descriptions, hope it helps a bit.

I won’t divert the thread, but would imagine that NV gear in your scope under your skies would be something worth considering?

[jetstream]

2 minutes ago, Stu said:

but would imagine that NV gear in your scope under your skies would be something worth considering?

Thanks Stu, the info helps a lot and I'll try the Fonemate as I have 3 Delos these days. Yes, I have been pondering NV- I need to find out whats allowed. I checked prices last year (here) and they were very expensive over here and the USA doesn't allow export on a lot of their stuff. Right now shipping has gone down to a dwindle it seems at least with the Post.

I really would like NV Stu!

Maybe I can pick your brain down the road once things open back up. We are in a stay at home order in Ontario and more restrictions might be coming.

Great image!