Question about looking through the eyepiece in-real time with a phone

[Navvar]

I had my first attempt ever at imaging in general yesterday with a Samsung S21 Ultra and a NexYZ adapter through a f/11.8 Mak.

I'm curious if it's possible at all to substitute looking through the eyepiece directly, and instead use the phone to look through the eyepiece in real-time - because when I tried to do this, all I got was a black screen, so I essentially had to rely on the GoTo tracking to be on point and adjust camera settings after taking the initial shot of whatever object I was trying to image. For reference, I tried pointing the scope at some christmas lights a mile or so away and they showed up pretty bright on the screen.

Are there any simple settings I've overlooked that will allow me to do this? If so, how bright does the object need to be? I tried playing with the brightness in the camera app but there was hardly any change at all when looking at f.ex. the Pleiades or one of the brightest stars in view (Capella, Betelgeuse etc).

[Dark Vader]

I've had some decent results on the moon using that method with the native phone camera app set on auto.  Neighbour was able to see a pretty good close up of the moon from over the garden fence. If you have manual control, picture data says 1/100th sec at ISO64, was with an 8" SW Dob and Samsung A6 though. YMMV,  There are a few books on smartphone astrophotography that give useful starting suggestions for iso / shutter speed.

Andy 

[Navvar]

5 hours ago, Dark Vader said:

I've had some decent results on the moon using that method with the native phone camera app set on auto.  Neighbour was able to see a pretty good close up of the moon from over the garden fence. If you have manual control, picture data says 1/100th sec at ISO64, was with an 8" SW Dob and Samsung A6 though. YMMV,  There are a few books on smartphone astrophotography that give useful starting suggestions for iso / shutter speed.

Andy 

I can definitely imagine the moon and the brighter planets yielding good results through the eyepiece to the phone in real-time. 

However, I'm more curious about what I should realistically expect to see in real-time when it comes to less bright objects such as DSO - and what the "correct" procedure is (for all I know, I may be trying to do the impossible).

I'd be interested in learning some of the procedures of the members here. As in, if you primarily use the eyepiece as your looking device, and then attach your phone adapter after you've centered what you want to image. Or if you strictly use your phone for both looking and imaging, and to which extent this is feasible.

[Dark Vader]

My main interest is visual and just occasionally try some pics. My phone is pretty basic and doesn't have the settings for exposures long enough for most DSOs. And my tracking is Dob nudging so I take either single shots or very short videos. 😄

If I had tracking, I would probably centre with the eyepiece first then put the phone mount on as to me it sounds easier, but I've no actual experience with tracking mounts. Hope that helps in some way.

Andy

[jjohnson3803]

I'm just beginning to play around with my iPhone and different aps, so my experience is quite limited.  Anyway, I'm going to try using the NightCap app while the phone is at the eyepiece.  I think it can be configured to produce quick enough shots of DSOs for framing and focus.  Another app I'm going to try is StarryCam. 

5-10 second exposures through one barrel of my 15x70 binos yielded some halfway decent wide angle shots.  M42 was a small fuzzy bit, but again, I'm just starting to experiment so I can probably do better.  I hope.

Good luck!

 

 

[johninderby]

Picked this book from Amazon recently while it was on offer and it really covers the whole field of smartphone AP in depth but still an easy read. Well written. Published Nov 2021 so up to date. 👍🏻

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smartphone-Astrophotography-Introduction-Photographing-Heavens-ebook/dp/B09KT7KX9X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2N8M2LTIDJAKS&keywords=smartphone+astrophotography&qid=1643819952&s=books&sprefix=smartphone+astrophotography%2Cstripbooks%2C74&sr=1-1

Edited February 2, 2022 by johninderby