Astrophotography with a cell phone camera

[star2root]

star2root I think you pushed some sliders too far
But you showed how much detail is still there!

It was a rush job...

[kelemenlajos]

I tried an android app (i think it was camera fv-5), which one creates the image, like it stacking night pictures together. So if something is black on the night mode, there will be still no detail after 30 seconds (except noise). So i think DSO with mobile is a no-no. I try to ask around, but i think this is hardware limited.

[kelemenlajos]

I got answer from one of the talented developers:

...Regarding the situation you
intend to use the application, I don’t think it is going to work.
Because of a camera intrinsic limitation, you cannot shoot scenes with an average luminance lower than a threshold, as you say. If the
luminance doesn’t reach a threshold, your picture will come out
completely black, even if you could expose for one hour. That is a
device limitation, and I cannot change that. Therefore, taking
pictures of stars is not possible as of now...

...However, I will add in the near future (next major version) the exposure stacking mode, that will be able to take multiple full
resolution photos of up to 2 seconds of exposure, and then digitally
stack them, to produce a longer exposure photo. That will
significantly reduce the luminance threshold, and you might be able to
shoot stars trails...

and finally the worst part:

...I'm fighting everyday against the limits of the mobile phone cameras, but still I need manufacturer support (that is, more openess of the camera driver and more information about how they work inside, and way to modify them). But I think I'm out of luck...

If you add tho this that this is about "the open mobile platform", than you can guess what to ecpect from the IOS (Apple platform)

[kelemenlajos]

cabalwars, did you make some new images with your mount?
I'm courious about the Iphone 4S camera. I think you should get better images as I do from my Samsung Galaxy Note.

I'm actually trying to accomplish this with my iPhone 4/s. Last night I just used a steady hand up to my eyepiece and was able to process this image using Registax 6. I did decide to purchase a mount for phones off orion website and hoping this will improve my images. Here is a link to the mount I just purchased. Orion SteadyPix Telescope Afocal Adapter for iPhone | Orion Telescopes

[kelemenlajos]

After some time and trying to do an andaptor myself, i think i should ask a pro
Brouce would you be so kind and make one for me?

Kelemeniajos
If you ask me nice, give me the outside dimensions of your cell phone & position of the camera lense and pay the shipping costs; I will make you an 90 degree adaptor for MicroStage-1.
Bruce

[Zombie]

wow,you guys are encouriging me. I just recently got the sony xperia s. It has a 12mp camera and after tryign and trying my webcam shots dont even come close to your shots of saturn. Hoping the full hd recodring on this phone might give me similar results as you guys are getting,
Time to DIY

[kelemenlajos]

Zombie, you should definitely try it out!
Your phone cam is very very very very very good in his own class.
(Yeah, i could write great, but this way you could get an idea how much better it is)

[Zombie]

Zombie, you should definitely try it out!
Your phone cam is very very very very very good in his own class.
(Yeah, i could write great, but this way you could get an idea how much better it is)

Thanks,I love this phone.I had the SE xperia X10,that got stolen but the pics it took blew everything away.
I then had the chance to either the samsung s3 or the Sony,the 12mp just made it too easy for me. Now i Need to start shooting away and see if i can get something decent. The camera does have a bit wider view but i will see what i can get tonight on saturn. The moon shots from afocal work was right up there(bit beter sometimes) than my Nikon 14mp point and shoot. Ill report back tomorow if the sky stays clear

[Zombie]

Ok so its not saturn but it is from my xperia S.
Took this photo of the moon. I completly forgot about the phone shots i took,my digital camera is 14mp,supposed to be beter. I tried a few different settings on the digital and spent only 5 minutes taking auto shots with the phone so didnt expect this when i finaly opened the photos on a pc.

[NCC-2893]

wow. nice