August 28, 2018
Until I get a new camcorder I am learning to use a smart phone for imaging the sky through a telescope. It's a new and challenging way to learn and see if a smart phone can do as well on some solar system objects - like the moon for example.
Here's a few of my early attempts.
No zoom -
And with the camera's 4x zoom
Not too disappointing for a smart phone with such a tiny lens!
The smart phone is an older one and I cannot control exposure but I have learned a few tricks. Most important when imaging the moon is to use "sports" mode and the lowest exposure compensation value (-2 or -3, etc.) the phone allows. Otherwise when you image the terminator, the area where the shadow begins, or the edge of the moon, the phone automatically thinks theimage is too dark and it overexposes the well lit part of the moon.
If you can, set the focus at "infinity", sometimes it's shown as a horizontal 8. That's a general rule when doing "afocal" imaging, taking pictures through the eyepiece.
Here's some pics of my smart phone adapter set up...
The adapter... Solomark
Until I get a new camcorder I am learning to use a smart phone for imaging the sky through a telescope. It's a new and challenging way to learn and see if a smart phone can do as well on some solar system objects - like the moon for example.
Here's a few of my early attempts.
No zoom -
And with the camera's 4x zoom
Not too disappointing for a smart phone with such a tiny lens!
The smart phone is an older one and I cannot control exposure but I have learned a few tricks. Most important when imaging the moon is to use "sports" mode and the lowest exposure compensation value (-2 or -3, etc.) the phone allows. Otherwise when you image the terminator, the area where the shadow begins, or the edge of the moon, the phone automatically thinks theimage is too dark and it overexposes the well lit part of the moon.
If you can, set the focus at "infinity", sometimes it's shown as a horizontal 8. That's a general rule when doing "afocal" imaging, taking pictures through the eyepiece.
Here's some pics of my smart phone adapter set up...
The adapter... Solomark
And with the 20mm eyepiece ready to go into the telescope business end..
The adapter I chose is working better than I expected though it feels flimsy, being made of solid plastic and metal adjustment screws. But it works just fine and is really inexpensive.
So if you have a telescope just sitting around, have some fun with it. Get it out on a clear night and give it new life with what almost everyone has these day - a smart phone!
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