334 replies to this topic

[ETXer]

wow..i wouldn't have believed a smartphone could produce such excellent results..I might look into buying one ..very useful for observing with friends

who might want to take home a few photo memories !

Thanks! Indeed, especially newer versions that have "Night Mode," or at least a 30-second exposure capability (unfortunately mine does not). With that, even images of DSOs can be made. Take a look at this thread.

 

Cheers, Allan

Edited by ETXer, 01 January 2023 - 10:57 AM.

[rcwolpert]

That Celestron phone adapter is the best one. Worth the price.

[RMay]

That Celestron phone adapter is the best one. Worth the price.

I’ve tried it and found it to be (too) bulky for my taste, but can’t ignore the kudos; I may have to try it again, especially with my Seven…

Ron

[ETXer]

I’ve tried it and found it to be (too) bulky for my taste, but can’t ignore the kudos; I may have to try it again, especially with my Seven…

Ron

No doubt, it is a bit on the heavy/bulky side. In some cases it can be helpful to have the counterweight. But to be able to just twist the knobs to position the smartphone precisely where it needs to be with minimal fuss to me makes it totally worth it.

 

Cheers, Allan 

Edited by ETXer, 01 January 2023 - 10:39 PM.

[JamesMStephens]

That Celestron phone adapter is the best one. Worth the price.

Which one is your favorite?  

[ETXer]

Which one is your favorite?  

It's the Celestron NexYZ 3-axis Universal Smartphone Adapter, a very well thought-out design.

 

Cheers, Allan

[rcwolpert]

Ditto, that’s the one. I’ve had cheap ones break on me.

[JamesMStephens]

It's the Celestron NexYZ 3-axis Universal Smartphone Adapter, a very well thought-out design.

 

Cheers, Allan

 

 

Ditto, that’s the one. I’ve had cheap ones break on me.

Thanks, there are several so I didn't know which one!

 

Jim

[Lemmon714]

I'll post the first whatever to show the versatility of the Q.  Photos were taken on 01 January at Peace Valley Park in PA.  Apple iPhone XR.    All photos were taken free hand using a 24mm Brandon.  Edit- Distance about 250'.

 

 

Second edit.  Same bird from about 1000'.

Edited by Lemmon714, 02 January 2023 - 05:57 PM.

[RMay]

Beautiful! I’d guess 150-200 feet away?

Thanks for sharing, and on a personal note, I’m glad that Ben Franklin didn’t get his way. 😉

🦅🦃

Ron

[Lemmon714]

Same eagle- different day and different pose.

 

 

His friend was on the railing below.

 

 

I was lucky, I was able to get a picture of him flying away.  Not sure if it was Jake or Elwood Blues, but I did see it "Shake your tail feather."

 

[RMay]

This morning’s 2.39% illuminated moon, rising through the clouds. When these images were taken, it was only about 3° above the horizon, and I never seemed to achieve a very sharp focus because of the haze. Questar 3.5 close-coupled to iPhone 12 Pro at about 85X magnification.

 

Ron

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[Gregory Gross]

I was out in my backyard last night with my 1962 Questar for some very casual imaging of the Orion Nebula (M42), which culminates at a convenient hour these days.

 

 

 

I shot both images above with my Canon EOS M50 mirrorless camera and 25mm f/1.8 Meike lens, aperture wide open, 4-second exposure, ISO 1600. Using the raw file, I brightened the exposure by 1/3rd stop and brightened shadows to the max using Digital Photo Professional 4, Canon's raw file processing software.

 

 

Taken with a Canon EOS M200 mirrorless camera closely coupled to my Questar, 20-second exposure, ISO 12,800. Using the raw file, I brightened the exposure by 1/3rd stop, applied Canon's "Faithful" picture style (this seemed to draw out more texture in the nebula while also recovering some of the overexposed regions in the heart of the nebula), decreased highlights a bit, increased color saturation a bit, and reduced chrominance noise a touch.

 

I feel like I've taken better shots of M42 in the past, but it was nice to be out having another shot at it on what was a nice, clear, relatively steady, albeit rather cold evening. (Upper 20s now qualifies as "rather cold" to this former Wisconsinite.)

[RMay]

Jupiter in the daylight. Image taken at 4:36pm. iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my unguided 3.5.

 

Ron

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[JamesMStephens]

Jupiter in the daylight. Image taken at 4:36pm. iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my unguided 3.5.

 

Ron

Ron,

 

Nice. Did you use the setting circles?   I'd like to hear about your daylight polar alignment method!

 

Jim

[RMay]

Ron,

 

Nice. Did you use the setting circles?   I'd like to hear about your daylight polar alignment method!

 

Jim

Hi Jim, thanks. Actually, I just eyeballed it. Based on the app I guessed that Jupiter was perhaps 4-5 (moon) diameters away from the moon, and with the moon in the lower right of my fov in Finder mode, I found Jupiter just beyond the edge of the image frame when I scrolled up.

 

Heres a screen grab from the app after taking the picture, untracked.

 

Ron

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[JamesMStephens]

I'm impressed!

[RMay]

I'm impressed!

Thank you.

🙇‍♂️

Ron

[ETXer]

Here are last night's Lunar X and V, both the full view and a closeup through my Q3.5 Quartz Standard, a TV 24mm Panoptic, and a Samsung Galaxy 8 smartphone. I also did some captures with the ASI 224MC, but they're work in progress.

 

Cheers, Allan

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Edited by ETXer, 29 January 2023 - 08:45 AM.

[ETXer]

Here are close-up views of last night's Lunar X and V from my '65 Quartz Q3.5 through a classic Celestron Ultima SV-Series 2x Barlow mounted on the scope's axial port and a ZWO ASI 224MC. The seeing was below average, each capture was over 5000 frames using SharpCap, AS!3, and Registax 6.

 

The Lunar X:

 

 

 

and Lunar V:

 

 

Cheers, Allan

[RMay]

Tonight’s very cloudy moonrise (the house in the picture is perhaps 4 - 6 miles away). Questar 3.5 at 85X magnification close-coupled to my iPhone 12 Pro.

Ron

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Edited by RMay, 07 February 2023 - 12:44 AM.

[norcalryder]

That's awesome! Gives me some good composition ideas

Edited by norcalryder, 07 February 2023 - 05:19 PM.

[RMay]

Are we still talking about the comet? If so, here’s mine, taken tonight. iPhone 12 Pro 3.3 second exposure to my guided 3.5 at 85x magnification.

 

Ron

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[Gregory Gross]

Well I know I'm still talkin' about the comet!

 

I was out in my backyard with my 1962 Questar to image M42 when I remembered that Comet C2022 E3 (ZTF) was immediately overhead. I hunted around for it and eventually found it. My original intention was to take a series of longer exposures (around 45 seconds at ISO 12,800 each) and to pick the best one. But as I cycled through my photos using my camera's rear monitor, I saw the comet moving through the stars.

 

This is a series of all 19 exposures I took between 9:00 and 9:18 pm PST stitched together into an animated GIF:

 

 

I'll be the first to admit this is somewhat of a crude animation, but I think it's neat to have stumbled across this just by happenchance. I had no idea this comet was moving so quickly!

[RMay]

Very nice!

Ron