When doing visual observing at a telescope, I find myself wishing I could record the image. I know some people sketch but sketching isn’t for me. Astrophotography with a connected DSLR or dedicated camera is great but that isn’t visual observing. So, I have been very interested in the concept of afocal astrophotography. I earlier got an adapter for an old point-and-shot camera but was a lot of work to get the camera positioned and then figure out all the controls. Again, I could use the DSLR. But, then I found an article about using a smartphone. So, I purchased a couple of adapters which sat gathering dust. But, going to make it a goal to figure out afocal photography using a smartphone.
I first step was to do some researching on the Internet. A number of article I found are below. Here are my takeaways:
- Smartphones can take adequate images through the eyepieces. This is partial due to the increasing technology in each new smartphone model.
- An adapter is necessary to hold the smartphone steady over the eyepiece.
- Something is necessary to take the picture to avoid movement
- Dedicated apps will probably help with the process but curious how the native camera controls do.
The next step will be to re-review the two adapters I have.
Articles:
- https://iphonephotographyschool.com/night-sky/
- https://canadianastronomy.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/smartphone-astrophotography-how-to-photograph-the-moon-planets-with-your-phone/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyGKGBKECkU
- https://www.nightcapcamera.com/photograph-the-moon-on-your-iphone-with-nightcap-camera/
- https://www.iastrophotography.com/the-orion-nebula-iastrophotography/
- http://onealwebsite.com/stargazer/AP-EASY_PEASY.pdf