In this video my friend Alanna and I photograph the Milky Way with a phone. We use an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy, and I compare the two. Sometimes it's nice to do astrophotography without a big camera and a star tracker!
On Samsung S21, instead of setting the timer, there is also a voice command option in the camera settings. All you have to say is "Shoot" and it takes the picture.
You can go into the settings then camera settings on the iphone and shoot in apple pro raw which will make the file a lot like the DNG file from the android
Great video! The iPhone can take Raw Photos, you have to turn that feature on in settings, then can Toggle it in the App. NightCap Camera App is great for the iPhone. It was $2.99 when I bought many years ago. Gives you controls, does Star Trails, and more.
I was amazed by what I got with my Google Pixel 7 Pro from the Kaibab Lodge (North Rim) in June just out our cabin door by propping up my phone on a small table (didn't have a phone tripod mount with me). It will keep adding light for up to four minutes! I prefer using my Nikon Z6ii which is astro-modded, but it was cool to see what my camera could do.
The only problem for me is the LIGHT POLLUTION 🤯 like I must travel somewhere to get it done,, Thank you for the video it is amazing as usual showing the potential of mobiles in Astrophotography.. BTW what is the Samsung galaxy model you get the image with?
My Samsung S23 and some others have a setting for voice control photos. I just say, "shoot" and it takes the shot, no vibration. If your phone doesn't have it try using the time delay with the shutter button to avoid vibration. I'm trying a beta version of an app called DeepSkyCamera which is similar to the Samsung Pro setting but has added features like programing the number of continuous frames you want to take as well as the interval between (0-90 secs). Both camera apps let you save images in RAW (actually DNG in Android) or JPG or both. RAW is not actually an image file like JPG. It is an uncompressed, unprocessed data file that is a record of what the camera sensor actually detected. RAW files will often look nearly black until they are edited, but the depth of binary information in the file is just waiting to burst out with processing. Try processing a JPG the same way as a RAW file and it will look sick. The bad kind of sick, with green and black splotchy blobs. You have the option to process them yourself in Photoshop or use Gimp for free. I open RAW files in Irfanview (another great free image viewing/editing program) and save them as TIFF files for processing with Gimp. I've also been trying out Sequator, a free stacking program. I can take as many photos as I want using short exposures to avoid star trails. Sequator automatically aligns the dozens or even hundreds of images and stacks them into a single virtual long exposure image without using a tracker, reducing background noise by averaging out the images. It can also fix the ground image so that it is not blurred. I've been able to edit some impressive images from RAW files just using the native Samsung photo app. And I just found out I could do all this stuff with a smartphone a few weeks ago. Who knew?
Thank you!! I have an android, Motorola 5G Stylus. Setting the ISO and shutter speed allows for great pictures that I never realized was possible. Thank you!!
Very nice! But can you perhaps elaborate a bit more on what you did on the .dng? No stacking i suppose, as you only had 1 image, so how did you clean it up so nicely?
Yeah it was a single image. I did a small stretch using curves in Photoshop. I then removed the stars using RC Astor's StarXTerminator. From there I stretched the starless image a little more with curves. After that I ran RC Astro''s NoiseXTerminator. Then I proceeded to do some Camera Raw Filter adjustments such as clarity, de-haze, vibrance, and saturation. Finally I added the stars back and ran one more instance of NoiseXTerminator.
I'm very very sad coz i cant do this on my phone,,, is it possible on Samsung Galaxy F13? Cannot found the speed option plz help me i love astrophotography 😭😭😭😭 from Bangladesh 🇧🇩🇧🇩
I don't remember which model, but it was not switched to Raw. I plan on making this video again this summer and using someone's IPhone and switching it to RAW this time.
Hey Walt. So my phone uses android OS, so my camera is a lot like your Samsung. I do have the option to save my photos in RAW format. So here are my questions: 1) Can you stack the images from the phone camera? 2) My phone camera also has an HDR feature. Should I leave it on, or turn it off? Thanks for your time answering my questions. I plan to check out Staunton River Park in VA in a few days. It is a registered dark sky location and is a bortle 4, so I may try this when I am there. I do have a general question about the bortle scale. So when I look at the light pollution map, it gives the bortle number, but I also see something called Artificial Brightness. I assume that is related to the amount of light pollution, so I try to find the lowest Artificial Brightness number I can. Am I correct? And if I am, wouldn't that make the bortle scale a bit inaccurate, since there can be a range of Artificial Brightness per bortle number?
I've never tried it, but I believe you can stack. You can get intervelometer apps for your phone that will take multiple photos for you. It's handy for time lapses, but it could be great for stacking as well. You might have to load all your photos into Lightroom and save them all as uncompressed TIFF before stacking in software like Sequator. I would leave HDR off for these kinds of photos. Tuesday is the full moon so make sure you go out there a few days after that so the moon won't ruin your shot! I'm not very familiar with Artificial Brightness, so I'll look into that!
@@deltaastrophotography Great! Yeah, I am just going to the park to see if it is accessible 24 hrs and whether there is an open area that gives me access to most of the sky. Like I said, it was named an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), so I hope to it will be my new dark site since it is only a 90 min drive. Keep up the great videos!
It detects movement I guess. It knows when it's very still while on a tripod. For my phone I just got a basic WalMart tripod for around $30. Works great!
Depends on your model. All he says in the video is "Samsung Galaxy", but it looks to be atleast the S21(+ or Ultra). If you have the S9 or S10, you might be limited. If you have a newer model, make sure you're using "Pro-Mode" or Expert Raw.
@deltaastrophotography yeah just tonight lol. My first ever "astrophotography" try. Clouds moved in and screwed it up. But I wasn't using any zoom and I got what I don't think is a terrible shot of m45 I think it is. A bit left of Jupiter.
Hi Walt, In a couple of days I will be heading to the southern most tip of Vancouver Island for a month. The new moon will be on the 16th. I am planning to shoot the milky way. If the skies are cloudy that day, how many days either side are reasonably good to shoot? Regards, Lord Jack Thair
Hi there! I could be a little off since you are much farther north than me, but I would say your best window would be around 10:30/11:00 at night between Aug. 8 and 22. Give or take a day or two on both sides.
Just look at the iPhone's 30s shot's exif. You'll see it is 10sec. The other 20s is the process. And like other poeple wrote, it can shoot in dng. Also good to know the proRAW is not means professional but processed raw.
I don't have an iPhone so I'm not entirely sure, but several commenters have suggesting using Raw Pro. I'm not sure if that's an app you buy or if it comes with newer IPhones. But it seems to give much better results.
Bare in mind that iphone used 50% more exposure time and still didn't beat the bigger sensor on galaxy . Hardware advantages really shine their best when you take out computational photography.
My brother sent me your link when I lamented not having a sophisticated (or any) telescope to use to see the details of our galaxy and beyond…. So, we can see the milky way through the iPhone, but can it photograph the rings of Saturn ?
Yeah that sucks! I wish I had an iPhone to go and an figure things out. We had to let my friend's iPhone sit on the tripod for several seconds before it detected it was on the tripod. But it could be a number of things. I wish I could be of more help with this.
I've considered that! I actually have an app called Deep Sky Camera that has a built-in intervalometer so I could take multiple images. I'm going to have to give that a shot!
@deltaastrophotography Hey there!! I have a galaxy A52s which doesn't save in RAW format in the native app. Deep sky camera does provide that feature. Can you please make a video on the same?
I live in a Bortle 3/4 area. I get a good bit of light pollution near the horizon so basically all my photos look like they are taken at sunset. Still very nice shots of the Milky Way. I would say once you get higher than Bortle 4, you are going to start having a difficult time.
I absolutely HATE Crapple products so I'm totally biased toward the Samsung (Android). I think the detail with the Samsung makes up for the noise. I'm horrible when it comes to editing so I would post the raw Samsung image on IG in a heartbeat!
