3
TIL stacking phone pics through a cheap telescope beats my fancy camera
Grabbed a $30 Celestron from a garage sale in Denver and layered 50 iPhone shots in Sequator. Way clearer than the single shot from my DSLR. Anyone tried stacking phone photos for planetary stuff?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
michael8035d ago
Stacking is a complete game changer for planetary shots. I messed around with a similar setup last year using an old Meade scope and my Pixel phone. That single frame from any phone looks terrible but lining up 40 or 50 frames in Registax cleaned up the noise like magic. Got Jupiter with cloud bands and three moons visible where my DSLR just gave me a fuzzy orange blob. The trick is keeping the phone perfectly steady so the alignment software doesn't freak out. Your Sequator approach is smarter since it handles the layer math automatically.
6
kim_davis5d ago
Jump into trying a solar filter on that same setup like @michael803 mentioned, stacking works just as well for the sun if you're careful. A few dozen frames stacked can really bring out granulation and sunspot detail that single shots just wash out. I mean, it's a whole different kind of patience compared to Jupiter but the result is just as cool.
8
the_elizabeth5d ago
50 shots of Jupiter through a garage sale scope and I bet that DSLR is still sitting on a shelf feeling very judged right now. My Pixel phone gets laughed at by astrophotography snobs but I stacked 35 frames of the moon last month and you could see the little craters inside the big ones. The phone camera noise disappears completely once you start stacking.
2