Starlog October 1st, 2022, 7:24 p.m. local time
Tonight was my first opportunity to try photographing the Moon with my new iPhone. All in all, it went well, I think, for this inaugural attempt.
The phone is noticeably heavier than my prior iPhone XS, but not so much as to be a burden, either to me or to my smaller 127mm telescope, which is my go-to scope for lunar photography. My primary concern was with the obtruding camera lenses and how they might impact alignment with the telescope’s eyepiece. Much to my relief, it seems to be a non-factor, as my phone’s case flushes out the back some. And more, all I really have to do is adjust the planar alignment of the mount to the eyepiece before tightening, an exercise which has to be done regardless of the mounted phone type.
Within the NightCap app, I noticed that the minimum ISO is now 57 versus the XS’s 24. Annoyingly, the ISO and exposure reset after every shot. I need to fix this so I can take rapid photos without having to slide around these settings between every picture.
Looking ahead, I want to leverage this more-functionally diverse phone for astrophotography. It of course cannot replace my DSLR camera for certain uses, but I want to explore different lunar and wide sky applications.
Equipment Used:
- 127mm Mak-Cass telescope
- 23mm eyepiece
- No eyepiece filter
- iPhone 14 Pro
- Smartphone telescope eyepiece adapter
- Nightcap app on iPhone
- f/1.8
- 1/350 sec exposure
- ISO 57
- Focal length: 4mm
- Minor touchups in PaintShop Pro and AfterShot Pro
