Astrophotography mode takes a 4 minute night sight exposure

  • lefty7283@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Pretty good for a phone! I’m guessing it’s doing some kind of stacking process? I think there would be some streaking with a single 4 min exposure, but your stars look nice and sharp

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      I’m assuming there is some sort of stacking process involved in the software as well, but that’s just how it came out. It actually provided me with a one second video of the process too where you can watch the Stars move a little. But the picture I posted is exactly as I got it off the camera, I posted it from the same phone I took it with.

      Edit: here’s the video, I converted it to a gif in the original orientation.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        2 days ago

        It seems to have improved since the pixel 8. I started doing astrophotography with my phone and I’d always get star trails. Haven’t tried again since getting my seestar lol I love that thing

    • Tempus Fugit@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      Yes, iirc it’s 4 min worth of ~15 second exposures that get stitched together. Most smartphones within the last 5 years should be able to do this too. I know on my Pixel 7 you just have to put the camera in night mode and leave it still for a few seconds to trigger the astrophoto mode.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It probably crops in to overlay all images perfectly. I’m guessing if the trees were lit they’d be blurry.

  • Kokesh@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I’m so far not impressed with the northern lights photography on my new Pixel 9 Pro XL. I’m coming from Xiaomi 12, the photos were better than with Pixel. It is rather dark.

    • Flax@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      Did you let the astrophotography mode go through? Make sure the moon on the phone turns into an icon with a few stars. You’ll know you’ve done it correctly if it starts a timer that is up to four minutes

      • Kokesh@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I suppose you can’t turn HDR+ off on stock Pixel, or am I wrong? I’ll try Gcam, maybe it will produce better results.

  • Gerudo@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    You got a better picture with your phone than I have ever got with my dslr setup and stacking software. I don’t know whether to applaud you or hate you lol.

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      I guarantee it wouldn’t have been this good if I weren’t in an area with no light pollution lol

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      This is not much better than what I can do with a single frame under the right conditions and with a little post tweaking. Canon rebel t6s, a f/2.8 lens in the 20-35mm range, steady mount, remote (cabled) shutter, 45-60s exposure, iso 1600, and most importantly, bortle 3 skies or better. You also get more star density by pointing at the galactic plane, specifically towards the center - the teapot asterism, or the scorpion. Then play with the photo in photoshop or gimp.

      Again, I cannot stress this enough, but dark skies are the most important part. If the sky doesnt wow you by eye, your picture isn’t going to wow you either. Check a light pollution map and consider that cities 50+ miles away will still have light domes over them if you want anything clear near the horizon

  • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    That worked great! Cool photo!

    I’ve tried this with a dslr and ended up getting light streaks, so appreciate the wizardry involved in that mode

    • sanpo@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      If I remember correctly it avoids the streaks by taking several long-exposure photos and then combining them.

      • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        That would still create streaks, the software needs to also rotate the pictures a specific amount to keep that from happening. My guess is that it’s using the GPS location to some extent in concert with the long exposures.

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      I took the photo late in the evening, about 11:40pm local time.
      I assume I didn’t catch any satellites because the sun was too far below the horizon to illuminate any of the near earth ones (starlink) and I was 30 miles from the nearest town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I didn’t catch any city lights or low flying aircraft.

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      Go to night sight on the camera and adjust the shutter settings to Astro and it’ll take a 4 min exposure