Camera Controls; Additional Resources - Celestron ASTRO FI Manuel D'instructions

IMAGING TIPS AND TRICKS

Camera Controls

The standard camera apps that come preinstalled with your smartphone offer very rudimentary controls and are designed to automatically
adjust focus and exposure. This is not a problem for everyday photography such as landscapes or portraits, but can be a problem for
imaging a planet or the Moon where you have a very bright object against a very black sky. The phone's camera tries to compensate for
the imbalance of lighting by brightening up the dark areas, but this causes the bright areas to overexpose and blow-out the details. If your
camera app settings do not allow you to manually select the focus point or have an option to disable the autofocus or auto-exposure, you
may want to consider using a different camera app. You can fi nd lots of aftermarket apps for iOS and Android that offer a greater amount
of control for your camera. Many of these are free.
Vibration
To help eliminate any vibration induced when you touch the camera to snap the image, try using a shutter delay. Some apps offer a 2, 5, or
10 second delay before snapping the image. This will give the vibrations a chance to dissipate before actually taking the images.
Subjects to Shoot
Using this method, you should be able to take images of daytime terrestrial objects and nighttime astronomical images of the Moon and
bright planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Unfortunately, smartphone camera sensors are not designed to work well in very low light,
so it will not be possible to capture faint astronomical objects such as galaxies or nebulae in this manner.
Magnifi cation
When looking at the Moon or planets with a stationary telescope, you will notice that the object appears to drift across the fi eld of view.
This is actually caused by the Earth's rotation. If you were looking visually through your 25mm eyepiece, a planet would take approximately
3.0 minutes to drift across the entire eyepiece's fi eld of view. If you are using the 10mm eyepiece, it would only take 1.5 minutes. The
smartphone does not use the entire eyepiece's fi eld of view and only uses the center of it, making the motion appear even faster. When
centering an astronomical object in the phone's fi eld of view, try leading the target. Try to point the scope ahead of the planet so that it is
just entering the fi eld of view. This will maximize the amount of time it takes to drift across the entire fi eld, allowing you more time to take
images before needing to re-aim the telescope. The 10mm will have a narrower fi eld of view and will need to be adjusted more often as a
result. Working with the 25mm eyepiece will be easier at the start. Once you are comfortable with it, try stepping up to the 10mm eyepiece.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

How to Contact Celestron
For assistance with this product, please visit Celestron's online technical support center at https://www.celestron.com/pages/technical-support.
Here, you may search through a comprehensive database of frequently asked questions or submit a request for assistance.
Written correspondence may be sent to:
Celestron • 2835 Columbia Street • Torrance, CA 90503
A s t r o F i T E L E S C OP E
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