margaretm23•16d agoProlific Poster

Got a $50 clip-on phone lens for astro shots, total waste.

Tried to capture the Orion Nebula with it last night and all I got was a blurry mess with weird color fringes. The plastic lens just can't handle the light from dim stars. Anyone know a decent budget starter option that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_cameron15d ago

Honestly? My clip-on did okay on the moon. For deep sky stuff like Orion though, you're right, it's rough. Those plastic lenses scatter light like crazy. I had to stack like a hundred shots just to get a faint smudge.

hollyn709d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy tried that exact thing with his phone and binoculars. Tbh it looked way better than my old clip-on shots ever did. He got the whole belt of Orion in one go without all that noise.

paigep2015d ago

Skip the clip-on entirely and use your phone's main lens. Tape it to the eyepiece of a cheap pair of binoculars for a basic afocal setup. You'll get better light gathering without the plastic messing everything up.