Digiscoping the Orion Nebula using Binoculars and a Smartphone

In this video i use a smartphone, a smartphone adapter and a pair of 10x50 binoculars to image Messier 42, the Orion Nebula. I'll explain how to attach the camera to the binoculars, how to setup a camera app to control exposure, speed and file format, and how to use multiple frames to make a single image of the nebula. I used a pair of Celestron Upclose G2 binoculars and the ProCam 8 smartphone camera app. It's an unusual form of digiscoping, but it works with a little careful setup and practice.
Note: The ProCam app is only available for iPhones but there are many good camera apps for Android phones including HD Camera Pro.

[@donaldrobertson117]

"After what feels like days, but was only 15 minutes" sums up a lot about this hobby!

[@epic_playz4283]

Seens like an hour feels like 20 minutes in astronomy for me

[@goldenpotato2159]

Hello! I know this is probably an older video and you might never see this comment but I really want to thank you. I am a complete beginner and this video helped me so much! Because of this, i was able to photograph my first picture of the moon and showed me how great astrophotography is, when you lined up that perfect shot, its like magic!

[@JenhamsAstro]

That’s very good to hear, I’m glad it was helpful.

[@CelticBearWoman31]

@@JenhamsAstro All what @goldenpotato2159 said! :D.

[@bakerboy273]

Hi, thank you for taking the time to make this video, it is the most clearly presented one I have seen and fitted my equipment perfectly so I am now ready to have another go at shooting the moon - deep sky images will have to wait until I am more confident.

[@jamesmcenhill4037]

I've only just watched this and I can't believe the images your getting on this setup, I'm just starting out which is a bonus as everything I find is new to me and exciting but you explain things so easy for a newbie like me can pick up on straight away as I'm looking for a scope and dslr to get me going

[@natem7440]

what i like about this demonstration is that most anyone already owns a phone - that's that most expensive part covered. A budget 10x50 can easily be obtained along with the other components. Any budding astro-photographer can dip their toe in the water...

[@nekite1]

What I have found is that I set the binoculars with the tripod adjustment handle facing away from the user. This means it is easier to focus on targets that are nearer to the zenith without the handle fouling the legs/body of the tripod.

[@mihailssisovs6983]

Doing this with my Skymaster 15x70, Nexyz and Poco x3. So far very satisfied, M13, M27 look great, with up to 14.8 m stars

[@billtracy8865]

Thank you for a much needed video. I just started doing astrophotos through my 7 X 50 Nikon and android smartphone. You described the problems and frustrations of the camera holder beautifully. My biggest problem (other than cold) has been aligning my camera and binocular eyepiece exit pupil. I had not discovered rolling back the eyecap. Many thanks for that tip. I too started with Orion then on to the 7 Sisters. Moderate beginners success, got an image. Would have more to report, but plagued with an extremely cloudy wet winter.

[@mervebingol8284]

How to take pics via binocolurs please can you explain? Im crazy about sky but wanna take photos of what im seeing aswell.how can i manage it? Id appraciate if you answer my buddy

[@ethemaydar5075]

​@@mervebingol8284hala astronomiyle ilgileniyor musunuz

[@johnlavin-ford8372]

Great upload mate. Im a returning NikonPro photographer who's now dabbling, quite often unsuccessfully, in astro photography.... This is clear concise and to the point.. I have just subbed to support your channel mate... My channel is a little lacking as time tie to video and edit has been killing my photography. Thanks again for giving us all your time.

[@tean03]

You made exactly what I want to do. Thank you!!! Now I know it is possible.

[@jamesdavies3223]

Didn't think about rolling the rubber on lense back... Thank you for that tip!

[@MrRomeoo007]

Beautiful ❤️ I m trying to start astronomy soon and I m going to start with 10x50 binoculars thank you your videos gives me positivity to start with Binos love and light ❤️🙏🕉️😇

[@alancampbell1008]

Thanks for an informative video. I've the Celestron phone adaptor which I have struggled to line up, folding back the cup might be the answer! Buying used without instructions probably didn't help! Would love to see the final result.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Yes you can I photographed m67,M44 and the Coat Hanger using my 25mm Pocket Borg refractor,a bracket and my Google Pixel 3a.I generally use a 25mm Kelner but have used 32mm Celestron,15mm Altair and a 9mm Skywatcher Planetary eyepiece as well but as the scope has no finder I tend to use the 32mm to find what I'm looking for and then pop the eyepiece/bracket/phone into the star diagonal.

[@pedade02]

Excellent, as all your other videos are... Many thanks.

[@GarnettLeary]

Those are great binoculars. I regret selling mine. Cool video. Very encouraging. This is absolutely budget friendly. Clear skies.

[@JenhamsAstro]

Thanks Garnett.

[@MPAstro]

Great video Graham as always!! hit the like too!! I've done something similar to this by making a special adapter and used a Sony A6400 to get amazing results!! Totally agree at the end this is a tricky set-up and not always guarantee to work on every Binoculars, I've described it in my video, It is possible to image a DSO however getting it focused and on camera is an achievement by it's self!! And newcomers must understand that a set-up like this does work but setting prior to imaging the night is crucial, As with most telescope set-ups, they do not work straight away from out of the box, they need to be set-up in order for the user to get the possible views!!

[@JenhamsAstro]

Thanks Martin, fully agree. Been wanting to do this for a while but it's remained on my "to do" list of videos until now. This demanded more patience than most AP and the inevitable nights of failure along the way, but with the weather so poor I liked the fact that once it was eventually set-up you could grab the images without spending too long outside - A challenge to be overcome! I'll check out your video.

[@knightclan4]

Great video mate

[@VM-bk5vc]

Fantastic. Thank you

[@1maticsportsandGames]

Nice, got 10x50 it's simple but have to use a tripod, great video👍

[@astrocatsastronomyandhistory]

Thanks this really helps since I’m starting my own astronomy channel

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

I have all three of these things and absolutely no excuses!

[@JenhamsAstro]

Good luck! It may drive you crazy but it'll be worth it in the end!

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

@@JenhamsAstro I'm going to have to work on my excuses, aren't I?

[@AnhTuPhucDerrickHoangCanada]

Whoa want are you doing here???....COOL!! I learned a lot!

[@thewrongaccount608]

Thanks for the video. I got the same mount and it is a bit wobbly. I'll try it out next time the skies are clear.

[@zenitmann]

Great video thanks

[@petset77]

Thanks for your video. I'm going to look into the ProCam 8 compatability with with iPhone SE2022. In this phone's standard configuration, it only takes 1/60 second snapshots, nothing for low light situations like astro (I can however take great snapshots of the moon because it's so bright). Fingers crossed that the app is compatible. Thanks again.... and I just subscribed to your channel.

[@robinj.9329]

My tripods are all so big and heavy that they NEVER get lost. BUT, that tiny "Bracket" or "Tri-pod Adapter" for the binoculars? I'm must loose at least two per year! Yup! I don't know if their growing their own "Legs" and running off, OR if visitors to my home take a liking ti them and just slip 'em in a pocket when I'm not looking! And the really good quality ones? They can cost thirty or fourty DOLLAR each!! So...... Even though I've bought at least a dozen of those "brackets" over the years, theirs NEVER one around when I want one !

[@ethemaydar5075]

Hello brother, can you show the deep sky stacker stacking process of this video?

[@Javiercav]

Can you still do that? i have de procam app in my iphone but it limits the exposure to 1/3 sec, and i´ve found that limit on other apps to.. and the long exposure mode only let me 4 , 8 , 15 or 30 seconds exposure, but i cant find how to make 1sec exposures. it seems that apple has limited it somehow since i´ve done that with my previous iphones

[@skylight1order2008]

I know this is a little bit late but great video and very useful. Hoping that you might still read your comments, could I ask- is the final picture that you showed and the end the version that came out of Deep Sky Stacker or is it edited ? Thank you.

[@f1remandg]

Absolutely brilliant! No exaggerations, with all that you need achieve a photo of fairly deep space, for a small outlay, I wonder if Photo pill 💊 could help with some of the locating and timing? DG

[@JenhamsAstro]

Thanks, I appreciate that. Astro can be affordable. I haven't used PhotoPills as yet - is it any good?

[@aric4009]

Should i buy the app nightcap or procam8?

[@dishantgandhi6007]

Hi Jenham, I did follow this way, I have Bresser Hunter 7x50, I am facing trouble of the eyepeice getting loose when I attach the smartphone adapter, is that natural? Because I tried twice and the eyepeice has got very loose and I don't know to tighten it, If you could help or guide it would be awesome help. Thanks Edit: I fixed it by removing the center cap and tighten the screw

[@ks4423]

Does anyone know any good free camera apps for iPhone 11

[@user-kl2cl8xi2f]

When I take an interval shot of a nebula by adjusting focus and sec, the setting changes from the second shot and it goes completely dark. How can I take interval shots with the same settings as in this movie?

[@astrodad-simonb277]

Great video!! I have an ETX 60 and 8ich SCT - can you recommend the holder for these scopes as I would like to try this! Thanks! Simon

[@JenhamsAstro]

Hi Simon, I used a low cost adapter (£15) branded “GoSky” which works ok but is not very adjustable. The Celestron NeXYZ adapter (£45) is the Rolls Royce option, with the ability to centre the phone’s camera more precisely. I’ve made videos of both on my channel. Either would work with your scopes as they clamp around the eyepiece barrel. I would say that the task is a bit of a challenge, but very satisfying when all the pieces come together.

[@astrodad-simonb277]

@@JenhamsAstro Thank you, gonna go shopping today :-)

[@astrodad-simonb277]

@@JenhamsAstro Going for the cheaper option and see ho I do with my 8inch SCT and ETX 60 :-) thanks again!

[@dorothycoleman4834]

Oh BoY is it frust4rating to wait until dark. lmao yep!! i was going to give my binoculars away... Ha and that was the nice thing i almost did ! :) thank you so very much for this excellent guide 👀❤

[@JenhamsAstro]

Thanks. Waiting for clear weather really is frustrating, but binocular astrophotography can take it to another level! Binos are great for simple visual astro though, worth keeping for quick looks at the sky between the clouds.

[@dorothycoleman4834]

@@JenhamsAstro i love mine . thanks again!

[@Richie5903]

Hi Graham , thanks for the video ( and all your others ) they have all been very helpful as I'm taking my first steps into viewing the night sky and dipping a toe into AP. One question if you could help please. When I've taken raw images on my phone and moved them over to my pc .. I can't seem to get deepskystacker to see the images. If I take jpgs it will see them but when using raw it for some reason is not able to see that the files exist in the directory , as if it doesn't have the ability to read raw photos. Am I missing a step , do they need to be changed from raw to jpg before being processed ?

[@JenhamsAstro]

Hi Richie, DSS should be stacking RAW files. I’ve just tried it. When you select “Open Light Frames”, to the right of the File Name box you can select the file type to RAW from a drop-down list. My EOS’s raw files are .CR2 files, but there are other types. Have you tried this? Graham

[@Richie5903]

@@JenhamsAstro Thanks for the reply , I will have a look and see if thats it , maybe I was just being a dope lol

[@paulpendyck9438]

Thank you for another great video. Looking forward to trying this out. Downloaded Procam but are having a problem getting it to act like your camera does. Can you elaborate on how you made the settings please.

[@JenhamsAstro]

Thanks Paul. The ProCam website has a good tutorial which should help. Basically select the button for ISO or exposure etc, then move the slider.

[@paulpendyck9438]

@@JenhamsAstro had a look at that but couldn’t see how to get it to continuously take the photos like you did each time after the timer

[@JenhamsAstro]

Paul Pendyck OK if you have gone into set up and set the times, you come back out and press the timer button to the right of the shutter. It has a few settings but one is a repetitive timer. The icon has a clock with an arrow around it.

[@paulpendyck9438]

@@JenhamsAstro Got it. Thank you

[@AndersRisager]

Totally new to astrophotography, so please bare with me... Would it be preferable to take exposures lasting longer than one second? And would I still need as many frames as possible?

[@JenhamsAstro]

Hello Anders, there was a a guide in astro called the “1 in 500” rule which is good to understand, and helps to determine the maximum exposure before stars show a trail ( a line not a dot) in a frame. There are some subtleties like type of camera but basically with this setup 1s is about the max. If I knew the exact focal length of the binoculars i could be more precise as the rule gives a time of 500/focal length. If I put the binoculars onto a tracking platform then the problem is solved, but then it wouldn’t be simple, cheap astro! Clear skies!

[@karenjessick7053]

I just bought Celestron sky master 15 x 70 binoculars and really struggled with trying to align my smart phone to the eyepiece and got so frustrated I was ready to just return everything but now I have hope and I’m going to try again.

[@JenhamsAstro]

Definitely worth a try. These adapters are frustrating!

[@youssefeltabarany3802]

Great video, I just wanted to know how you locked the shutter speed and the ISO because when I tried to use it it would reset the iso and shutter speed every time and I had to redo them the whole time.

[@JenhamsAstro]

It had a mind of it's own and did reset a few times. I don't remember how I overcame this, sorry. Trial and error.

[@ngc290]

Thank U for the video .. inspire to start at this beautifull hobbie .. I have celestron binoculars 25x100 .. only did some moon shots . Am satisface with the result .. but I didnt try yet orion nebula . I have one app who dont take or give me the setting for long exposure . Do You know any app who does for Android? I downloaded the one you recommended but didnt find the option for take 1 second exposure . Or only work on I phone ? Best regards .

[@JenhamsAstro]

Hi, I'm not sure why you can't get to 1s. From other comments I believe that open camera, bacon camera, pro shot and HD camera pro are some android apps. I haven't tried these as I've got an i-phone. Clear skies!

[@ngc290]

Thank U .. for your time .. will try those app .

[@dahunk84]

I tried using one of the those cellphone mounts with an ST80 and it was very finicky to get it all lined up and focused. I ended up returning it, but maybe I should get it and spend more time with it. On another note, Have you tried any EAA/Video astronomy yet?

[@JenhamsAstro]

Hi Rahul, it is very finicky no doubt. I took it as a challenge. Not tried video/eaa yet but would like to.

[@exonysis8252]

@@JenhamsAstro whats the camera seting can you privide detailled in pro camera settings

[@nikandbdog]

I just bought the Celestron 25x70 binoculars. can you recommend a sturdy, inexpensive tripod?

[@exonysis8252]

Amazon basic

[@artmakersworlds]

I have an iphone 6. That ProCam 8 requires 11 or better. Got any ideas what app will actually work on MY phone?

[@JenhamsAstro]

Maybe NightCap?

[@artmakersworlds]

@@JenhamsAstro I looked, nope. Compatibility iPhone Requires iOS 14.0 or later. Thanks for trying though.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Another tip... Set the focus to infinity in daylight!

[@JenhamsAstro]

Yes, find that distant tree etc and lock it in!

[@re.l124c41_]

Hi! How do I set focus to infinity on this app?

[@fabriziolongo83]

Awesome. Can you explain all steps for DeepSkyStacker? Did you use only pics right? No dark files or flat files? Please clarify me 😊

[@JenhamsAstro]

Hi Fabrizio, I'm not expert and I think there are a few tutorial videos online that would help you. Normally I add darks (and often flats) when I'm doing AP, but for this quick dip using the binoculars I only used lights for simplicity.

[@fabriziolongo83]

@@JenhamsAstro thanks for info. All tutorials talk about RAW from camera. I'm interesting about to do same image processing using only smartphone. I had bad results with DeepSkyStacker using only light frames (with Andromeda galaxy not with orion nebula). But I will try again. I hope you can do a video tutorial with only smartphone AP. Your channel is lovely ☺️

[@JenhamsAstro]

Thanks! I have had some bad results using only light RAWs as well - the final image came out almost white. For that issue I did find a solution in the forums somewhere - not sure I remember which box I unticked/ticked though so not much help, sorry!

[@Talalpro_1]

Im using a tracking mount how do I get raw over 1 second iphone 11 pro

[@JenhamsAstro]

So far I haven't found a app to exceed 1s.

[@Talalpro_1]

@@JenhamsAstro That’s sad I hope someone makes a 30 second app

[@achemvenkatamuni9567]

Sir, Can I shoot milky way core using this binoculars?

[@JenhamsAstro]

It would be difficult and not the easiest approach. Much simpler with a DSLR and a lens.

[@nightfury4524]

some phone comes with multiple aperture , how that works in it?

[@JenhamsAstro]

Good question. My iPhone has 2 lenses. When I set it up in daytime the best setup was with one of the lenses aligned with the eyepiece. I’m not sure what the other lens does.

[@nightfury4524]

@@JenhamsAstro it means, it anyways works. Please tell why those pictures you prepared in video as final image. Aren't impressively sharp, as if digitally zoomed into. Why is so?

[@JenhamsAstro]

Night Fury I think a combination of a cheap binocular and the difficulty of mounting the camera rigidly probably led to the images not being super sharp. The project was mainly for fun and the result could be improved with more practice.

[@nightfury4524]

Your words and guidance is really encouraging. Thank you I have a celestron 15x70 BTW. 😉

[@TheSohamArtbk]

how could you see the orion nebula with a binocular?

[@JenhamsAstro]

You can see it as a smudge with the naked eye, even better with a pair of binoculars.

[@TheSohamArtbk]

@@JenhamsAstro OK!

[@CindyBallreich]

Be careful!! You'll never get big name sponsors if you tell people that astrophotography can be done inexpensively!

[@tombouie]

Thks &; I says make a carousel/merry-go-around that rtoates once every 24hours ; put your set-up on it ; & let the camera be exposed all night long.

[@pangrac1]

Nice tutorial, but result photo is horrible. Need for better optics is evident.

[@wildyorkieoutdoors7271]

Using a computer and a app as well bait of a click bait going on here

[@amanshrestha6510]

Sir thank you so much for your kind information appreciate 😊😊😊🫡