Why Does the Moon Come Out So Small in Phone Cameras?

When you take a walk one night and look up at the sky Noticing how gorgeous the moon looks, By saying “everyone should see this magnificent view”, you immediately pull out your phone and want to post a story.

However, when you take a picture of the Moon and look at the screen with enthusiasm, you will be disappointed because only a white spot that is too small, too bright has. When we explain the reasons for this situation that everyone is experiencing and tell you how to take a better Moon photo with the phone, this situation will no longer be a problem.

One of the top reasons why moon photos turn out so badly on phones has to do with focal length.

The focal length of the camera is very different from the focal length of your eyes. Eye focal length is 22-24 mm, The focal length of the phone camera is 4.5-6 mm.

Also, most phones have a fixed lens, which is usually is wide-angle.

Wide-angle lenses make the distant object appear farther away, and the edges of the image appear closer and longer. For a good Moon photo, a good first shot optical zoom required, but on most phones this feature is not yet at a good level.

Since digital zooms only magnify the image, not the real object itself, there is a loss of resolution and presents a grainy (sandy) image.

On your DSLR camera with an optical zoom lens, use the lens to magnify/zoom the image. physically you can move.

focal length of the camera the closer it is adjusted to the human eye, The sizes of the Sun and Moon appear so similar to the way we see them.

We learned why it looks small, but why does the Moon look so bright in photos we take with the phone?

Because most people do not use the appropriate exposure settings. So that you can see details such as the crater You need to make a few changes to the camera settings.

On Android phones you need to:

1. Set your camera to full manual mode.(Pro fashion) bring it.
2. F(focus) last.
3. Zoom in.
4. on your camera to make the sensor less sensitive to light. lowest ISO setting use it. That’s usually 100, 200 isn’t bad either.
5. Snapshot(S) Make it 1/2400s (may be 1/1000 on some phones).

iPhones do not have Pro mode. So what should you do?

Zoom in, focus and minimize exposure and shoot. From the result if you are not satisfied You can follow the steps below:

1. on the App Store Yamera(Manual Camera) Download the app.
2. Open the app and zoom to the Moon.
3. Prior to Exposureu then customSelect . Set the shutter and ISO to the lowest and photograph.

Doing these will make the Moon’s surface look more detailed, but other objects will remain in the dark. If you want other objects to appear in the photo, you have to risk the Moon to appear brighter.

In addition, the following methods will also help you to take a better Moon photo:

1. Tripod You can keep the camera steady.
2. on the shutter release cable/remote or on your camera. the timer you can use. In this way, you prevent the vibration that occurs when pressing the phone and ensure that the photo is not distorted.
3. lightroom You can make the Moon look sharper with a photo editing application such as
4. Finally, there are two more factors that have nothing to do with the camera. One of them is about timing. Moon, near the horizon appears larger when so you can shoot at dusk or sunrise. Location is also important. Light pollution You’re less likely to get a sharp shot in a big city because you’ll get better results in a deserted location.

This is how the Moon will appear on an average phone when you make these settings:

With each new model, phone cameras take much better pictures. For example, this Moon photo, 100X Shot with a Samsung S22 Ultra with Space Zoom:

In other words, the Moon photos taken with the latest model phones are not bad at all. 10 years from now, maybe this problem will no longer exist. Of course, then we may have to pay 250,000 TL for a phone.

astrophotography Much more professional photos can be taken with this, but this will be the subject of another article.