iPhone 15 Pro Max Star Test: 15 PM Night mode is better than 14 pro max!!

[ToddH]

Thanks. So it doesn’t need to be on a tripod, just at rest. That’s what confused me. It also needs to be sufficiently dark, from my tests, otherwise the maximum will be lower.

At rest, yes. But you’ll need to be able to point the iPhone & see the screen where you plan to shoot, if it’s the sky, a tripod is best. Even if it’s a pocket tripod with the mobile phone holder on top. Any slight motion of the iPhone will bring the maximum exposure back to 10” or less.

 

[Jumpie]

The built in accelerometer can tell when the iPhone is being held or at rest. When in night mode, you’ll see the maximum exposure time switch from 10” to 30” when on a tripod and still. Night mode defaults at 5”, so to obtain the maximum exposure time, the exposure slider (looks like a ruler directly above the shutter button) has to be swiped to the left to achieve maximum exposure time. To better explain…. Watch this short video.

He does some good videos

 

[GuruZac]

Tried this one-saw maybe 10 stars with the naked eye so was not expecting the outcome. Native Camera app, HEIF Max setting, Night Mode set to 30 sec. Taken off back porch.

 

[ToddH]

Tried this one-saw maybe 10 stars with the naked eye so was not expecting the outcome. Native Camera app, HEIF Max setting, Night Mode set to 30 sec. Taken off back porch.View attachment 2291138

That looks pretty good. Is that the only view of the sky you have there? The HEIF did better than I expected. I’d like to see more sky though.

 

[Jumpie]

Tried this one-saw maybe 10 stars with the naked eye so was not expecting the outcome. Native Camera app, HEIF Max setting, Night Mode set to 30 sec. Taken off back porch.View attachment 2291138

One day I’m gonna get a pic as good as this

 

[GuruZac]

One day I’m gonna get a pic as good as this

Ah thanks mate. Truth be told, with proper stabilization (tripod, table, chair, something to keep iPhone absolutely still) and a dark sky, this is pretty consistently what I’m able to get straight out of the iPhone. It’s pretty wild how far phone cameras have come. The 13 Pro camera was also super impressive for astrophotography considering it’s a smartphone, and the 15 Pro Max is not disappointing.

I live in the mountains of East Tennessee and our sky’s here are dark and clear, with very little light pollution. Especially a short 30 min drive to any of the mountain tops.

 

[Jumpie]

Ah thanks mate. Truth be told, with proper stabilization (tripod, table, chair, something to keep iPhone absolutely still) and a dark sky, this is pretty consistently what I’m able to get straight out of the iPhone. It’s pretty wild how far phone cameras have come. The 13 Pro camera was also super impressive for astrophotography considering it’s a smartphone, and the 15 Pro Max is not disappointing.

I live in the mountains of East Tennessee and our sky’s here are dark and clear, with very little light pollution. Especially a short 30 min drive to any of the mountain tops.

I’m outside of Atlanta in an area with not much light pollution but enough to make a difference

 

[ToddH]

STUPID CLOUDS!!!
Even though there are high clouds interfering with my Astrophotography, I am still amazed at how many stars the new iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max will pick up. Apparently the software now aligns all three 10 second exposures to avoid star trails, which is nice. It’s probably why it looks better. this is another shot of the Andromeda galaxy and the Cygnus region of the Milky Way. The screenshot shows the Andromeda galaxy M31 and M33 circled.

 

[dictoresno]

Thanks. So it doesn’t need to be on a tripod, just at rest. That’s what confused me. It also needs to be sufficiently dark, from my tests, otherwise the maximum will be lower.

Best off in a tripod though. Sure at rest may work, but the stability of a tripod will help you grab the angle of the shots you want. I grabbed a cheap one off Amazon.

I took some tripod shots of stars at 30 sec exposure a few years ago on my iPhone 13 Pro and they came out amazingly well. I tried last night with my 15 Pro but was met with clouds and other issues.

It was a little earlier in the night and captured a plane flying through.