TIL a trick with my phone's camera to get better star pics

Henry Perry · 2026-03-16T17:45:06.041537+00:00

I was trying to get a shot of Orion last night with my Pixel 7, but everything was just a blurry mess. I found a setting to lock the focus at infinity, which is buried in the pro mode, and it made the stars actually sharp. Anyone know other phone camera tricks for this stuff?

grace5087mo ago

Is locking focus at infinity really that big a deal? Most phones do that automatically in night mode anyway. In my experience, the real problem is camera shake, not focus. You can have perfect focus, but if your hand moves at all, the stars will still be blurry lines. A cheap tripod or even propping your phone against a book does way more than messing with pro settings. Plus, phone sensors are just too small to get good star detail, no matter the trick.

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quinn_barnes67mo ago

But what about phones without a pro mode?

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pat_coleman7mo ago

My old phone took a great moon photo once.

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