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What are good ways to capture auroras with smartphone cameras? During the recent big aurora I've found sideloaded GCam's Night Sight on my half a decade old phone to be acceptable while my gf with a newer handset couldn't get any good photos even with manual mode, what other alternatives are there?

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I got the best results with the google camera app and using the astrophotography mode (may be something limited to Pixel Phones?)

The mode gets activated when your phone doesn't move for a few seconds while you have the 'Night Sight' tab open.

In this mode, the photo will take 2-5 minutes, but the results are worth it. It feels like you can see every single star with it. It also (sometimes?) creates a timelapse, which was really cool, when I photographed to aurora, as you could see it moving in the timelapse. (It was very faint where I life, so I couldn't just take a video to see it)

For the iPhone you should be able to use the NightCap camera app [1], it can stack multiple exposures.

[1] https://nightcapcamera.com/aurora-photography-photograph-the...

If your camera app has a manual setting, set a 5 second timer and a 30 seconds exposure, then put it on the floor, face down and camera up.

If you want to angle it in a specific direction, a small plastic bag with sand, earth or rice in it will provide a polyvalent, portable and stable support.

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