AstroShader: iOS beta testers needed for astrophotography app 📱🔭

[fluid valve]

Yeah I dont have a star tracker and its a wide field image so I dont really care

I just put my phone on a cheap tripod with a phone holder

aside from the color looks pretty simillar to seeing the milky way with 2x50 ultra wide binoculars

[left cipher]

nice

[remote widget]

This was my Milkyway image, 10sx60 Iso 1108 in B4

I save all the images and take darks. But right now I am in Holiday I need to wait until I am home to stack them tho

[devout merlin]

What iso and exp?

[bold sleet]

Do you have the original?
(Just want to check what the white balance is like - as there have been a few issue recently)

Nice 😎
Lots of detail in there - I gave a quick curves stretch and pushed some of the details:

[sleek torrent]

15.5 seconds total of C14 double cluster in B5.3 (bit out of focus)

I was mind blown when I compared it to my 54 second image in a B8.6

[remote widget]

Yes Saved everything

White Balance was 4228K

Just wait until I am home to stack them with my PC

It’s the first time I will try darks frames to

[devout merlin]

I love the fact that you dont have any walking noise

[bold sleet]

Ah ok thanks.
Did you set this manually?

[remote widget]

Yes manually

[fluid valve]

Thanks man

[remote widget]

I did a time lapse with the Raw images in Cap cut

[upper crest]

@bold sleet sorry for the ping but i might have found a bug?? idk if your aware of it but i was shooting yesterday and for some reason it changed iso 2 times which sadly ruined the data i think it was when i went out of the app for a few seconds but it should have just saved the previous settings right?

[bold sleet]

Hey - don’t apologise at all. Thank you for raising it 🙏

Did you leave the app when it was half way through a run of imaging?
e.g. 50% progress, change app, return and let it continue to 100%

[upper crest]

nope only after it was done and i saved the image

[bold sleet]

So like you shot some images at iso 800, 0.5s finished saved. Then changed app and then reopened the app and the iso and exposure time had changed from what they were before?

[upper crest]

No i was shooting at iso 16000, 2s 60x when it was finished i saved the image in tiff closed the app (not swipe it away in app center) to do something else real quick went back and it changed the iso to 2400 which i didnt notice and after shooting a bit i closed it again (same way) and when i went back to the app again it was at 1200 iso

And i cant really remember if the exposure time changed too (sorry my memory is pretty bad) but i think it did but i did notice that but didnt notice the iso

[bold sleet]

Ah ok - thanks for explaining.

Mmm I’ll look into this. I’ve seen this once or twice but can’t reliably replicate the issue

[timber prawn]

Is there any tricks as to how to get the focus perfect on the stars? When the exposure is up, the app is extremely laggy & it’s almost impossible to get a true focus on anything.

What can I do please? Thanks in advance @bold sleet

[devout merlin]

Just zoom on a star and try to reach perfect focus, theres isnt any other tip rly

[timber prawn]

Thanks brother. Will have another go later

[devout merlin]

No problem mate, good luck

[sleek torrent]

Quick pick of M7

(Not really quick it was 30s)

[upper crest]

Jusr for confirmation if i shoot using astroshader with my iphone 15 the frames will be 2x2 binned?

[opal terrace]

the farmes

[upper crest]

🥀

[upper crest]

@bold sleet im having problems with the app i dont think aliment function is working

I keep getting this with 60x1 sec

And normally it worked fine

But now it doesnt

[opal terrace]

vro u have like 0.5 stars

[upper crest]

Live view is diff

[opal terrace]

youre out of focus

[upper crest]

I know

But if i want good focus ill be busy longer fine tuning the focus then actually shooting

This is what i normally have

[opal terrace]

dont you have an actual rack and pinion focuser

it is not hard to get better focus than that

i was able to get good focus with the heritage with a phone you can do better

[upper crest]

Whats a rack and whats a pinion focuser

[opal terrace]

this kind of focuser u have

you have an actual focuser its not that hard to do better

[upper crest]

Yk it moves when i do that so its like impossible to see

Because of movement

So i have to wait 5 sec before thats gone

See

And then guess how much i need to change it

[opal terrace]

thats not bad

[upper crest]

Btw i think thats just the image itself of the screen not in focus

[opal terrace]

yea thats decent

idk if you can get better its probably just the ass optical quality of the scope

[upper crest]

Prob

But still dont know why it doesnt align

I think it may be stars i went to a star denser area and now it works

[bold sleet]

My best guess is the combo of a only few stars plus the eyepiece shadow (the alignment aligns the images not stars specifically so will be aligning in the eye piece shadow here)

Things to try:

• Pinch to zoom so the eyepiece shadow is no longer visible
• Try dropping the exposure time slightly to 0.5s, or 0.25s, then up the ISO
• Under settings put the Alignment function to “Strong”

In terms of focussing - this is always a bit tricky but what I tend to do is…

• set the exposure to 0.1-0.25s
• crank the iso way up
• set the in-app focus to 0.5
• do a rough focus with the scope
• do a fine focus with the app
• set the exposure time and iso to the levels for shooting the image

[upper crest]

Yeah but i eventually got it to work i think it was just the lack of stars i eventually got some decent data (i hope) btw i do have to say i LOVE the alignment function even tho it didnt work yesterday for a bit i never had any problems with it and its a life saver

Also since i got my new phone the data when streched becomes red for some reason any ideas what it could be? If its a bug in astroshader or a problem with the sensor or something?

[bold sleet]

Oh weird…
Might be worth turning off manual white balance, if you haven’t already.

Otherwise I’m not sure. Although you see this with certain cameras sometimes, if you really stretch the shadows. Even DSLRs. I think it’s where they get the calibration ever so slightly off, which doesn’t really affect day time images.

[upper crest]

i never turned that on

[upper crest]

you mean calibration as in calibration frames? bc i didnt have those

[left cipher]

has anyone tried solar imaging in Ha with AstroShader here yet?

[bold sleet]

If you’ve had the app for a while it might be worth checking.
It used to be manual by default (rather than automatic)

[upper crest]

just checked manual white balance is off

[bold sleet]

Ah no sorry I meant the hardware calibration by the manufacturer.
Sometimes at the extremes the white balance isn’t quite right. You almost never notice unless you’re doing something like astrophotography

[upper crest]

ah alright well i dont have any problems with it now so i think its fine

[sleek torrent]

Nice for a b9, will try in later months when it gets higher.

[bold sleet]

Andromeda in a B9 from an iPhone… Nobody can say you lack ambition.

Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do this before on the app

[remote widget]

I photographed the galxy in 5 different nights and saving the end Results in TIFF, I stack the images on Siril and process it too

[upper crest]

tracked or untracked?

[remote widget]

I just use a small tripod (untracked)

[upper crest]

Thats really good

[remote widget]

This is how I take 3h data 😅

[remote widget]

Just Reprocess, it even better, cleaner

[upper crest]

Damn nice

Will you try to get more data? Because i think it could be a great image

[remote widget]

I can’t any more, I am back at home in Germany now. @upper crest

[upper crest]

Ahh alright

[sleek torrent]

42s time on M24

[devout merlin]

Next time try and align the phone camera better to the eyepiece so yiu dont get that black apot in the middle

[unkempt urchin]

Please make this for Android

[devout merlin]

Can anyone here help me? Im trying to capture the Perseids and idk if i should use astroshader or default camera

[graceful river]

Use AstroShader. I used it too for the perseids and took long exposures and hoped that a meteor flew into the image

[devout merlin]

3 mins exposure should do the trick?

[devout merlin]

What iso?

[graceful river]

Depends on your bortle, I’m bortle 5 so I do around 1500

[devout merlin]

Im b5 too

Ok thanks

And around 2 minutes exposure too no?

[graceful river]

I do 10x10 seconds but it’s up to you really

[devout merlin]

Right

Well i ended up shooting on phone cam

Because i dont have a tripod and layer my ohone on a chair but j have a remote shutter

And all this time im thinking im shooting 30 sec pics

They were all 10s…

[upper crest]

Hey i got it again it went from 1670 iso to 1120 iso not a huge difference like before but still very annoying and probably making the final image worse then it could have been hope you can look into it more because its a reoccurring issue

[bold sleet]

Mmm. Annoying. Sorry about that.

I’m currently working on a big update to how the camera settings are controlled. Hopefully it will be released early next week.

[upper crest]

Oo nice excited for that specially since 1,5 week ill be back from vacation and it will be a new moon

[remote widget]

MilkyWay, All images stacked with Siril. No AstroShader stack here

There is less startrails and no more Hotpixle Pixel trail

[bold sleet]

v1.0.30 is in testing now. This contains a few fairly big updates.

Public beta link here: https://testflight.a...m/join/K9h7xArN

#1 New v2 alignment algorithm
There are now 3 options; Light, Strong and "v2".
v2 is a major change in the way the alignment is done - so have released it alongside the existing versions before eventually replacing them altogether.
#2 New realignment process

This looks the same but is using the v2 alignment under the hood after when you continue after manually realigning.
The new process is (hopefully) able to handle much larger misalignments.

#3 Major changes to the way the camera pipeline is managed
This was prompted by ongoing issues with crashes on certain devices and during image runs.
There aren't major improvements with this - but I hope the app should be more stable.

#4 Snap to level zoom
This was requested a while back. The basic idea is the zoom will always snap to 1DP (e.g. "5.4x") and is shown on screen.
The idea being if you want to shoot multiple image runs at the same zoom, or calibration frames this is now easier.

#5 Bug fix for the countdown timer
There was an issue where cancelling a countdown then turning off the timer caused a crash - this should now be resolved.

Thanks to everyone on here who's helped report and investigate these issues!

[sleek torrent]

60s on IC 4756

[upper crest]

Single 60sec image?

[sleek torrent]

1 second exposures

[upper crest]

Try lower next time lot of star trailing

[sleek torrent]

So maybe like 0.5?

[upper crest]

Yeah experiment a bit whats your fl?

[upper crest]

I think 0.75 would be good for you looking but i could be wrong

[sleek torrent]

650mm

[upper crest]

Yeah i would use 0.5-0.75 have to experiment with that a bit to get it perfect and just use higher iso would get a bit of extra noise but probably not a huge deal

[sleek torrent]

Alr thanks for the suggestion!

[bold sleet]

v1.0.30 Has just been released

My previous post has more details but the main changes are:

• v2 alignment algorithm
• Improved realignment process
• Snap-to-level zoom
• Camera pipeline updates
• Various smaller bug fixes

[sleek torrent]

Hoping to try it out this night!

[left cipher]

Peak

[bold sleet]

Nice.
I wonder how good you would get with a flatfield eye piece?

I’m thinking of getting my myself at some point

[remote widget]

I had a Flatfield eyepiece but I did have a many problems with it, I had Coma at the entire field of view I couldn’t focus well to. It’s because my newton is a f4.4 I would need a Coma corrector for good results

[molten violet]

Hi! Does anyone know how I could remove this weird white vignetting on my photos?

[bold sleet]

That’s the eyepiece shadow against the sky.

It’s a tricky one… Broadly speaking the options are:

• Use BG extraction, black, levels etc to reduce the sky down to a similar colour to the eyepiece shadow
• Use a mask in something like Photoshop
• Crop, either before or after capture

[molten violet]

I just adjusted vignette in photos app lol

Looks decent now

[devout merlin]

https://discord.com/channels/794642864218439681/1412838894759710882

[remote widget]

@bold sleet The IPhone 17 Pros will have 8 different Zoom Focal Lengths, can the app slecting them all?

We should also have a 56% sensor upgrade for the Tele Kamera

[opal terrace]

No it doesnt

It has 3

All the others in between are digital zoom

[remote widget]

But 4x and 8x is Optical yes?

[opal terrace]

Don't think so

[remote widget]

Idk they said 8x optical zoom

[bold sleet]

As grand says, I think it’s a combo of optical zoom and the 48MP sensor.

I think the max optical zoom is x4 then x2 digital zoom using the extra resolution from the 48MP sensor - but this is just a guess

[remote widget]

It’s literally says they have a 8x optical zoom Kamera

[bold sleet]

Maybe you’re right…

We’ll know for sure when they come out and we can run some tests on them.

I suspect I may need to make some change for the zoom to work on the pro models, but let’s see

[remote widget]

I want to upgrade from my iPhone 13, to 17 Pro and it would be cool to See how high magnification works

[opal terrace]

It certainly does not have all of these

I think they're being sneaky and that 8x is just digital zoom and "ai enhancement" to do a crappy job at making it look like 8x optical

No amount of software can ever make up for missing hardware

[remote widget]

You probably right, let’s see how it goes

[opal terrace]

Remember it only has three lenses

One is 1x and the 2nd is 0.5x

Would make zero sense for the third to be 8x

the reason android phones can do 100x+ zoom is because they have four lenses

fourth being a super long focal length periscope telephoto

[remote widget]

Yes right,

Ok it get a better sensor it’s should be also work out with 4x

Not Much Zoom but quality I guess

[opal terrace]

better sensor doesn't change the focal length

it's probably just going to be another 3x

[upper crest]

Its sensor cropping its not “sneaky” because they say it is sensor cropping

[upper crest]

@bold sleet what do you think of the new launch of the iphone 17 and 17 pro with 56% bigger sensor from a astrophotography perspective?

[remote widget]

I have the 17 pro but now wait a month for a clear sky😅

[upper crest]

Damn😭 i want the 17 pro specially with the great upgrades but def have to wait a year (or 2 maybe) for prices to drop and to have enough money😭

[remote widget]

Yes is expensive hopefully I can use for 4 years

[upper crest]

I was lowk surprised with the prices bc they were $100 less then last year

Not expected from apple of all companies

[remote widget]

From Germany 1299€

[upper crest]

The pro?

[remote widget]

Yes 17 pro

[upper crest]

O well idk in euro but from official apple store in dollars the price was $100 less then 16 pro’s so

[upper crest]

But how was your experience so far

[remote widget]

I didn’t open yet buyed today

[upper crest]

O so its new new

[remote widget]

Yes the IPhone 17 is new😭

[bold sleet]

I’m no expert but looks like a solid improvement.
The new ultra-wide angle sensor might also be interesting for MW shots. Previously the ultra wide has been lacking a bit

[remote widget]

Ultra wide sensor still looks small

[remote widget]

@bold sleet if I Crob Zoom with my IPhone 17 pro AstroShader app gives a black screen as result

[bold sleet]

Aha!
As in if you pinch to zoom on the preview?
Or it gives your black screen after you shoot a photo?

[remote widget]

I get a black screen result after capturing

Idk why I can’t upload videos on this channels

But if I don’t crob I get a normal result so I’m fine

[bold sleet]

Aha ok - I think I might know the issue. Might take me a little while to make a fix…

Also thank you for reporting this 🙏

[remote widget]

No Problem, it doesn’t even effect me, I don’t really use this Crob Zoom

[remote widget]

@bold sleet the app gives me a weird Violet noise with the 4x Tele Kamera and there so much hotpixels visible, I didn’t even use high iso, it was 3s x 5 iso 1588
The normal Kamera app don’t have the same issue, and sometimes the app crashes it self after the Capturing. I have this problem with the IPhone 17 pro

The Normal main Kamera don’t have a violet noise but much Hotpixels

[remote widget]

Her is a exam, 4x Tele 1s x 10 iso 1500, so much Noise, can’t process anything

And this is with the regular Kamera App

[bold sleet]

Oh weird…
Al most looks like it’s ignoring the settings.

If you hit “i” info button on the photo in iOS Photos app what exposure time and ISO does it say?

[bold sleet]

Thanks I’ll look into this.

The telephoto lens is always the worst for astrophotography but it shouldn’t be this bad…

[remote widget]

Yes my IPhone 12 Pro Max Tele wasn’t that bad

[remote widget]

But one more big issue the app randomly crash during a capture like when he is at 50% or like 90%

[bold sleet]

Only with 17?

Are you on v1.0.32?

[remote widget]

Yes on my 17, I am v1.0.32

I tested right now the 12 pro max don’t crash’s

[bold sleet]

OK thank you 🙏

I’ll dig into this, hopefully can find the cause…

[nova oyster]

Hello

This happened, btw i manually tracked it

It was on “light” alignment setting

Does it have to be strong alignment?

[nova oyster]

(For reference) this is Saturn

[remote widget]

Yes Planet like Saturn is hard for Astro Shader app, you need to set alignment hard and crob zoom a bit, but I would prefer to use PIPP and autostacker

[nova oyster]

Thanks, also yes i agree, pipp and autostacker is good and i used it before but the issue is that iphone cameras suck so i cant actually take a video, i have to use third party apps to get better results

I assume android phones would do better results if thats correct?

[nova oyster]

This happened

[nova oyster]

Help

[remote widget]

Bro first help you phone battery life 😅 Don’t do much pictures how much magnification you use?

@nova oyster

[nova oyster]

Yes it went down very fast

25x i zoomed in also

[remote widget]

You one 25x and than crob 20 times?

[nova oyster]

Ye

[bold sleet]

I would try to avoid manually repositioning for planets at high magnification. Likely the target will move too much between frames.

…Unless you are zoomed in a lot and confident of getting the manual realignment absolutely spot on

[nova oyster]

So should i just not zoom in essentially?

Cause i dont have a motorkit so i can only just manually track it after polar aligning my telescope

[remote widget]

@bold sleet I got this Error, when I turn ON save individual exposures

All this problems only happens on the IPhone 17 Pro:

•App is crashing during capturing

•Tele camera have Violet strong Noise

•Main Camera have also a bit Violet Noise

•can’t save Zoomed (crob) pictures (it’s gives a black screen as result)

• Save individual exposure gives a Error during Capturing

[bold sleet]

Mmm this is really weird.
I have some time later this week so will try to get this fixed

[remote widget]

Ok Cool, btw do you also have the 17 Pro to test?

[bold sleet]

Not personally but know some people.
I can also see the crash logs which are a bit helpful

[remote widget]

I had to use my IPhone 13, the app on iPhone 17 crashes

[remote widget]

Normal Kamera App and AstroShader App

[novel mulch]

Bortle?

[remote widget]

6

[bold sleet]

v1.0.33 has just been released.
This has a lot of bug fixes mostly aimed at stability on iOS26 and older iPhones.
Please report any issues here as this touches almost every part of the app.

@remote widget I hope this fixes most, if not all, of the issues you reported

[remote widget]

Thank you so much! I did some tests and the main issue are gone. There is still a bit noise but it’s not that bad and there is no more hotpixels visible

But sadly the app sometimes crashes

[bold sleet]

Ah really 😞

When does this happen?
During the capture process?

[remote widget]

Yes during the Capture process. It’s not possible like more then a minute of processing

It’s crashes when it like 60-99% done

[bold sleet]

OK thanks.
Does it ever work or always crash before completing?

[remote widget]

Yes it mostly always crash’s

[remote widget]

@bold sleet the app is still very noisy sometimes, not happen every time but it comes back. (4x tele Kamera)

[bold sleet]

Mmm interesting.
If it’s noisy like this for a longer exposure with lower ISO maybe there’s an issue.
I haven’t had a chance to test on iPhone17 so it might be the telephoto lens is more noisy, but odd that it would be so much worse

[remote widget]

The normal 1x Kamera also have this but not so strong

Only visible when I crob in

[novel mulch]

@split ingot ^^

[split ingot]

thank ya

[worn lantern]

i might no longer do much phone ap but i reprocessed my m51 i took with astroshader ofc and my dob

[molten violet]

When AstroShader crashes on you as you were processing the only decent ISS transit photo you had and you didn’t save:

[bold sleet]

Oh no 😞
I hope to have a new release out over the weekend to address some recent stability issues.
Especially on iOS26

Longer term the app needs re-write which I’m currently about 50% of the way through

[lyric river]

ALWAYS save the raw first

I printed a my best moon pic

[bold sleet]

Did you shoot this with AstroShader?

[worn lantern]

dedicated astrocamera

[bold sleet]

Ah haha. I was going to say…

[worn lantern]

currently processing my m57

[bold sleet]

Nice.
What astrocam is this?

[worn lantern]

ares c pro, its uses an imx533

[worn lantern]

ima process my milky way data i got with astroshader soon, too tired now

[left cipher]

I was about to say, if you captured this using AstroShader that would be INSANE

[lyric river]

Yo man I’m shooting

Some shots, insanely shaarp

[lyric river]

Quick 1 minute shot taken with AstroShader of my scope shooting Orion Nebula

Tmrw I miiight do a proper 1 hour+ project

Depending on if I’ll be tired or no

[sleek torrent]

Nice, what bortle is this?

[nova oyster]

Yooo, i need to try this with my phone and sky too

I live in a bortle 3-4 so ill need a clear sky

[nova oyster]

Could you tell me how many frames you took?

[bold sleet]

v1.0.34 just released ☄️

• This is a massive update to add iPhone17/iOS26 support
• Please report any issues here an I'll try and jump on them quickly
• v2 alignment is removed (temporarily)
• New alignment mode "Off" to allow star trails

Massive thank you to Yasir on this sever for all the help testing ⭐️

[lyric river]

4.5

[lyric river]

2 stacked 30 sec subs, I didn’t take more because I wanted to show what it looks like visually

[lyric river]

Sry guys im not doing that cuz I have the biggest headache ever

[sleek torrent]

Wow that’s nice!

[worn lantern]

the result of that imaging session

[upper crest]

cant even send images here anymore tf is going on

@bold sleet i have a problem can i dm you? since i cant upload images anymore

[opal terrace]

@inner lance can you give this man protostar premium

[opal terrace]

its not something with astroshader its the server, protostars cant send images anymore

there zegery gave it to you

you should be able to send now

[upper crest]

lets go

thanks

[upper crest]

i used the option to save singular exposures and i chose tiff and it came out like this in siril idk if it has to do with siril or the images themself because it only shows up like this in siril and its unusable

same happens when i use raw to save them individually but then only purple

only happens with raw and tiff btw heic is perfectly fine

[upper crest]

this is how a single sub looks like in the photos app

[devout merlin]

Not a bad sub

Two things to improve: 1. align the phone to the eyepiece better so you dont have that shadow on the left and 2. Try focusing it better, so the stars will be sharper

[bold sleet]

Mmm weird - looks like the pixel format (16bit RGBA) isn’t being respected when importing.

If the images are displaying correctly in any other software it’s unlikely to be the image data itself that’s corrupted.

I’m not a siril user - maybe someone who knows a bit more might be able to help…

[solar stag]

@bold sleet did you move up from beta? For some reason I can’t access AstroShader anymore

Never mind I was using the TestFlight version 😭

[bold sleet]

Sorry yes that version was released

I don’t regularly do public beta releases.
But maybe I’ll change this if there’s interest - I can make a link where anyone can join

[bold sleet]

v1.0.35 has just been released.

This contains a new feature: Focus peaking

• Works like a DSLR focus peaking e.g. highlighting areas of contrast in the camera preview

• 3 "modes":
  • Off: never shows
  • Focussing: Only shows whilst adjusting the focus slider manually
  • Always on: Always shows in the preview
  • Focus peaking is set to "focussing" by default - turn it off in settings if you'd prefer not to see it
• The settings are saved per camera as per the other settings
• Threshold slider:
  • This allows you to change how sensitive the focus peaking algorithm is
  • Lower = more sensitive
    Why? Lots of people have been asking for support for focussing for a while now

Other updates include some bug fixes and performance updates for the editing view.

[remote widget]

Can’t wait to test it, but it cloudy for a week now

[queen socket]

Iphone 14 pro
Bortle 2-3
2.5 minutes

Processed in phone lightroom

Did some HEAVY editing to fix the weird washed out colors and magenta

[bold sleet]

Lagoon nebula clearly visible.
You can make out triffid, eagle and omega too

[queen socket]

Mhm yeah it was awesome!!

[left cipher]

Some parts of Rho Ophiuchi too!

[upper crest]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/570687129118703637/968031306258714624/d.gif

[queen socket]

I cant😭😭😭😭 its a phone

[opal terrace]

yes you can?

move the phone around

[queen socket]

Yes but its too much effort and not worth it
I am managing my big astro rig
I let my phone image on the side

[opal terrace]

like 45 seconds, first time using this app

only got this phone recently

[remote widget]

Wich iPhone?

My iPhone 17 pro Tele is very noisy

[opal terrace]

17 pro

[remote widget]

Oh great, also Bortle?
I am in b6

[opal terrace]

b7/b8

[devout merlin]

doing orion rn using astroshader

[devout merlin]

Orion nebula

1h 20m of total exp (40x 120s)
Sw dobson heritage 150mm
Iphone 15 pro using astroshader
Bortle 7
Settings in astroshader: 1s x 120 exposures, iso 12000

[solar stag]

Move Shoot Move NOMAD w/ astroshader is lowkey peak

[novel mulch]

Astroshader gonna release for Android as well?

[bold sleet]

v1.0.36 Just released
This is just a UI upgrade. The aim was to make some of the controls easier to use and make better use of the camera preview area.
Also some work to align with a much bigger upgrade later in 2026...

[remote widget]

I like the new design, but can you make the Hitbox of the slithers bigger, it’s easy to miss

[devout merlin]

The new update is sick

[bold sleet]

Will do 🫡

[remote widget]

@bold sleet the Astro Shader app shows hotpixel trails, also noise trails, the stars are getting align but not the noises

[bold sleet]

Yeah this is walking noise.

I’m working on a very big release to address this. Initially it will be an advanced option only then if it works on by default.

I think it’ll be ready in ~2 weeks

[upper crest]

@bold sleet I had a question is it possible to add a 5-second camera timer too? Because for me 3 is just too short and 10 is too long. I think 5 would be a good middle ground just like the native camera app. Also I don't know if this is a bug or not but the pixel-binning setting doesn't get saved like the other settings do during shooting. If it's not a bug, could that also be made possible? Maybe you could also implement something like presets you can make for settings, so you can easily switch between settings without having to accurately recreate them every time but that's just an idea.

[remote widget]

You right we need this

[bold sleet]

I can add the 5 second timer!

In terms of the presets. Interesting thought - a few people have asked about.
…I’m in the process of a big rewrite of the whole app. After that it might be a good time to add something like that as it’ll need a new menu area and save buttons etc

[nova oyster]

Festive bee

https://tenor.com/view/if-you-dance-ill-dance-and-if-you-dont-ill-dance-anyway-dance-bee-gif-17705998510832769315

[bold sleet]

There are a few people on CN reporting some issues with the auto-alignment.

Is anyone else having any issues with alignment?

(I’m not seeing this on iPhone13/15)

[bold sleet]

Version 1.0.37 just released.

• Major change was a fix for a very silly alignment bug when using realign
• Adds a 5s timer @upper crest
• Also makes the new sliders a bit taller (as requested by a few people)

[bold sleet]

V1.0.38 Pre-release for testing available here:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/dngG4RHr

This version has a big change to the way the stacking works to reduce walking noise.
Things to test:

• It should mean better quality images with less noise
• Walking noise should be almost eliminated (no dithering required)
• Alignment performance: Some change were required for the new algorithm
• Performance: Uses a little more memory when stacking - but had to do masses of changes to get this to work

@remote widget This should help the issues you had with walking noise, I hope

[remote widget]

It’s full moon today but I can definitely try,

[remote widget]

@bold sleet
I did some imaging, the image is 10s/71
I did stack all images with Siril ,
Secon image is all stack in AstroShader with the new update

Siril is better but, there are not much walking noise from Astro Shader anymore

This is btw with Tele 4x Tele,
Just 5min 3s/1000 iso 5000
I can even see M81 and M82 if look closely even in Full Moon

[bold sleet]

Great thanks for testing.

Haha that is a very heavy stretch on those images. At least it shows the walking noise is much better!

Some point later this year will be releasing a dynamic background extraction tool too.
And possibly calibration frames even later in the year.

Which I hope will help with that banding.

[devout merlin]

finally shooting some galaxies after 3 months, subs look like they have issues

[bold sleet]

What kind of problems sorry?

[devout merlin]

Trails and these things on left

I suppose they are frames that didnt count or idk

I did manage to do 16 of these, I switched targets and that seemed to work

[remote widget]

There are just to small stars, and small amount of it, the App might have problems to find and align them

[devout merlin]

Ohhh makes sense

[bold sleet]

As Yasir mentions, best guess is too few stars.
Is this the new pre-release or live version?

[devout merlin]

Im not sure

[bold sleet]

v1.0.38 just released.

Main change is the new walking noise reduction stacking algorithm.

It's active by default but can be turned off at the bottom of the settings:

[devout merlin]

Imagine if a star trail mode would be added, i rly think ppl will use it

[novel mulch]

Can you stack live for milkyway shots?

[bold sleet]

It is already, kind of
If you turn alignment to “off” will capture a star trail shot

[bold sleet]

Yes!
Use the wide angle lens as it has the best sensor, not ultra-wide or and definitely not telephoto

Set exposure time to 1-3 seconds, ISO 2000-8000, number of exposures >100.
(Save the subs as RAW if you want to stack on a laptop later, if you have the space on your device)

The editing is as important as the capture.
Initially try the “stretch” slider to see what’s there. Then play with curves, brightness, BG extraction.
Obviously can also edit in other apps or laptop to push things further.

[novel mulch]

Thanks. I’ll play around with it next time it’s clear

[hollow drum]

this is super awesome. i have the same telescope but i always wondered how to combine my phone to it. how did u make it track the sky? did u use an attachment that mounts the phone to the eyepiece?

[devout merlin]

Yea i use the celestron nex yz phone adaptor