Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

I’ve been having much difficulty getting my 2.5X lens lined up on the optical axis of my Celestron Regal spotting scope- then, on another forum I found a most useful hint!

Turns out everyone who, like me, trying to use the iPhone’d native camera has the same problem! the solution?

Install and use one of the several third party camera apps! I tried with the cameras of Lightroom Mobile, and PureShot and found it easy to line up a full screen view on my iPhone!

Hot Damn! A major hurdle overcome!
Focus, with the incredibly shallow dof of didgidcoping still demands considerable practice, and using a solid, strong breeze-resistant tripod is an absolute necessity.
Dave

Dinah Loc: Brisbane, Australia

I keep hearing about third-party apps but can anyone explain them in detail please? I’m using an iPhone 12 pro max and want to get a couple of lenses to use with it.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Hi, Dinah:
First? Let me list those third party raw camera apps I have tried(mostly with iPhone11ProMax and fewer with iPhone12ProMax)

All offer a camera for raw capture with iPhones.
LightroomMobile offers a raw camera as well as in-camera raw post processing; I use it for convenient in-camera pp.

Here’s the list:
HalideMarkIi
Lightroom Mobile*
ProCamera
Moment
ProCam
645*
PureShot*

•the ones I use

I’ve tried them all and they all claim to have an “intuitive” interface. IMO that all depends upon who is doing the intuiting!

I’ve settled on Pure Shot and 645 (from same developers) for several reasons:
I’m 81 and have hand tremors, and I find the “stepper” adjustments of ISO and shutter duration easier to control on the touch screen than the “slider” controls the others use. Also I like the “exploded” R,G, B,Luminosity histograms very useful as well as the steady replicability of onset of the “zebra” warning of when you begin using the “overhead” extra dynamic range beyond the “rated” DR used for 8 bit Jpeg exposures. Also, the user manuals for PureShot and 645 are (in my personal opinion) far and away the most lucid and well organized user guides of any offered for the other raw camera apps.
I keep Lightroom Mobile strictly for pp; it offers no in-camera histogram and its zebras seem a bit less replicably reliable than those of PureShot and 645. It’s histogram for editing is excellent.

The above is just one guy’s take on some of the raw apps available. Try a few; what’s “intuitive” to you may not have been so to me!!!

Hoping all this may have been some help.

Watch this space; I have just begun evaluating the raw camera app “Camera Pixels” ...could be promising?

Best regards,
Dave

Dinah Loc: Brisbane, Australia

Thanks Dave for your in-depth reply with all your observations on the third party camera apps you have used. We are the same age but my problem is a lack of computer knowledge. I love my 12pro max but am frustrated by the lack of zoom so I am thinking of buying a telephoto attachable lens from either Moments or Sandmark. I have read that these lenses do not work with the native camera and I need to get a third party app. I appreciate you listing all the ones you have tried and the ones you recommend. This may seem a dumb question but why do you need the third party app and how do you use it? Is it just for post processing? I use Snapseed for most of my pp in camera and on iPad. Is this the same thing? Otherwise I save the photo on my computer and use ON1 for post processing.Sorry to appear so dumb. Something to do with being born in the ‘40s.Haha! Regards,Dinah

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

I’m afraid that I cannot speak knowledgeably about the auxiliary tele lenses by Moment or Sandmark, being more interested in the stronger, longer optical advantage offered by (I hope) digiscoping with my Celestron Regal spotting scope.

I’ve not a clue as to why the auxiliary long lenses don’t work with the iPhone12’s native camera, but can attest that the same applies to my spotting scope; it does, however, yield a nice, full-screen robust image when using any of the third party camera and raw camera apps.

As for why I use the Lightroom Mobile app for pp? I’m just used to Lightroom! I’ve played a bit with Snapseed and am impressed with it, but I suppose that Snapseed is just too much of a new trick for this old Lightroom dog.

Why do I use the third party app? Because I am far more comfortable with manual control of raw exposure with the third party raw camera app than I am with the native camera...AND for the ease of using an auxiliary long lens with my iPhone!.

ALSO... I find that the third party apps considerably facilitate use of EBTR (exposure beyond the right) to assure use of my iPhone’s full “overhead” raw dynamic range for capture of maximum possible image data quality ( S:N ratio and tonal spectrum) with the 1X and 2.5X cameras.

I do hope all this is more helpful than confusing!

Best regards,
Dave

Dinah Loc: Brisbane, Australia

Thanks again, Dave. I have a lot to think about.

Regards, Dinah.