Is there a huge difference between smartphone astrophotography and webcam?

[Stonius]

I haven't seen any smartphone images that compare with the best webcam ones, and I'm wondering why that is?

Is it because you can't remove the stock lens on your phone? Do they have a different sensitivity or dynamic range?

Cheers

Markus

[rustigsmed]

hi markus

usually when photographing the planets or moon it is done predominantly in video format. this is run through software to remove the blurry frames and stacking the sharper frames to reduce the overall noise.

most phone shots are single image shots which can turn out alright of the moon but it is much harder on the planets.

hope that helps.

cheers

russ

[Stonius]

But that's what I don't get. Most smartphones do HD video these days, so how is that different? Is it heavily compressed compared to Webcam?

[billdan]

I think the major difference is the fact the lens cannot be easily removed on a smartphone. For prime focus attached to a telescope you need the lens removed, which is easier on a webcam.
Plus the software for the webcam is easy to use for setting gain, gamma, contrast, resolution, capturing etc.

Cheers
Bill
EDIT: I'm thinking sharpcap software here

[Stonius]

So assuming that someone out there has written an app that gives you manual control over the smartphone camera, the real difference is in the lens?

So is that just because they're mass produced crappy quality lenses?

[billdan]

Markus,

I don't know about crappy lens my Samsung takes some pretty decent photos.

If you could take the lens off and have some control over the settings it may be OK. Some CCD chips are better at low light than others, that's why the Phillips SPC900 and Toucam were very popular webcams.

Bill