Shot the Orion Nebula with my phone and my old DSLR on the same night, the gap was huge

Sean Perry · 2026-09-30T11:20:02.640473+00:00

Last Friday I drove out to a dark spot outside Flagstaff with both my phone and my beat up Canon from 2009. I stacked 20 shots with the DSLR on a cheap tripod and the nebula looked like actual clouds of gas, while my phone shot was just a purple smudge. The difference was the long exposure, my phone caps out at 30 seconds and the camera can hold the shutter open for minutes. I'm still pretty new to this so I'm wondering how much of it is the gear and how much is the stacking. Anyone here shooting with just a phone and getting anything close?

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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Shot the Orion Nebula with my phone and my old DSLR on the same night, the gap was huge | Astronomy Photos - Pinecone Attack