A guy at my astronomy club in Tucson said phone astrophotography is ruining the hobby
Last Friday I was at our club meetup in Tucson and this older guy, maybe 70, says straight to my face that anyone shooting the sky with a phone is "kidding themselves." I get where he's coming from, he's been doing 8 hour tracked exposures since the 80s, but I pulled out my Pixel and showed him a shot of Orion I got from my driveway in 4 minutes. His face kind of changed and then he goes quiet and says "well that's not terrible." I just don't buy that gear is what makes a photo worth looking at. Is there anyone here who shoots with a phone and still posts in the serious threads, or do you all hide it?
Been shooting the sky with whatever I had on me since I was a kid, which back then meant a disposable camera taped to a pair of binoculars, so trust me when I say my bar for "worth looking at" is sitting on the floor somewhere. The gatekeeping in this hobby is wild though, it's like telling someone their campfire cooking doesn't count because they didn't use a $400 dutch oven. That old guy probably spent years fighting with film and manual guiding and part of him is just annoyed you skipped all that pain in 4 minutes. But a good shot is a good shot, and Orion doesn't care what sensor caught it. Post your phone stuff in the serious threads, worst case some guy grumbles and then quietly asks what settings you used.