Asus ZenFone 3 Astrophotography In Batanes!

Asus ZenFone 3 Astrophotography In Batanes!

Today, the Asus ZenFone 3 proved to be one of the finest smartphone that's readily available in the country. It has great looks, snappy performance, long battery life, and great camera quality.

Astrophotography using Asus ZenFone 3

Speaking of its camera quality, our friends from Asus Philippines are convinced that the ZenFone 3 can push its limits and do what most smartphones can't do. That is Astrophotography, the process of taking pictures of anything not on planet Earth, but out in space.

To be honest, we think that it is crazy idea (might not work) as smartphone sensors are small and has limitations. Even for some big DSLR cameras, its not that easy to capture those types of galaxy shots.

Not all smartphones can do this, but the Asus ZenFone 3 has a powerful camera software and post processing that can do most of those settings – yes on a phone!

Trying to prove that claim, we went to the stunning islands of Batanes, waited for the perfect timing (around 6:30 to 7:30 pm) and shoot the clear night skies using our very own ZenFone 3 and our handy Yunteng tripod. Here's what we got!

Note: For the camera settings, you'll need long exposures up to 32 seconds or more, up to ISO 3200 or more, and some white balance adjustments.

However, we weren't really that confident that it can do it as it doesn't have the big sensors found on professional grade DSLR's, but these are the results we got. Have a look!

Asus ZenFone 3 Astrophotography Samples

First try clear sky, settings: ISO 3200, 32 seconds shutter speed, white balance 3500K

The lighthouse, settings: ISO 3200, 32 seconds shutter speed, white balance 4000K
Filtered using the gallery app of the phone

Milky Way hooray, settings: ISO 3200, 32 seconds shutter speed, white balance 4000K
Cropped at Photoshop and adjusted color balance (cyan -15)

We definitely love Batanes, settings: ISO 3200, 32 seconds shutter speed, white balance 4000K
NO FILTER (trust me)

Verdict

The shots aren't perfect and far from the cleanest around, but hey, we took these photos at night on a very hard pitch black condition on a smartphone! The other phones that we have that time like the A7 2016 (even the S7 of Bob from Yugatech) failed to capture those type of shots. For a phone, the Asus ZenFone 3 can do Astrophotography quite well. Incredible!

Asus ZenFone 3 Astrophotography In Batanes!
Asus ZenFone 3 Astrophotography In Batanes!