TAG
noise
ISO is not a light switch: how much gain a dark sky actually needs
Gain is applied after the photons have been counted. What the ISO slider really changes, where analogue amplification stops, and how far to push it.
Four pixels into one: why twelve megapixels beat fifty after dark
Your phone adds its photosites up in fours before handing you a file. What that buys you, and why full resolution at night is a poisoned gift.
Darks, bias and flats on a phone: what is worth calibrating
Your phone already measures its own black level and knows its vignetting. That leaves bad pixels: when darks earn their keep, and when they waste your night.
RAW or JPEG on a phone: what the software throws away
Your phone rewrites the sky before it shows it to you: noise smoothed, suspicious dots erased. What RAW hands back, and when it is actually worth it.
Live stacking explained: why 200 shots beat one long exposure
Why your phone cannot hold the shutter open, and how 200 short exposures, aligned and averaged, pull the sky out of the noise. No heavy math.
