If you are thinking of buying an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro for its astrophotography feature, then you are at the right place.
Difference between iPhone 16 & 16 Pro
The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro don’t have many differences. The biggest difference between these two phones is the camera, and ProRes and ProRaw. The 16 Pro has a 5X telephoto lens. It is useful while taking astro-photos, as it will add some depth to your photos.
So it is somewhat useful. But with just a phone the only photo you will be able to take is the wide field view of the night sky. It will show the milky way galaxy. And that’s it. You will not even be able to take a photo of the moon, which is the nearest object. And forget about other planets. That is the limitation of astrophotography with the phone.
The phone astrophotography has limitations because it has a very small sensor and to capture lots of details you need a bigger sensor on the camera.
On top of that the iPhone 16 pro model allows you the Raw image processing and Raw video processing. So it has a little advantage over the basic iPhone 16. But with iPhone 16 with third party apps you can get similar results.
Editing Astro-Photos
If you are taking astro-photos, then most probably you would want to edit them in post processing. So if you can take more raw photos then you can get better results in the post processing because you will have more raw data in those photos.
Need of Telescope
If you want to take photos of the moon or planets with your phone, then you will need a telescope. Whether your iPhone has two camera lenses or three camera lenses, while using the telescope you can only use one camera lens of your iphone. To take the photo with an iphone with your telescope you have to put the camera exactly above the eyepiece and align the camera lens perfectly above the eyepiece, then only you will be able to see objects clearly. So when you are using your phone with the telescope the other two lenses are not useful.
Also, the wide angle photos of the night sky which you can take with iPhone 16 Pro can also be taken with iPhone 16. You can get similar results with iPhone16 by taking multiple photos and stacking them together in the post processing.
Why should you choose iPhone 16?
The cost difference between iPhone 16 and 16 Pro is too much. iPhone 16 costs around $800 and 16 Pro costs around $1100. With a $200-$300 difference what you can do is buy a beginner telescope and use it for stargazing. That will get you started and even more interested in astronomy. It will be a better use of your money, if the Astrophotography feature of the iPhone is a deal breaker for you.
