I just finished an Android application called DSLR Star Trails Calculator. It’s a simple yet useful application to give estimates on how to avoid or gain star trails in photos. This application is under my personal business of sorts with a focus on photography.

My focus was to create a useful application with low development hours. It includes three separate calculation Activities and a help system that is based off of code files and the browser widget built into Android. As I want to spend more time doing astrophotography, I thought this would be an idea application I could use in the field to take photos with a tripod that doesn’t track.

Here is the video:

Here is the application’s description:

Calculate to avoid or gain star trails with your tripod and DSLR camera. Are you interested in having a helping hand when doing astrophotography with a stationary tripod and DSLR camera? This application can help you calculate estimated maximum exposure times to avoid star trails without the need for a tracking mount. It also has a calculator that you can use for creating star trail photographs by giving you an estimation of how long the trails will be in pixels given inputs about your camera, lens, and exposure time. The three calculators range from a simple two input calculator to one for advanced astrophotography camera users. Also included are some tips and help screens to improve your understanding of the process and to describe each required input for the calculators. This application does not use any advanced features like Internet, so you don’t need to worry about the safety of your personal information. It’s simple, yet does exactly what you need. Here is to amazing astro-photos on a budget!