Owning a high-resolution smartphone offers amazing creative opportunities, especially when the sun goes down. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro features a 64MP core module, which theoretically allows for detailed images even in low-light conditions. However, automated algorithms often fail to cope with the night sky, turning stars into blurry dots or completely ignoring them.
To get a decent result, you need to move from point and shoot mode to manually control exposure parameters. In this article, we will discuss how to turn your budget flagship into an astrophotography tool. You will learn about the hidden features of MIUI firmware and third-party applications that will help capture the Milky Way.
Preparing the equipment is the first and critical step, without which all further action will be in vain. Trembling hands during prolonged exposure is guaranteed to spoil the frame, making it blurry. So before you set up the camera, make sure that you have a reliable support.
Preparation of equipment and choice of location
The first thing you need is a stable fixation of your smartphone, and a tripod is a must for night photography, because shutter speeds are going to be seconds or even tens of seconds, and you can use both a professional tripod and homemade stops, as long as the phone doesn't move while you're exposed.
The second aspect is the choice of location. Light pollution in cities makes it almost impossible to shoot stars, even with good optics. You need to travel outside the city, away from streetlights and advertising signs. The darker the sky above your head, the more stars your Redmi Note 8 Pro's matrix will be able to "see."
⚠️ Warning: Before going to shoot be sure to fully charge the battery of the smartphone. Prolonged operation of the screen and sensor in the cold (if shooting in winter) quickly consumes energy, and discharge during the long shutter speed will lead to loss of frame.
It is also worth preparing external light sources, such as a flashlight with a red filter, so as not to illuminate the frame and not to interfere with night vision when setting up the phone. RAW or highly detailed JPEG can take up a significant amount of.
Use of the built-in mode "Night"
The standard MIUI camera application has computational photography algorithms that can be useful for beginners. The Night mode automatically takes a series of images with different exposures and glues them together to try to pull the details out of the shadows. Try this method first, because it doesn't require a deep knowledge of photography.
Launch the camera, select Night mode, and set the phone on a tripod. Press the descent button and try not to touch the device for 3-5 seconds while processing is underway. The algorithm will try to reduce the level of digital noise that inevitably appears at a high ISO.
But the limitations of this method are clear: Automation doesn't always correctly define white balance, making the sky gray or unnaturally orange, and stars can be smeared with noise cancellation, and they will look like soft spots with no clear boundaries, a trade-off between the purity of the frame and the detail.
- 🌌 Use the "Night" mode only if there is a fixed object in the foreground.
- 📱 Keep your phone absolutely still, even if it is on a tripod (don’t rely on the design).
- 🔇 Turn off shutter sounds and vibrations to minimize micro-swings in the body.
If you don't like the result and the stars look dim, move on to more advanced methods. The built-in algorithm is good for urban landscapes, but astrophotography often requires more subtle control over sensor parameters.
The Secret Long Exposure Mode on the Redmi Note 8 Pro
Some versions of Xiaomi's firmware have a professional long exposure mode that allows you to take pictures of stars without installing third-party software. To activate it, go to the standard camera app, scroll to the right and click "More." If you're lucky, there will be a Long Exposure or "Long Shutter."
In this mode, you can manually set the exposure time to 30 This is enough time for the matrix to accumulate light from dim objects in the night sky. 15-30 So, for a second, you can set the phone on a tripod and press the trigger, and you can't touch the device at that point.
☑️ Checking before shooting stars
The advantage of this method is that it uses the native Redmi Note 8 Pro image processing algorithm, which often performs better than third-party applications in terms of noise cancellation, but you will have less control over white balance and ISO compared to manual mode.
⚠️ Warning: If the modes menu doesn't have "Long Shutter," don't despair. This depends on the regional version of the firmware (RAW).
Remember that at 30 seconds, the Earth rotates and stars can turn into short tracks (arcs). To prevent this effect, try not to exceed the shutter speed of 15-20 seconds when using a standard wide-angle lens.
Manual focusing and settings
To get a professional result, you need to use the PRO (manual) mode in the camera or a third-party application. First of all, turn off autofocus. The camera in the dark can not find contrast and will “scour” the lens without focusing. Put the focus in manual mode (MF) and move the slider to the infinity position (mountain icon or flower).
However, the mechanical infinity on smartphones often doesn’t match the optical one. To get exactly into focus, point the camera at the brightest star or distant flashlight, zoom in with your fingers to a maximum, and slowly spin the focus slider until the point is as low as possible.
Next, adjust shutter speed (S or Shutter). Start with 10-15 seconds. If you put too long shutter speed, the stars will smear because of the Earth's rotation. ISO (sensitivity) should be selected experimentally. Start with 800 or 1600. Too high ISO (3200+) on the Samsung GW1 sensor installed in the Redmi Note 8 Pro will generate a lot of color noise.
| Parameter | Recommended value | Influence on frame |
|---|---|---|
| Focus (Focus) | Manual (Infinity) | Clearness of star dots |
| Excerpt (Shutter) | 10 - 20 sec. | Brightness and lack of tracks |
| ISO | 800 - 1600 | Digital noise levels |
| White balance (WB) | 3500K - 4500K | The natural color of the sky |
White balance (WB) It is better to set it manually in the range 3500-4500 Automatics often make the night sky purple or dirty yellow. A cold hue will give the image a deeper and more "spacey" look.
Third-party astrophotography applications
If a standard camera doesn't give you the control you need, you should turn to specialized software. Applications like Open Camera, ProCam X or Manual Camera: RAW allow you to fully unlock the sensor's capabilities. They can write RAW (DNG) files that contain raw information from the matrix.
RAW format retains much more detail in lights and shadows than JPEG. This gives you a lot of freedom when you process it on your computer, you can pull out the dim stars without overshine the bright ones, and remove color noise better than the phone's built-in processor.
Why is RAW better than JPEG for stars?
When using third-party apps, make sure you give them all the necessary permissions to access the camera and file system. Also, in the app settings, find the “Shutter sound” option and turn off the sound so that it does not interfere in the silence of the night.
- 📸 Open Camera – a free, open source app with support API Camera2.
- 🎨 ProCam X – user-friendly interface and good tools for manual configuration.
- 💾 Manual Camera RAW — Specializes in storing data in maximum quality.
Remember that shooting in RAW takes longer to save each frame. After pressing the down button, wait a few seconds for the phone to write the data to the memory card before taking the next picture.
Image processing and improvement
Shooting stars is only half the process. The second, equally important, part is post-processing. Even a perfectly shot on your phone often looks pale and needs correction. Use Snapseed, Lightroom Mobile or VSCO to edit.
First, work with contrast and light areas. Increase the Lights slightly to highlight the brightness of the stars, and lower Shadows to make the sky deeper black. The Structure or Texture tool will help highlight small stars that were barely visible.
It is critical not to overdo the saturation parameter, as it can turn the natural color of stars into unnatural acidic hues.
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Use the “Pinpoint Correction” feature in Snapseed or Lightroom to selectively brighten the brightest stars or patches of the Milky Way without affecting the rest of the sky.
If the picture looks grainy, apply a slight noise cancellation, but make sure that the stars do not turn into "plasticine." The ideal balance is when the noise is barely noticeable, but the stars remain clear points.
Typical errors and their solution
Beginners often have a problem with short stripes instead of dots, which means that the shutter speed is too long for a given focal length. The Earth is spinning at 15 degrees per hour, and for the camera it's a noticeable movement. The solution is one: reduce exposure time.
Another common mistake is fogging the lens, and when you leave the warm room and enter the cold air, the lens immediately condensates. 10-15 minutes in the cold before shooting to allow temperatures to level out.
Also, many people forget to wipe the camera before shooting, and during the day, the greasy fingerprints are invisible, but at night they turn into huge rainbow glare from each light source. Always use microfiber before you start.
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The quality of the night shot is 80% dependent on the stability of the phone and the purity of the lens, and only 20% on the camera settings.
Ignoring these simple rules can nullify your efforts to check equipment and environmental conditions and make it a habit to avoid being disappointed with the technical capabilities of your Redmi Note 8 Pro.