Should a dslr be modded?

[Rover]

I have a standard Canon 1000D camera, unmodded. I wanted to start off with something really simple (or so I thought.)

I setup my tripod on a perfect calm and clear night to do some star trails but I can't even get the camera to pick up anything from the night sky at all using the standard EF-S 18-55mm lens. Even the brightest stars.

I set the Aperture to f/4 and ISO to 100 (as suggested in Sky at Night magazine) and turned automatic focus off. Took a test shot and nothing. Aimed at a bright star and again got nothing. I focused on a nearby tree and then started off an exposure of 20 seconds, stopped it and again nothing.

I was doing this in my back garden so it wasn't pitch black but it was still average.

To say I was gutted would have been an understatement. I knew I would have to spend a lot of time learning but to fall at the first hurdle is a bit humiliating.

What am I doing wrong? It is simply not dark enough or should a DSLR be modded?

And yes, the cap was off

[Smeg]

Longer exposure?

Bulb mode with a cheap cable release from powerplanet on Amazon?

One thing I hate about EF-S lenses is there is no marker/click for infinity focus.

You don't need to mode it to take pics of the stars, unless you want more sensitive to red, in which case it will be costly to get a replacement block filter and a lens cap to compensate and their time to mod it.

If anything breaks on the 1000d/1100d as it is a single PCB board which also houses the sensor it will cost 250 GBP to replace.

Get a cheap pre-modded one or a webcam or a non blocked CCD imager.

[Rover]

I have a release cable with a slider button to keep it open which I used and tried the BULB setting too and nothing.

I could try a longer exposure but I didn't even think it was worth trying if I picked up nothing from any of the test shots.

[Smeg]

I have an unmodded one, I stuck it next to the window and took shots, I could pick up stars fine, even on the inside of double glazing.

Turn off noise reducton in the firmware and keep ramping up the ISO to see if it takes pics. Try iso 800 that should pick up something lol

[Starflyer]

I think the problem is focus, even a bright star won't show up if it's out of focus a long way. Focussing on a nearby tree won't help unless it's a few hundred feet away, the focus point shifts quite a lot between nearby and infinity.

Are you using Liveview to focus on stars? I'd start by getting rough focus on a bright star through the viewfinder, if you can see something through the viewfinder the camera's sensor will see the same thing. Then switch to liveview, (maybe with ISO 1600) use the liveview zoom to zoom into a bright star and get the focus as good as you can. Take your time doing this as good focus will make a big difference in the quality of the final image.

Remember to switch back the ISO you want to use and then start your imaging run.

I only imaged once through a DSLR lens and found then the focuser ring was quite loose, a rubber band or small blob of bluetack over the focuser ring will stop it shifting.

I'm looking forward to seeing your images, good luck

Ian

[Bizibilder]

Put the ISO up to at least 800, maybe 1600 to start (the images may be a bit noisy at 1600) and you will get an image. Try and focus on something distant (maybe do that in the daytime and carefully note where "infinity focus" is). Try 30 secs to start and you should get short trails.

I suspect the problem you had was using ISO 100. Hope this helps.

[saturn5]

I have a release cable with a slider button to keep it open which I used and tried the BULB setting too and nothing.

I could try a longer exposure but I didn't even think it was worth trying if I picked up nothing from any of the test shots.

You will pick up nothing at 20 seconds using ISO 100

Set your ISO to 800 or 1600 and take a 30 second exposure in manual mode.That will pick up stars guaranteed.You dont want to go over 30 seconds anyway because your stars will start to trail if you use a longer exposure.And no it doesnt have to be modded.

[Photosbykev]

as others have said you are heavily underexposing the image. I've no idea where SN got their information but it really is pants!

30 seconds @ f4 iso 800 will give you something to look at but the focus is critical and you will probably need to play around with it unless you have a good bright target. focussing on the moon is ideal but is less than ideal for star trail because of the light pollution. You will get away with 30 seconds at 18mm but you will see star trailing at 50mm FL.

[Smeg]

That's what he wanted, STAR TRAIL shots lol

[Photosbykev]

That's what he wanted, STAR TRAIL shots lol

nothing at all they've made me a lot of money lol

Personally I'd increase the shutter speed until the local LP becomes a problem and then reduce the exposure slightly. Turn off all noise reduction functions to minimise the gap between images and then shoot lots of them, several hours of continuous shooting is what I would consider a minimum for a good final star trail image. When you finish shooting take 15-20 dark frames to control the noise (same exposures but with the lens cap on) and then combine them all in a free programme called Startrails.exe.

[Smeg]

Astrophotography Techniques

[ollypenrice]

It can certainly be done. I got a simple Orion in 5 minute subs using our 1000D on Bulb over 5 minutes. Can't remember the ISO. However, it shows no hint of Barnards Loop or the Meissa nebula which pop out easily in CCD and, I guess, modded DSLRs

Olly

[Merlin66]

Rover,

I have an unmodded 450D and a Modded 1000D.

The mod certainly gives you more sensitivity up in the red, but overall - for the blue and green regions the response between the cameras is pretty much the same.

Modded cameras ONLY really allow you to better record fainter Ha type features....you still need enough exposure time to pull in the image.

[Nathan_Pembs]

ISO 100 is waaay too low, bizarre S@N suggested that?

400 is the minimum I'd say

[yeti monster]

I use ISO 400, f3.5 @ 18mm, 20 second exp. Focus with liveview (manual focus).

This will show the brighter stars, pull out the fainter stuff in processing.

[Rover]

Thanks for all your good advice and links. I am hopefully going to give this another go tonight (weather permitting but it looks good.) I will post my progress and anything worth while though. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

[Rover]

Ok so I managed to get myself and get something at last to process and I really want to change the backgound. Although the star trails came out the night sky isn't black, more orange.

I used startrails.exe to create the trail and using GIMP2.6 to process my images. Can anyone tell me how to change the background please?

[Photosbykev]

You need to do this during the shoot. It looks like you have a lot of light pollution where you are and needed to use a longer than normal exposure to pull the stars out of the LP. By increasing the iso and reducing the shutter speed you will improve the balance between the LP and star detail.

[jgs001]

It's hard to tell from that, but is that a few long exposures or one lone one ? Startrails work well if you set to continuous shooting, 30s exposures at ISO800 and using a remote lock the shutter open. Let the camera take loads of images and combine them using startrails.

[Rover]

There were about 5 or 6, 10 min shots. I will have a look and see if I can work out how to set the camera away to take 25 sec shots continuously because they came out well for constelations I took and then stack those.

[Merlin66]

You can use a remote shutter control like the TC-80 which allows you to set up and take a whole sequence of shots.....

[jgs001]

Set to Manual on the camera mode dial. Set the Aperture to about f/4, and the shutter speed to 30s. Set the drive mode to Continuous. Then you just need the shutter remote, ideally you want one with a button you can press and lock.

[Photosbykev]

There are cheaper programmable remotes on ebay that allow you to programme in longer than 30 second subs and shoot continuously or until x frames have been taken.

Using 5 -10 minute exposures will almost certain overexpose the sky and foreground unless you are under very dark skies. I rarely shoot exposures over 1 minute unless the location is perfect.

[Komet]

There are cheaper programmable remotes on ebay that allow you to programme in longer than 30 second subs and shoot continuously or until x frames have been taken.

Using 5 -10 minute exposures will almost certain overexpose the sky and foreground unless you are under very dark skies. I rarely shoot exposures over 1 minute unless the location is perfect.

I have one of those and use it with my 1000D. Its called an intervalometer - mine is branded JYC and there are a number of brands but they are all the same.

You can of course also use the Canon tools on a laptop if you have one.

[Rover]

Ok, once again thanks for all the great advice.

Hopefully it will be third time lucky tonight if it is clear.