How use the canon eos 300d for astrophotography

[mr saddo]

Hi there, been a bit of a seasoned astronomer, i am going to have a go at photography, i have a sky-watcher mak 90 and i understand the connection to the scope camera and t ring in to the back of but.....with out too much technical info, what settings do you use on the camera, basics to get me started and get decent images, how to focus etc, ive read some posts but they go on about technical stuff etc, ive done a search on here but random stuff comes up. Sorry to appear a bit thick. ps i tried a philips web cam, but had trouble getting image on to ccd chip good for moon mind you! but trying to get jupiter was a night mare on a dob set up. yours paul.

[mr saddo]

I need help on this people!

[Carl83]

I had a mak 127 and used my 500d on it. I just used the t ring adaptor (additional purchase) and you connect without the lens on it. Set the camera up for live shooting so the view finder is displayed on the LCD screen, focus with the scope and off you go.

Worth having a remote to take the photo too if you're doing a long exposure.

There's also a photo set out there called the revelation photo visual kit I think. It allows you to use eyepieces but I've never used it.

Cheers

Carl

[Carl83]

Sorry just read your question again and it seems I've told you what you already know. My apologies.

[brantuk]

This page makes several suggestions for settings towards the bottom. Certainly worth reading right the way through cos you'll learn a lot about your camera relative to other models - hope that helps

Astronomiser - Automated Astronomy and AstroImaging Solutions

[mr saddo]

hi there many thanks. ive got the t ring, just waiting on the camera coming! oh yeah and the remote shutter release.

[Carl83]

What mount are you using?

[mr saddo]

Hi, iam using a eq1!, with a sktwatcher mak 90, now then i have put the camera on the scope and took a few long range shots at chimney pots and pigeons, but the image is a bit dull and a bit grainy, manual mode and 800 shutter speed, aperture is 00 because of no lens on.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

pop into menu and set white balance.

pump up iso if you can, i run my 350D at 1600. i found and heard canon have a fairly good low noise.

aperture will read 00. the same happens on my 350D

set camera to record in RAW format. i have always shot in raw format and use canons digital photo professional software to convert to tiff/bmp/jpg

i just started but already have settings worked out. i run a cable remote shutter and enable mirror lock once i have gained focus using the viewfinder.

a stopwatch is a hand tool to have. saves you touching scope and camera to illuminate the screen/menu.

my setup as follows

Eq1 with RA drive motor

Canon 350D unmodded

Skywatcher 1141 (4.5") @ 1000mm

[mr saddo]

HI, ahh many thanks for that, i used the timer button, i noticed the shutter when it shoots wobbles the scope!! i have a shutter release coming! yours paul.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

HI, ahh many thanks for that, i used the timer button, i noticed the shutter when it shoots wobbles the scope!! i have a shutter release coming! yours paul.

have a look in online 300D manual via canon site, i would think you have mirror lockup. that will stop the scope wobble when you activate shutter.

[michael8554]

You can reflash the Canon 300D to add Mirror Lockup and other goodies to the menus.

Google for Russian 300D Hack

[mr saddo]

Hi, right had a go at Venus last night, but.....it was coming out too bright and not like it looked like though view finder, which was hard to look though on the camera, it looked half moon shape, but when i took the exposer, say 5 secs bulb you could not tell it was half moon phase!, oh and Saturn was a night mare, it looked like a ufo than a planet again 5 sec on bulb, could hardly see it though view finder, oh and i had to put x2 barlow on has well, to see it, lot of weight now on back end!! i think camera shake was ruining the shots, even with shutter release cable on!! ,oh and the slight breeze!! dint help.

[canadave]

I would think 5 seconds would be way too long an exposure for very bright objects like Saturn and Venus. Your best bet is to take several exposures of varying lengths and see which one works best (note the EXIF data afterward). I'd think an ideal exposure would be well under 1 second.

[mr saddo]

HELP!! ive had a right job on tonight,very stressed!!! with the cannon 300d what am i doing WRONG, bulb 1 sec or 5 sec exposure, image comes out distorted, on manual dial setting, tried the other dial settling ae, tv ap, but can not get image on screen i can set the shutter speed to say 4000, or 1600 on some of the dial setting i forget which one, but theres no image, on aperture value setting it wont let me higher the shutter speed its set on say 0.25sec upwards too long.What dial setting do i put it on the camera manual? I ONLY WANT A REASONABLE PICTURE OF SATURN, how hard can it be!! yours paul.

[mr saddo]

hi , i think the image is moving, a RA motor might cure the problem has saturn on high power scopes does move quickly across field of view. But then again a fast shutter speed should still get it.

[mr saddo]

yep, scope is wobbling and the image goes fuzzy.

[mr saddo]

fast shutter speed iso 800 is this,camera shake?scope wobble on eq1 mount? or tracking needed. suppose to be Saturn!!! tried various shutter speeds they come out like this. Sooo frustrated.

[austringer]

I'm a beginner, but hope this helps..

just guessing here, but the image looks a little bright - what was the speed setting for this image?

Can you see Saturn clearly (and in focus) through the LCD screen of the camera? if so, it might be the mirror on the camera causing the whole rig to wobble when you release the shutter - see if your camera allows you to lift the mirror out of the way (known as locking the mirror).

If your shutter speed is < 1 sec then tracking is unlikely to be the problem.

Is there a breeze making the setup move slightly?

on manual setting, set up the ISO to about 800, speed to 125. Take a shot & examine. Take more shots, adjusting speed (too dark, reduce speed, too bright, increase speed). Adjust & check after each shot.

good luck!

[knobby]

Not related to astro photography but as a general rule you need 1.5 x the length of the lens to get a sharp image... but that's at. 15 feet ish.

I don't know your mak but you would need as high a shutter speed as you can get to stop the blurring

Good luck and keep at it, you'll be so pleased when you mail one!

[mr saddo]

HI, yeah i can see Saturn though the camera view finder with a x2 barlow on have tried 1sec shutter speeds and really fast shutter speeds, yeah i reckon its the shutter rocking the scope, ile have a look at the shutter lock up, if it lets me do it not sure how you activate it?

[austringer]

looks like the eos 300d doesn't do mirror lock without hacking it a bit. Also seems that this particular model is known for mirror slap - i.e. it wobbles when the mirror moves (just as you press the shutter release).

Take a look at this link The Canon EOS Digital Rebel (300D) Firmware Hack

to see about hacking the camera - caveat emptor! (I use Nikon gear so don't know if this works or what it will do to your warranty)

Alternative (this is what I'm attempting) buy an xbox 360 live webcam for around £4 from a well known auction website, search this forum for the modification needed to get it to work & use that to take videos of the night sky (you need SharpCap to capture the video, it's free) - then process with Deep Sky Stacker or Registax. It should work, with a bit of practice

[sgazer]

from what I can gather, you are trying to image saturn with a Mak 90 on an EQ1 mount with a 300d.

You'll get wobble, because the EQ1 isn't really up to supporting this lot. The flipping of the mirror in the 300d will cause wobble. The 300d doesn't have mirror lock up, but there's a Russian hacked firmware that allows it and it worked (for me). You'll need a remote shutter release and the timer set to 10sec to allow the mirror to flip up, then take the photo 10secs later after any wobble has died down.

DSLRs are not good for planets. With the right settings, you'll get something, but it'll be very small. Saturn is bright, so I would be using ISO200 with a shutter speed of 1/60th second to start with and work from that. Focusing will need to be spot on which will be extremely difficult due to the wobble and no live view on the 300d.

Webcams are way better for planets, much lighter, liveview for focusing, better image scale and can take many frames per second for stacking in Registax.

[mr saddo]

hi there all many thanks for the advice, i tried a web cam, but was struggling to get a image on the small chip sensor it has. I have a shutter release cable for my eos, i down loaded the mirror lock hack, extracted files..but......when i clicked on the file it had extracted , message telling me it was a FIR file unsupported. how do you get the fir file on to the camera? i know you use the usb lead and write it to cf card. God nowts never easy!!

[Cornelius Varley]

To upload the firmware onto your camera you need to copy the .fir file onto an empty CF memory card from your computer (use a card reader). Put the card back into the camera and switch it on, the camera should now upload the firmware. Make sure you have a fully charged battery before you atempt this. Once the firmware has been uploaded reformat the card and replace it the camera. You can now access the previously hidden custom functions that were disabled for the EOS300.

Peter