How use the canon eos 300d for astrophotography

[mr saddo]

hi there ,finally hacked the 300d, i have not dared to do i!!!t but i needed the mirror lock badly, with mirror lock up with the undutchables hack, i replace the original canon software fir file with the undutchable hack fir file, which says its the same version 1.11!! so make sure you delete the right one in the canon file when you have down loaded off there site. It works!!

[mr saddo]

I finally hacked the eos 300d mirror lock up and raw mode now. oh and ive ordered Steve Richards making every photon count. i have the evo 120 scope now, and ive got a RA motor on, a case of all the gear no idea lol, i have a bit of an idea, but getting it all to comes together is another thing. I have some good shots off the moon, but going to try for some clusters, weather permitting.

[Aenima]

All the best of luck with your imaging.

I have imaged saturn briefly with an xbox webcam and its pretty good, better with the philips spc900nc but thats for another thread.

But austringer was right about webcams, just need to align your finder accurate as you can to find planets when the webcams attached - still patience is needed.

Also, have you tried doing the same but with your canon in movie mode? Check out Atlas's pics on here of Jupiter and saturn, very very impressive! More detail than any webcam images I have produced, and with a canon dslr in movie mode then stacked in usual fashion.

Worth a try.

PS. what is the deal with mirror lock hacking? cant I just stick it with tape or something? not worried about warranty, just no good with delicate software mods. What about the timer delay, does that not solve the issue? Last question - after seeing some great pics of dso's using alt-az mount mode on cpc800, I really would like to try my goto az with the SW 130p. How hard would this be?

Regards

Aenima

[mr saddo]

hi just a up date, i have now hacked the canon 300d for mirror lock up, either the image is to bright, or too dim, ive tried different Iso settings the higher you go the grainier it gets, (noise) i got a image of jupiter other night but too dull, you can just make out the bands but not clear. see images.

[mr saddo]

The idea of mirror lock up is for the mirror to lock before the shutter opens , so the mirror does not cause slap and judder the camera,

the 300d does not have live veiw (pity?) and trying to focus though a tiny camera aperture is a night mare. people have had good results with web cams but the chip in them is tiny and i found trying to align a image on it was a nightmare, good on moon mind you. this is where tracking and guide scopes come in to play!! and cost.

[Aenima]

OK. nice one.

Though I think before I hack it I'll try timer mode or something - not confident with flashing firmware.

Yeah, you should check out Atlas's images - you need to take a movie - be it webcam or DSLR - you dont need mege tracking, just keep it on screen/preview - not sure if you can display on laptop but the software stacks it aligned for you.

Then dim images get amplified as they are stacked and detail leaps out when using sharpening in registax.

Taken with DSLR and stacked as movie footage. Credited to Atlas.

Regards

Aenima

[Aenima]

If your unable to view with laptop try some of the better software packages like backyard EOS etc. or take quick snaps to preview to see if targets in view and align your eq1 so the hand slo-mo knob can slowly keep target from drifting too far off fov.

Apologies if this is no help, I always used a webcam for planets and just recently tried dslr stuff - dont have tracking or anything but managed a nice bit of colour in orion nebula last night while testing my camera.

Best of luck with jupiter and hopefully saturn will be coming back not too distant future.

Regards

Aenima

[Atlas]

I'm not sure if the 300 has Live view, but I'm curiose if Backyard EOS will work. I've never used BY EOS but from what I gather it's a pretty nice program.

Your ISO setting will vary with what planet your looking at.

-Jupiter: I normally image this guy at 800 ISO with gain set to around 80. depends on the haze in my region.

-Saturn: This one can get tricky...My Canon hated Saturn this past spring, and my ISO settings were 3200 range. (couldn't get it on my lcd screen at anything lower.)

-Mars: I run 800 ISO and a gain of around 40-60. But depends on seeing conditions.

These are all setting I use for live view. If you planning shutter imaging, you should get away with a lower iso with longer exposures. I can't give settings for that, since I don't shutter image.

if your using the 90mm telescope, you may need a higher iso setting, I'm not sure how well the 90mm gathers light.

[Atlas]

hi just a up date, i have now hacked the canon 300d for mirror lock up, either the image is to bright, or too dim, ive tried different Iso settings the higher you go the grainier it gets, (noise) i got a image of jupiter other night but too dull, you can just make out the bands but not clear. see images.

The top image looks a tad under exposed, while the bottom two images look like you had iso set too high.

[Aenima]

Ahh, you found the place.

Cool, I'm hoping some kind of solution can be scraped together from everyones ideas.

Regards

Aenima

[Atlas]

One thing may help, if he can track well...he could always turn off the auto focus and capture the image afocally...he needs a super steady hand for it though.

Just set the iso to auto and hope the camera can adjust as it shoots.

If the camera has trouble setting the iso auto setting wise, then you could assist it by using a polarized light filter.

[Aenima]

No live view i'm afraid. There is something I have only just heard of - its an old idea now - called tethering, which I might try. Meant to be slow and awkward but may be a compromise of sorts. (?) Who knows?

I dont!

But as of this date no-one has figured out live view for 300d - sorry.

Regards

Aenima

[Aenima]

One thing may help, if he can track well...he could always turn off the auto focus and capture the image afocally...he needs a super steady hand for it though.

Just set the iso to auto and hope the camera can adjust as it shoots.

Yeah, the afocal is what I was thinking when I first thought about it - but come to think of it now I cant really imagine how the sensor would react - the webcams go off at 10fps so dont over expose - with prime focus (projection) there may be different problems to consider. Doh!

Apologies

Aenima

[Aenima]

As i have no motor, tracking is always by hand but with webcams' live viewing it doesn't cause problems.

With accurate polar alignment and good finder alignment along with steady hands....?

Hope so.

Aenima

[Atlas]

He could always set the camera to take "Motion" images like you would at a sporting event. Then use an outermoon to count the seconds it takes for jupiter to get centered in the eyepiece. Then reset the scope position and hold up the camera and snap the image in that same amount of time.

It sounds like a hassel, who knows if it'll work. It may be easier if he goes the webcam route or just looks for a deal on a used camera with "Live view".

[LukeSkywatcher]

If you have a Canon Eos and want to take movies (like a webcam) there is a great bit of free software online called

Eos Camera Movie Record

http://sourceforge.net/projects/eos-movrec/

You just hook your Eos intop your computer which is running the program and it does an amazing job of taking movies if your model of Eos doesnt already do so.

[Atlas]

If you have a Canon Eos and want to take movies (like a webcam) there is a great bit of free software online called

Eos Camera Movie Record

http://sourceforge.n...cts/eos-movrec/

You just hook your Eos intop your computer which is running the program and it does an amazing job of taking movies if your model of Eos doesnt already do so.

Thanks Paul, that's the software I was thinking of earlier...just couldn't remember.

[Aenima]

Hmm?

Whassat? Sorry miles away! So does this software allow some kind of preview/live view or was it the one that centered images?

Aenima

And thanks Paul!

[Aenima]

If you have a Canon Eos and want to take movies (like a webcam) there is a great bit of free software online called

Eos Camera Movie Record

http://sourceforge.n...cts/eos-movrec/

You just hook your Eos intop your computer which is running the program and it does an amazing job of taking movies if your model of Eos doesnt already do so.

Ah. It seems the camera has to have live view already - which 300d's dont.

It may do other interesting stuff, though.

Thanks for the link.

Regards

Aenima

[LukeSkywatcher]

Hmm?

Whassat? Sorry miles away! So does this software allow some kind of preview/live view or was it the one that centered images?

Aenima

And thanks Paul!

Once you are running the software via laptop or PC...............once you press the record button, you see on screen what the camera sees. It allows you to focus etc.

I am not sure how long it allows you to take movies for, but i have tested it for 10 mins. Its saves the movies to your hard drive directly, so i guess there is no limit except the size of your hard drive.

Its a great bit of gear.

Hook your Eos cam to the comp running the program, and hook your cam to your scope and Bob is your uncle.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ah. It seems the camera has to have live view already - which 300d's dont.

It may do other interesting stuff, though.

Thanks for the link.

Regards

Aenima

I just read that the camera does need Liveview to operate.

[Atlas]

Well, since we've all gone full circle on this one, I wonder if he has an X-box...he could always use the cam on that.

[paraletic mirror]

ive just got a 300d, ive hacked it and im waiting for the bits and bobs to bring my scope mirror up 23mm to 30mm but thats another story, while ive been waiting ive looked at a few programs for controlling the 300d, ive got dslr focus and in order to focus it takes continous snaps of what ever your target is so you can focus, its not expensive either so well worth it, , im begining as well which is why i got the 300d, its cheap and chearful and good for practicing with, ive done my webcaming for now and want to try something different, the other program i tried was one from breeze systems caller "dslr remote pro" which again isnt bad, but is a tad expensive so i only got the demo, both programs control the 300d no problems, i also got the R.A motor recently and am waiting for the chance to practice drift aligning my mount,

Good luck with your quest

[JD75]

ive just got a 300d, ive hacked it and im waiting for the bits and bobs

Good luck with your quest

Do you have any info on the 'hack' for them? I was given a 300D recently and whilst I've tried a couple of snaps with it, it'd be good to find out a bit more about it.

Thanks!

[paraletic mirror]

Do you have any info on the 'hack' for them? I was given a 300D recently and whilst I've tried a couple of snaps with it, it'd be good to find out a bit more about it.

Thanks!

The hacks very simple, i dont have a card reader so i couldnt put the firmare straight onto the card, so i had to download the canon firmware update, in the decompressed foler there is a small app caller "upload firmare" i simply deleted the canon firmware from the folder and replaced it with the hacked firmare then clicked "upload firmare " turned camera off after it turned it back on and followed on screen instuctions, it adds mirror lock and a few other thing i dont understand, flash sync and the likes