Best camera setting for unmodded DSLR

[cobra84]

Hi all, im really looking forward to trying astrophotography but before i go out and spend a load on a modded camera i've borrowed a cannon EOS 700D from my dad to see how i get on, ive also orded a lead so i can do long exposures without wobbling the stand!

Does anyone know the best settings to programme in on a non modded DSLR

P.S would anyone recommend a modded DSLR for under £400?

Thanks all.

[wxsatuser]

Try here

http://cheapastrophotography.vpweb.co.uk/

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Good idea to do some experimentation first.

The correct settings depend on the speed of your lens and the brightness of your local sky. You also need to consider the focal length, the higher the magnification you are using the more quickly star trails will become apparent (I assume you are shooting from a fixed tripod). The Milky Way is bright and overhead at the moment but the Moon is out, which will tend to wash everything out.

For a wide angle lens (18mm or so) I'd try 30 seconds and ISO 1600 or 3200 as a starting point, with the aperture wide open (lowest f-number). This will give some trailing, coma and noise but should show the Milky Way.

[Alien 13]

The modern canon cameras are usually quite happy at an ISO of between 800 and 1600, if you are shooting on a fixed tripod then i would go for 1600 but it depends also on the level of local light polution and the position of the moon if its out.

The exposure time will depend on a number of factors but i use the 400/FL of the lens as a rule of thumb so 50mm would be 8 seconds

Alan

[cobra84]

Well the telescope i have is a Skywatcher 150p and i have an EQ-3 mount and a duel axis motor.

i'll try that website aswell thankyou.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

With 750mm focal length you're going to get trailing very quickly on an EQ3, a careful polar alignment and balancing of the mount will help.

My current best on my EQ3 is 1 minute at 250mm, which would equate to 20 seconds with your 150p. However, I don't think I've got mine working to its full potential yet. For short exposures you might want to try ISO 3200 or 6400 when targeting DSOs, especially for framing shots.

It should be great for lunar imaging. The Moon is very bright and that scope is quite fast, you could try ISO 100 or 200 and 1/200th of a second as a starting point. Using the camera timer will help prevent wobble.

Hope that is some help, good luck having a play.

[Leveye]

Using wide angle camera lenses say 50mm  and under i usually go ISO 2500 for about 25 seconds.

[Stargazer33]

The biggest, brightest and most rewarding target for beginners has to be the Moon. If you have a T piece adaptor and 1.25" nose piece then get a good polar alignment, stick your tracking on lunar and take some shots along the terminal line of the Moon. Expose for the brighter areas. If you get detail in the bright areas you can 'lift' the darker, shadow areas with free software like GIMP. If you expose for the shadow areas you will 'burn out' (white out) the highlights and you will never get detail out of those areas.

I would put the camera on Auto and take a shot. Look at the result and see if areas are burnt out, making a note of the speed used for the shot - use the onboard camera 'DISP.' button to get the information for the shot up on the LCD. If the highlignts are too bright, switch to manual and adjust your speed faster to darken your image overall. For the Moon I would use 100 or 200 ISO to keep the noise to a minimum. With full Moon tomorrow you may find that full auto will be able to cope - depends how much of the Moon fits onto your chip.

As people have said before, a lot depends on your set-up and local conditions. Experimentation is always fun, as you work out how your particular set-up performs and what you need to do to bring out the best in the equipment you have. Some members on here get much better images with basic equipment than others do with equipment costing 4x, 5x as much. At the end of the day, have fun. If you are having fun you will learn a lot more than if you force things.