Canon 600D - LiveView Boosting?

[gnomus]

I am using a 600D for my imaging.  I use APT to control the camera.  

I like to use a Bahtinov mask to focus.  I will put the camera into LiveView mode using APT, find a suitable star and then put the Bahtinov over the objective.  This has the effect of significantly reducing the brightness of the image on screen.  It can be difficult to see the spikes produced by the mask, even when zoomed in.

Is there a way of increasing the brightness of the LiveView screen in APT, so that I can get a nice clear Bahtinov pattern to appear on screen?

Apologies for wasting everybody's time, if I have missed something obvious.

[lensman57]

I am using a 600D for my imaging.  I use APT to control the camera.  

I like to use a Bahtinov mask to focus.  I will put the camera into LiveView mode using APT, find a suitable star and then put the Bahtinov over the objective.  This has the effect of significantly reducing the brightness of the image on screen.  It can be difficult to see the spikes produced by the mask, even when zoomed in.

Is there a way of increasing the brightness of the LiveView screen in APT, so that I can get a nice clear Bahtinov pattern to appear on screen?

Apologies for wasting everybody's time, if I have missed something obvious.

Why don't you just use the FWHM focus aid of the APT. I have never got a good focus using the Bahtinov mask and liveview.

A.G

[RichM63]

Have you tried simply adjusting the exposure to brighten the image for focusing and then set it correctly for capture?

AV+/- and turn dial clockwise. (don't forget to turn it back though)

BTW, I'm still trying out various methods, so a bit hit and miss at the moment.

[Owmuchonomy]

I am using a 600D for my imaging.  I use APT to control the camera.  

I like to use a Bahtinov mask to focus.  I will put the camera into LiveView mode using APT, find a suitable star and then put the Bahtinov over the objective.  This has the effect of significantly reducing the brightness of the image on screen.  It can be difficult to see the spikes produced by the mask, even when zoomed in.

Is there a way of increasing the brightness of the LiveView screen in APT, so that I can get a nice clear Bahtinov pattern to appear on screen?

Apologies for wasting everybody's time, if I have missed something obvious.

For focussing push up your ISO as far as you can then put it back for imaging.

[Alien 13]

I am not sure if its just my model but I have allways found that I get a brighter image on the actual camera live view screen than the image through APT or BYEOS.

+1 for turning the ISO up for initial viewing and make sure the shutter is set to 30s not bulb mode, zooming in also seems to increase the number of stars seen (reset to normal values when actualy shooting).

Alan

[gnomus]

Firstly, thanks everyone for their responses.

I do have the camera set to 6400 ISO (which is the highest APT allows) and 30 secs.  I may try that tip about looking at the camera screen (it may be possible to adjust brightness on that).

I'd also like to try FWHM.  I am not really sure what I should be doing with this.  I have tried a couple of the Bahtinov tools (in APT and in other programs).  I have to say that I do not seem to be able to make any progress with this - I seem to be able to do better by eye.

Are there any tutorials or videos on FWHM focussing, I wonder?

[Davey-T]

Lurking somewhere in the menus is the live view exposure simulation, enable / disable setting, enable tries to simulate actual image in live view, disable shows the image at standard brightness to make it easier to see.

I haven't experimented to see if disabled is brighter than selecting enable and 10mins as ISO6400 yet.

Dave 

[lensman57]

Firstly, thanks everyone for their responses.

I do have the camera set to 6400 ISO (which is the highest APT allows) and 30 secs.  I may try that tip about looking at the camera screen (it may be possible to adjust brightness on that).

I'd also like to try FWHM.  I am not really sure what I should be doing with this.  I have tried a couple of the Bahtinov tools (in APT and in other programs).  I have to say that I do not seem to be able to make any progress with this - I seem to be able to do better by eye.

Are there any tutorials or videos on FWHM focussing, I wonder?

Just find a bright star near the target, launch the FWHM focusing aid and place the window on the star and focus until you get the smallest number in the window. That is all. No grabbing or jumping jack flash circles with this one. If the seeing is good you get steadily better focus until you pass it and then back off if the seeing is bad the numbers will be all over the place as the star bloats and shrinks in the atmospheric turbulence.

A.G

[gnomus]

Just find a bright star near the target, launch the FWHM focusing aid and place the window on the star and focus until you get the smallest number in the window. That is all. No grabbing or jumping jack flash circles with this one. If the seeing is good you get steadily better focus until you pass it and then back off if the seeing is bad the numbers will be all over the place as the star bloats and shrinks in the atmospheric turbulence.

A.G

Thanks again. It sounds quite straightforward. Now the challenge is for me to find a way to screw it up!!!