Canon 600D Live view

[Sierra Golf Mike]

I was trying to shoot the moon the other night with my Canon 600D attached to my Mak 102 and wanted to go down to ISO 100 but the live view was  blank. I suspect that it is because of the Focal Ratio of the Mak 102 being 12.75, can anyone confirm this and is there any way I will be able to get a display at this low ISO?

[RichM63]

I may be wrong but I don't think it has anything to do with the Mak. Even with no lens or anything attached, live view will show light or dark depending on what you point it at.

I suspect that you did not have the Moon in frame and thus a black blank screen. (that and leaving the end cap on   )

Although sometimes when I can see the Moon through the view finder, if I then go to live view and zoom, I generally have to reframe as the Moon is not visible. As for focusing that is also a potential 'blankness'.

Low or high ISO should have no effect at all before the shutter is released as this is 'software' used for image capture/camera processing settings.

Right now I'm looking out of the office window with the 700D/live view ISO 100 and no lens on the camera, on screen I can make out the fuzzy outline of the building opposite and the difference in colour shades between roof and walls.

Rich

[Alien 13]

There is a setting in the menu somewhere that allows live view to simulate exposure or something like that, the other things you can try is setting the camera to AV or TV mode and see if that improves things. The trick is to find a setting that makes the live view image match the captured image, this can be done on daytime objects but will still work on lunar etc.

The last tip is to get a chipped T adapter (known as focus confirm chip) this will allow you to trick the camera with the ability to "dial in" an f ratio setting so although the Mak is f/12.75 you can make the camera think its an f/1.8 or any other number, this changes the live view display so its easy to match against a captured image.

Alan

P.S. focus confirm adapters are camera model specific so you need to search "canon 600d af confirm t adapter).

[Sierra Golf Mike]

1 hour ago, RichM63 said:

I may be wrong but I don't think it has anything to do with the Mak. Even with no lens or anything attached, live view will show light or dark depending on what you point it at.

I suspect that you did not have the Moon in frame and thus a black blank screen. (that and leaving the end cap on   )

Although sometimes when I can see the Moon through the view finder, if I then go to live view and zoom, I generally have to reframe as the Moon is not visible. As for focusing that is also a potential 'blankness'.

Low or high ISO should have no effect at all before the shutter is released as this is 'software' used for image capture/camera processing settings.

Right now I'm looking out of the office window with the 700D/live view ISO 100 and no lens on the camera, on screen I can make out the fuzzy outline of the building opposite and the difference in colour shades between roof and walls.

Rich

Thanks Rich,

I'm pretty sure that as I adjusted the ISO that I could see the image appearing then getting brighter on the screen. I will check again though as I was frantically adjusting things in order to get some photos.

[Sierra Golf Mike]

1 hour ago, Alien 13 said:

There is a setting in the menu somewhere that allows live view to simulate exposure or something like that, the other things you can try is setting the camera to AV or TV mode and see if that improves things. The trick is to find a setting that makes the live view image match the captured image, this can be done on daytime objects but will still work on lunar etc.

The last tip is to get a chipped T adapter (known as focus confirm chip) this will allow you to trick the camera with the ability to "dial in" an f ratio setting so although the Mak is f/12.75 you can make the camera think its an f/1.8 or any other number, this changes the live view display so its easy to match against a captured image.

Alan

P.S. focus confirm adapters are camera model specific so you need to search "canon 600d af confirm t adapter).

Thanks Alan

I will have a closer look at the menus to see if I can see anything, never heard of an AF confirm chip before, I will look into it if have no joy otherwise.

[Fozzie]

I found that if I use video mode on my 750d to allow me to focus, even if the exposure settings leave a dim image on live view, the video mode is nice and bright.. I've also noticed a delay when using live view, which means you can go past focus without realising, while live view catches up... especially if your using the Canon remote app..

I focus in video, switch to continuous shoot mode at my desired iso/exposure and fire away.. I don't have a tracking mount (yet) so it requires checking the image every few mins but I manage to get good results.. so far with a f11 scope..

Could be worth a try.. this is one of my first attempts back in December using this technique.

Don't know if that helps at all.. good luck.

Ta

Fozzie 

 

[Sierra Golf Mike]

1 hour ago, Fozzie said:

I found that if I use video mode on my 750d to allow me to focus, even if the exposure settings leave a dim image on live view, the video mode is nice and bright.. I've also noticed a delay when using live view, which means you can go past focus without realising, while live view catches up... especially if your using the Canon remote app..

I focus in video, switch to continuous shoot mode at my desired iso/exposure and fire away.. I don't have a tracking mount (yet) so it requires checking the image every few mins but I manage to get good results.. so far with a f11 scope..

Could be worth a try.. this is one of my first attempts back in December using this technique.

Don't know if that helps at all.. good luck.

Ta

Fozzie 

 

Thanks for that Fozzie,

I will give that a go, that is a lovely image with good detail and nice smooth Mares. Are you using a remote shutter release, also on continuous mode do you not need to worry about vibration from the mirror going up and down? From the image, it seems not!

[Fozzie]

I actually use the Canon remote app as the 750d has wifi/Bluetooth so i can review images on the camera as I go.. as for mirror vibration, I've had it effect me once, with a stock focuser on a 200p newt.. there is the mirror lock up function which I haven't figured out yet.. I expect silent continuous shoot mode.. I can select it easy enough but still get some mirror chatter.. but all in all it hasn't caused me any issues to date.

My biggest issue is non tracking, by the time I get the mag up, focused and started to shoot, I'm having to adjust the slow motion controls to read centre the frame.. real pain.... I always feel rushed when focusing because of it.

Ta

Fozzie

[Sierra Golf Mike]

1 hour ago, Fozzie said:

I actually use the Canon remote app as the 750d has wifi/Bluetooth so i can review images on the camera as I go.. as for mirror vibration, I've had it effect me once, with a stock focuser on a 200p newt.. there is the mirror lock up function which I haven't figured out yet.. I expect silent continuous shoot mode.. I can select it easy enough but still get some mirror chatter.. but all in all it hasn't caused me any issues to date.

My biggest issue is non tracking, by the time I get the mag up, focused and started to shoot, I'm having to adjust the slow motion controls to read centre the frame.. real pain.... I always feel rushed when focusing because of it.

Ta

Fozzie

I know that on the Canon 600D, mirror lock up disables continuous shooting mode. I will be ordering a remote shutter release, it will need to be a cable one as the IR sensor is hidden when mounted to the telescope. What is your workflow for processing as you seem to have it nailed. 

[Fozzie]

Thanks, I've been pleased with the results I've got so far, but I do want to go further, equipment is needed though!

I use PIPP and registax6 (although I'm experimenting with autostakkert2) for the cropping and stacking, then I use RS6 for the wavelets (blackmagic) and use a final sharpen in canon photo pro4..

Usually try to take about 1000 frames (I've a rubbish pc so anymore and it takes all night to crop and stack)..

I've tried shooting movie but didn't think the resolution was up to what the single subs gave me..

I go from CR2 - TIFF - JPEG using pipp rs6 and cpp4..

There are some good tutorials in the pipp and registax6 websites for you to follow.

I've also saved wavelet schemes on RS6 as a baseline to tweek away from.

HTH

Fozzie

[Sierra Golf Mike]

11 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

Thanks, I've been pleased with the results I've got so far, but I do want to go further, equipment is needed though!

I use PIPP and registax6 (although I'm experimenting with autostakkert2) for the cropping and stacking, then I use RS6 for the wavelets (blackmagic) and use a final sharpen in canon photo pro4..

Usually try to take about 1000 frames (I've a rubbish pc so anymore and it takes all night to crop and stack)..

I've tried shooting movie but didn't think the resolution was up to what the single subs gave me..

I go from CR2 - TIFF - JPEG using pipp rs6 and cpp4..

There are some good tutorials in the pipp and registax6 websites for you to follow.

I've also saved wavelet schemes on RS6 as a baseline to tweek away from.

HTH

Fozzie

Thanks Fozzie,

I have used PIPP to convert a .mov to TIFFs aligning them, then AutoStakkert to stack, Registax for wavelets (even though I haven't a clue what I am meant to be doing) then final tweaking in Photoshop. I did try stacking stills but it was a disaster. Hope to try again soon!

Clear Skies

[Alien 13]

6 hours ago, Sierra Golf Mike said:

Thanks Alan

I will have a closer look at the menus to see if I can see anything, never heard of an AF confirm chip before, I will look into it if have no joy otherwise.

I do use both the T version of the chipped adapter with my scopes and the M42 one for old camera lenses for both stills and video, they do help with metering withe both liveview and through the viewfinder. 

Alan

[iapa]

On 05/03/2017 at 12:40, Fozzie said:

I actually use the Canon remote app as the 750d has wifi/Bluetooth so i can review images on the camera as I go.. as for mirror vibration, I've had it effect me once, with a stock focuser on a 200p newt.. there is the mirror lock up function which I haven't figured out yet.. I expect silent continuous shoot mode.. I can select it easy enough but still get some mirror chatter.. but all in all it hasn't caused me any issues to date.

My biggest issue is non tracking, by the time I get the mag up, focused and started to shoot, I'm having to adjust the slow motion controls to read centre the frame.. real pain.... I always feel rushed when focusing because of it.

Ta

Fozzie

I have a 10s delay on my mirror lock (EOS 600D/700D.70D) which seems to be fine.

I selected that when using an SLT130 - worked for that, so, should work for heavier mount/OTA combinations.