Using a Canon 5D

[roryfirth]

Hello all.

I have a Canon 5D with a Canon EF 72mm 28-135mm lens.

I've been playing with the settings to take decent night sky pictures. To date I have tried using the bulb setting with apature of 5.6 and ISO of 800 with various exposure times but i'm not getting any decent pictures.

Where am I going wrong?

Thanks

Rory

[Photosbykev]

Try using the lens wide open, iso 800-1600 and 30 second exposures with hi-iso and long exposure noise reduction turned off. Take 10-20 images and then throw them into the free DeepSkyStacker software, this should get you started.

After that consider taking darks to reduce the noise and flats to remove the natural vignetting of the lens system. One of the most annoying problems is getting a sharp focus so use live view zoomed in onto a star the help you get it right and then a couple of test shots pixel peeped at 100% should get that right.

This image is a composite of 43 images and 8 dark frames taken at 15 seconds @ f2 iso 1600 on a 5D mkII so there are plenty of stars out there

[swag72]

My 5D2 takes great pics. I have used my 300mm to good effect. As Kev has said, try it at 1600 ISO and on bulb setting for 30 second exposures. Use the widest aperture on your lens so that you allow maximum light in. I take it you have a tripod and a remote cable as well, so that if you do multiple exposures you don't need to touch the camera.