I’ve got a Canon EOS 500D and I want to start astrophotography but I’m not sure on what the settings that will give me the best images. Also, is there a way to take exposures without having to hold down the button and without buying a shutter control remote or using a laptop?
Thanks!
What you need is a great scrabble word, an intervolometer. This little device allows you to keep the shutter open for a predetermined amount of time. Canon makes one that’s way expensive, but I have had great luck with the Chinese knock offs found on eBay. You set the camera in manual mode withe the shutter set to ‘B’ (bulb).
http://tinyurl.com/y9m4yv6
As for the ISO settings. Stay under 1600 ISO. While it is the most sensitive setting, it is also the nosiest. Most of my shots I have gone no higher than 800 ISO. The other thing that I do, is have the camera do an automatic dark frame. This option takes your regular photo (say 1 minute long), then takes another exposure without opening the shutter. This helps to reduce the amount of noise that appears on the photo. At the expense that it takes twice as long to take a picture (2 minutes in this example).
If possible, do not use a zoom lens either. You want whats called a prime or fixed focal length lens. What I have in my kit is a 135mm, 50mm, 28mm and a 16mm fisheye (made in Russia). A good cheap way to get decent prime lenses is to get the old, 35mm style lenses and an adapter plate, all which can be found on eBay. What I have done is purchase what’s called the M42 or Pentax screw mount lens.
Example -
http://tinyurl.com/yf57437
The adapter plate allows you to mount the lens to the camera -
http://tinyurl.com/yhjrqmq
And finally some links of how to do imagining itself -
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/dslr/EOS300Dastro.html
http://www.astro.shoregalaxy.com/dslr_astro.htm
http://www.stargazing.net/david/index.html
December 29th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Light from stars and nebula are very faint and U need long exposure to get pictures.
So keeping the shutter open for long time is necessary.
References :
December 29th, 2009 at 7:03 am
What you need is a great scrabble word, an intervolometer. This little device allows you to keep the shutter open for a predetermined amount of time. Canon makes one that’s way expensive, but I have had great luck with the Chinese knock offs found on eBay. You set the camera in manual mode withe the shutter set to ‘B’ (bulb).
http://tinyurl.com/y9m4yv6
As for the ISO settings. Stay under 1600 ISO. While it is the most sensitive setting, it is also the nosiest. Most of my shots I have gone no higher than 800 ISO. The other thing that I do, is have the camera do an automatic dark frame. This option takes your regular photo (say 1 minute long), then takes another exposure without opening the shutter. This helps to reduce the amount of noise that appears on the photo. At the expense that it takes twice as long to take a picture (2 minutes in this example).
If possible, do not use a zoom lens either. You want whats called a prime or fixed focal length lens. What I have in my kit is a 135mm, 50mm, 28mm and a 16mm fisheye (made in Russia). A good cheap way to get decent prime lenses is to get the old, 35mm style lenses and an adapter plate, all which can be found on eBay. What I have done is purchase what’s called the M42 or Pentax screw mount lens.
Example -
http://tinyurl.com/yf57437
The adapter plate allows you to mount the lens to the camera -
http://tinyurl.com/yhjrqmq
And finally some links of how to do imagining itself -
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/dslr/EOS300Dastro.html
http://www.astro.shoregalaxy.com/dslr_astro.htm
http://www.stargazing.net/david/index.html
References :