Focussing tips for Canon 450D

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #1 02-01-2012, 09:43 AM

I admit that I have not looked here thoroughly yet, but are there any tips for helping focus this camera? The slightest tweak on the ring throws me into fuzzy pic land! I am using the magnified image, but the adjustment is still coarse and I usually go through the crispest image one way or the other.
I am returning to astrophotography after a break from the film days

Thanks,
Adrian

rainwatcher (Peter) · #2 02-01-2012, 01:25 PM

Sorry mate, I have a 1000D that even knows when I come in the room I have it set up in. I can almost hear the focus ring start to move. I have been thinking of going to a better quality telephoto, but for astro work they are well beyond my budget. One thing that I have been using lately is BackyardEOS but that’s only good for when I don’t mind lugging the laptop around (and I stand to be corrected but the 450D does not have live view so its use would be limited, at least in the focusing area). For normal through the viewfinder or live view focusing I put my trust in God, which is most unfortunate because I am an atheist.

mishku · #3 02-01-2012, 01:47 PM

I have a 450D, and can confirm that it does have liveview

rainwatcher (Peter) · #4 02-01-2012, 03:11 PM

Apologies guys, Mishku is quite correct, I was getting confused with the 350D and a message on the BYE board about it not having live view. If you have not used BYE I would advise you try it. Full version is available for a 30 day trial and its cheap as chips.

CapturingTheNight (Greg) · #5 02-01-2012, 03:38 PM

It's not so much the camera as a problem with the lenses used. Most of the kit lenses that come with the camera have sloppy manual focus. The only way around it is to either get a lens that has a better more solid focus ring or try to tape up the ring so that it doesn't more once you have used live view to focus.

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #6 02-01-2012, 03:59 PM

Thanks for input fellas....can you confirm that BYE actually gives me better control over focussing with the kit lenses? This is quite a learning curve, but pretty cool!

Thanks again,
Adrian

rainwatcher (Peter) · #7 02-01-2012, 04:15 PM

It does me, but try it for yourself

Octane (Humayun) · #8 02-01-2012, 04:48 PM

You don't need to purchase anything.

Your camera came with the Canon software; one of the applications it comes bundled with is EOS Utility.

EOS Utility has remote live view shooting capability. If you set your lens to autofocus, you can even focus from your computer. For precise focusing, click the checkbox titled 200%.

Be sure to turn autofocus to off on the lens when you start photographing.

EOS Utility also gives you the ability to set up an intervalometer -- x number of shots of y seconds duration with z seconds interval between each shot. Plus, an initial delay. Double your value for z if employing in camera noise reduction.

H

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #9 02-01-2012, 06:17 PM

OK, thanks Octane. It's a pity that Canon didn't explain that. I thought it was just a disk of drivers and maybe a simple photo manipulation program. The sales droids wouldn't know much anyway I guess.
I purchased BYE anyway, and I'm sure it will greatly assist me.
My question next is, where does it store the RAW files? The QS Guide just says that it stores them on the PC....I looked in the parent folder, but cannot find any reference to files. Thanks to all of you for taking the time to point me in the right direction.
Adrian

DavidU (Dave) · #10 02-01-2012, 06:36 PM

What is BYE?

mishku · #11 02-01-2012, 06:39 PM

Backyard EOS, I gather, Dave

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #12 02-01-2012, 06:50 PM

Yep, right. It me a while too. Purposely designed control software for the Canon Digital Rebel EOS series.

Octane (Humayun) · #13 02-01-2012, 06:50 PM

Adrian,

The manuals in the box should tell you about the software.

The camera doesn't shoot RAW files by default -- you need to enable it in the camera's menu system.

Install Digital Photo Professional (it may already be installed), and, that software will allow you to view your RAWs and export to JPG/TIFF, or what have you.

Any further questions, feel free to ask.

H

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #14 02-01-2012, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephenb

H Adrian,

My only experience with gaining best focus with my lenses (18-55mm IS and 300mm EF) is to use live view and progressively zoom in to 10x. It's my best (and only) technique.

Are you doing this with the camera alone or with SW Stephenb?
I looked for another solution because the camera alone was far too sensitive to the smallest adjustments. BYE is magnitudes more tolerant of changes....ie, 3 speeds available to adjust focus. I tried the slowest speed first, and I thought it wasn't working it was so slow to see the focus change. Much better than the camera alone.

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #15 04-01-2012, 04:27 PM

Thanks for all your tips and help fellas, BackyardEOS is the answer! I'm quite impressed at the capabilties and the low price!

Humayun, I went thru my Canon manual, and there is no hint of the goodies that Canon supply on the disk. They only mention that a utility disk is supplied in the package. As the camera had a USB port, I figured that it was just drivers to connect the camera to the PC. Because I interchange my SD chips, I didn't give it a look as I wouldn't be using it that way. As it happens, I don't know where the disk is, so I can not confirm what is on it. But I will surely check it when I locate it!
I am looking forward to more fun here in future!
Thanks again,
Adrian

alistairsam · #16 04-01-2012, 05:26 PM

Hi,
Even if you use backyard eos, the digital photo professional software is very handy to browse through and preview raw files, as well as view 16bit tif files you might have created with deep sky stacker.
the eos utility is very handy for timelapse and as H mentioned, can control a lot of camera functions.
as for backyard eos, you define the path to save the files in settings. a very handy thing is you can add variables to your file name, like date, time, target, temp, type of frame, etc.
BYE is very good.

Adrian5AW (Adrian) · #17 05-01-2012, 10:31 AM

Thanks for that further info, I have renewed my efforts to find what I did with that disk! It sounds like it will be most useful.
A couple more newbie questions for BYE users....

Should I be able to see the bright stars in Orion to set my focus in liveview?

And, what is the significance of a check in "Use full aperture in Liveview"? Can the aperture be varied? I just focus to get the smallest bright blob when trying for moon pics.
Thanks,
Adrian

mswhin63 (Malcolm) · #18 05-01-2012, 11:47 AM

Hi Adrian, I myself use APT (Astro Photography tool) Live view is a bit dim but APT have various live view brightness control including Gamma to increase what little light there is. Mostly though I focus on a bright star that is clear on live view then slew to the location I wish to capture. There is no harm in trying as there is a free version for people starting.

Liz · #19 05-01-2012, 12:02 PM

Yes, can be quite frustrating finding the right focus. It takes ages to find a star to focus on, at 17 mm which is what I normally use. if I put in the nifty 50, then its a lot easier. Even at x 10 it can take awhile, but I do get there.Sometimes I find the star in Liveview straight away, yeah!!

I dont use the laptop, but might give it a go after what H has said, I have all the Canon programs on my laptop already. Just a bit of a pain setting up the computer/table/chair.power etc.

Might have a look at that program too Malcolm.

My cable release is lost somewhere on a beach, after shooting Comet Lovejoy, so computer would be good to control the shooting too.

naskies (Dave) · #20 05-01-2012, 05:47 PM

Another tip - I find it helpful to put a bright star in the centre of frame (Alpha/Beta Cent, Sirius, Canopus, Jupiter, etc) when focusing via AF or manually through LiveView.

Even on really expensive wide angle primes, the corners are often horrible with coma, CA, and other optical aberrations wide open. Being in the centre helps minimise the distraction.