camera settings for canon 400d

[saturn c (Leo)]

hi every1!

Im wondering if any of you guys with eos cameras would be able to help me?
Im having trouble taking photos of the night sky ,when i press to take the shot nothing happens. It want shoot! The setting is on full auto.
Can some one help me please!

[merlin8r]

If it's set to full auto, there isn't enough light for the meter, and the camera brain says "NO"!! Put it on manual, set your exposure time to 30 seconds, or B if you have a remote release. Then you can shoot for as long as you like.

Clear skies,
Shane

[saturn c (Leo)]

thanx for your help mate!

[iceman (Mike)]

Hey mate

As Shane said, try a longer exposure. Put it on a fixed tripod (or your heq5 mount), and point it at the sky.

Use your widest field of view lens (eg: your 17-85 at approx 20mm), set it on auto focus and hold the shutter halfway and point it at a bright star until the focus lock beeps. Then change it to manual focus and don't touch it! If the star isn't bright enough to get autofocus lock, then you'll have to try manual focus and expirement until the star is sharp when you zoom in on it on the LCD.

Set the camera to manual (M). For starters, set the exposure to 15" (seconds), and the aperture to f/5.6. Set the ISO to 800. Leave white balance on auto.

Then press the shutter. In 15 seconds, you'll see many stars!

Once you get the feel for it, go to 30 seconds (if you're tracking with your HEQ5) or use bulb mode with a remote or cable release, and go for 1-2 minutes, depending on the accuracy of your tracking.

Good luck!

[saturn c (Leo)]

thanks for the great tips guys! this forum is awesome

[acropolite (Phil)]

You might also want to set long exposure noise reduction (which subtracts an automatic dark frame from the JPG image) and mirror lockup, otherwise mirror movement will cause problems. Both are accessable in custom functions.

[RB (Andrew)]

Also it's been really dewy lately so place a cloth or cover over the camera while you're out at night.
If you haven't got a lens hood, make a short one out of cardboard/paper to slow down the dew from forming on the lens. Make sure it's not too long or it will cause vignetting (shadows in the corner of the pic).
Here's a link to some plans.

I'd also suggest you get a plain lens filter to fit on the front of the lens to protect it from dust and moisture.
I leave mine on permanently on every lens I have.

[Solanum]

More likely to be this: the autofocus on my 350D (virtually the same camera) has problems unless you set it to use the centre point only and get that on a bright star. It won't take if it can't focus. You can also get around it by switching the lens to manual focus! Beware though that focus for the night sky isn't quite at the end of the focus range and it's very difficult to see whether it's in focus through the viewfinder, you may have to experiment.