Quote:
Originally Posted by vesitata
They have opened a window on Orion for a few minutes..so I headed for the balcony, put the settings on 30s, f/3.5, ISO 800, manual focus....oh I don't fully understand
why the focus isn't actually right if I turn it to the infinity end...could someone explain?
Had to focus on the bright town hall first..
I can barely see Sirius, the brightest star through the viewfinder...it'll be hard to focus when I won't have bright distant objects. Is there a better way to do it than taking shots until the focus is right?
Can you replace the viewfinder of a 400D with a brighter one? (if there are any 'brighter' viewfinders).
Of course it's terrible...the clouds glow pink from the city lights, done a lot of editing to eliminate most of it  ...the stars have drawn a trail through the long exposure... anyway...I like the frame provided by the clouds..best viewed at large size..
I know, this is not an astrophotography forum but maybe someone can answer my questions  ...Thanks!
Tibi |
I don't know that there are any brighter view finders out there. Part of the problem may have to do with your lens, too. Although they are very expensive, usually prime focus lenses are best for astrophotos like this. I've actually used my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens with a decent amount of success. With the larger available aperture you can do shorter exposures (which would eliminate the star trails) and I've never had a problem seeing the brighter stars through the view finder.
Generally, when doing a shot like this, I just take pictures, zoom in on LCD screen to check focus then take another picture. I keep repeating this process until I've acheived focus. There are other methods but as far as I know, they all involve using a telescope as a lens. However, they might be adaptable to camera lenses, too. Try looking up Bahtinov Mask and see whether you can find one that might suit a camera lens.