300D a new user

[BarryM45]

I used to own the Minolta Dynax 3000i for several years, but have switched to the Cannon 300D for astronomical purposes. When i first got the camera i was overjoyed it seems to cover everything that i need. I have done some research and comparisons and this camera comes out with the best features for the money.

Over the last few nights i have taken the camera out to take simple shots of the moon using the standard 18 - 55mm lens. I completely understand that the moon will appear very small in such a lens so the exercise is more of trying to get familiar with the camera than getting any great pictures also i do not wish to mount the camera to my telescope until i can change various settings in the dark comfortably. The first thing i have found is that even in the creative zone i seem to have difficulty getting the camera to take a picture when the camera is telling me of underexposure or overexposure problems. I have found this frustrating as with my old camera i would reel of seven shots either side of the ideal F stop or shutter speed this allowed me to componsate for night to night conditions and gain a benchmark far a particular shot. Maybe someone can suggest a way to turn this feature off. This seems to be happen in the M mode as well.

I have only used the camera for 5 days so the above problem is bound to be a new user error or a requirement for me to think in a different way than i have previously.

Many thanks and a happy new year!

Barry

[PacAce]

Even if the exposure is not set up properly, the camera should allow you to take the shots as set. I think your problem is not the aperture and shutter speed settings but the fact that the camera can't focus in on a subject. Switch the lens to manual so that you can take the shot even if it's not in focus.

[BarryM45]

PacAce thanks that has to be it.

As even using the suggested settings the moon was horibily overexposed making me think it had tried to focus on some other object. Note made the D300 will not take a photo if the suggested object is not focused rather than the aperture or shutter speeds being incorrect.

Once attached to my telescope this will not be an issue as manual focus will always be the case.

Thanks again i am very new too digital photography.

[PacAce]

PacAce thanks that has to be it.

As even using the suggested settings the moon was horibily overexposed making me think it had tried to focus on some other object. Note made the D300 will not take a photo if the suggested object is not focused rather than the aperture or shutter speeds being incorrect.

Once attached to my telescope this will not be an issue as manual focus will always be the case.

Thanks again i am very new too digital photography.

It's not a digital thing. The same thing would happen with my film Elan IIe. It must be a Canon thing. :D

[Jim_T]

You have to be in full Manual (M) mode to photograph the moon.

The 300D doesn't have spot metering.. (It won't meter on a tiny spot).. You can set it to obtain exposure information from a fairly small area in the center of the viewfinder, but that area will be much larger than the moon.

As a result of averaging, the bright moon AND all the black sky in the metering area, the camera will pretty well always overexpose.

In manual mode, you can set the aperture and shutter speed manually. This will give you a properly exposed moon.

Below is an info page on the best way to shoot the moon...

http://www.calphoto.com/moon.htm

[BarryM45]

Thanks Jim_T for that link,

Took my fist picture of the moon tonight and managed to get a pretty clear picture of Orion too. Just using the standard 18 - 55 lens on a tripod with an exposure time of 30 seconds. Orion has come out pretty well, with the belt stars and the sword easily recognised. The moon is too small for me to get any clear detail but at least it now looks like a single point of light rather than a horrible blur further when i zoom in the shape of tonight's moon it is clear.

Now i just need to marry the camera to my telescope :D

Barry

[Jetmech1]

I took this shot of the moon a couple of days ago at 7:27 am hand held with my 75-300mm IS Canon lens. I just wanted to see what the my DREBEL would do hand held. I used the landscape setting for this picture.

[Conk]

Jetmech1, great shot. Was it at 1600? Also, how many shots did you take to get the rather crisp handheld shot @300mm?

[Conk]

Oops! Just realised. 300mm IS :mrgreen: .

[Jetmech1]

The EXIF info says 1/250, FL 280, F/5.6 and ISO-320. I didn't know the camera would had ISO 320. I took about 20 shots and most were good. They would have been a lot better if I had my tripod. I've only had my DRebel for 2 weeks so I'm still learning.

John

[BarryM45]

Jetmech1 That is a great picture
I popped into my local photography shop today to pick up some Photo paper as i feel i may have a picture that would be worth a print. Whilst there i was talking about my next lens, the shop owner suggested the EF 70 -300 would be the best compliment to my 18 -55. I was also warned off the EFS lenses due to the fact that the larger chips will come down in prise and that the EFS lenses will not use all of the full size chips in the expensive cameras. As the future is going to be the larger chips then why invest in the EFS lenses? This seems to make sense to me.

Anyway a great shot Jetmech1 clear detail in a difficult subject.

Barry

[cc10d]

Barry,
I think that the 70=300 IS DO will be a very nice lens, it is compact and considerably better than the 75-300's in optical quality. My wife used to use the 100-300 USM but now has the 70-300DO IS and finds it much supperior, especially at the longe focal lengths. It is not quite up to the prime 300 Ls in sharpnes, but does sharpens good in Photoshop. The DO is a lot more compact and is easier to carry and use. Uses 58 mm filters too! Enjoy.

[jonnyhorizon]

willthe DO accept the 1.4 teleextender
the extender compatability list does not indicate it will but i have heard that it may
if you get a chance to try one please let me know...j

[BarryM45]

cc10D I just know i am going to regret asking this but that lens comes out at a wopping £1049.00 over a mere £149.00 for the EF 75-300. I understand that quality is an important issue (I will buy nothing else but Televue for my eyepieces on my telescope).However, one has to ask the question is the lens really worth the extra £900.00. Is the EF of poor quality? More importantly the months that it would take to save for the expensive lens over the possibility of owning one at the end of January as apposed to sometime in August maybe later?

Barry

[Conk]

One reason I asked if this was shot @1600 iso is because of the level of noise in the darker area's. I'm surprised to see at iso 320 :confused: there is that amount of noise.
Also, I have used my Tamron 2x teleconverter on moon shots and they do not come out anywhere near as clear as when I just use the 75-300mm lens. :(

[Bodog]

I'm guessing that is ISO 3200. Do you have the hack installed?
JimE

[Jetmech1]

I'm guessing that is ISO 3200. Do you have the hack installed?
JimE
No hack installed. As soon as my job lets me have some free time I'll be trying some more night shots from a tripod. I did not expect this picture to come out as good as it did. My olympus C-750 would not do that.

John

[Jon]

I'm guessing that is ISO 3200. Do you have the hack installed?
JimE He was in Landscape Mode; DR sets an ISO between 100-400 automagically. This result would suggest that it can set ISO at all standard settings (100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320, 400) when it's doing the picking and that Canon didn't want the scroll list to be too big for the user. Anyone else seen intermediate ISO settings in a Basic mode?

[cc10d]

Barry,
Sorry I had not been following this threed closely. Thus the time lag in response. Hey not being able to shoot (take pictures) verses shooting something, is not a good thing in my book. If you can not in a reasonably short time get the ultimate, use what is available. NOT to infer the DO is ultimate, it is not. It is an improvement with some versatility and small size. When looking strictly quality, in a zoom coving that range, I prefer the 100-400 IS L. I would like a 400 2.8 IS L, but do not have one because its size would be little used in my world of hiking for nature shots. Not to mention its cost which is big for me. I like the versatility of the zoom as well as its smaller size. Wife like the DO because it is small and works. Get something and enjoy taking pictures!!
NOW ! Chuck

[cc10d]

Barry said: the shop owner suggested the EF 70 -300 would be the best compliment to my 18 -55.

PS Barry there may have been some confusion on my part in my first reply to your question, I thought you were referring to the DO lens in your querry. the post just said 70-300 and I assumed that to be the DO IS lens. If you meant 75-300 at that time my whole reply post was in error.
Chuck

[selym]

Sorry for jumping in, but I'm another new owner....Can Anybody give me a reason why the lens keeps moving in and out in the 300D but refused to focus while in AF mode?

Everything looks ok but clearly I'm missing something..

again apologies for invading the thread, I'm trying to work out how to launch a new one!!!

thanks,

Selym

[dr.bear]

Jetmech1, the moon pic you posted does seem to have a significant amount of noise. I took some full moon pics a couple of days ago and the background was pure black. I experimented with iso200 up to iso1600. Even at iso1600 the noise was very low. My setup was a 10D, 1.4x extender, 70-200 IS (at 200mm) and lens hood. I'm wondering if light from street lights and such got into your photo? Also, did you use a hood?

[Jetmech1]

There was a significant amout light present from STREET lighting and it was getting light out side. This was a morning shot.