seeking help with eos 300d. Night time shooting.

[adebass]

Hello, im in need of some advice. Im trying (at this very moment) to take a star field shot in pitch black conditions. Im trying to take the shot with a 30s exposure time. However i cant actually get the camera to take the picture. I havnt had the camera long and dont have the manual with me (im ata field station on the banks of Loch Lomond, Scotland). Any advice would be appreciated. And if anyone can help straight away thats even better.

Thanks

[tim]

What do you mean you can't take the picture? I'd expect you'd set it on Av mode, set the aperture to F8 to start with, stick it on a tripod, and hit the shutter. If the image is too dim or you don't get anything in 30sec increase the aperature to F4 or better.

[etaf]

why not set the camera to shutter priority select 30sec and push the shutter.

However i cant actually get the camera to take the picture
What happens ?
Is it a focus issue - turn to manual focus and set to infinity

Online manual
http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/eosdigital/index.html

[adebass]

Thanks for the tips. I have the camera on shutter priority and have set the speed to 30 seconds. push the shutter all the way down and it wont take, it will just focus. Ill try it on manual focus and see if it helps. If iot fails ill no doubt be back in a mo.

Cheers

[tim]

Does it beep? A beep or a red flash in the viewfinder means it's focussed, without that it won't take a pic. Manual focus will tell you about that. It could also be mirror lockup if you've hacked the firmware, or the timer's turned on.

[adebass]

Thanks alot people. It was as simple as switching to manual focus and away it went.

Cheers for the advice.

[etaf]

your welcome - glad it worked OK - you may find setting it off using the timer function would reduce the chance of camera shake if you dont have a cable release