Hi all sorry for the vague title of the thread! I am very new to DSLR photography and am playing with my new toy (EOS4000D). SO last night I tried to capture a pass of the space station in the night sky. Maybe too ambitious I know! I had exposure set at 15 seconds to try and get a trail, and had aperture set high with ISO at 100. As a test I focused on the moon and the photo took no problem. The ISS came into view 5 minutes later so I treied to take the picture but the shutter wouldn't operate. There was a number (9) flashing in the view finder which I think is maximum burst but I have looked through the manual and I'm not sure why that would be a problem I was in single shot mode. Any help appreciated happy to try again tonight (no ISS but can just do a test photo anyway) with any guidance you can give.
Welcome to the forum Nick. I would suggest the best person to ask is Johnsey, he is pretty well up with this technology. I also suggest you try looking at You Tube as a second source of information.
I don't know the details of your camera, but as a rough stab in the dark, I would it be anything to do with the shutter not releasing as the camera has not achieved focus, or can't find something to lock onto to focus? I don't know what the number (9) flashing means. Having a go at the night sky, you are jumping in the deep end here. But it is fun! I have done a little night time sky stuff, so I tell you every mistake out there that you can make. So before you go out in the dark, charge your camera battery, and set the camera settings to what you want while you are able to see the settings. To be fumbling in the dark wondering when your camera is not doing what you want as you are pressing the wrong buttons is frustrating. But just something to try for tonight's effort. Bump up your ISO, I would try something along the lines of ISO 800 or more, don't be frightened to use ISO 1600, hey your learning here. The higher the ISO, the more noise the image will have. Attach your camera to a tripod, or place it on a firm base. Turn your auto focus focus off, so from AF to manual on the lens barrel, and using live view to focus with focus on the moon, or a bright star. Remember to zoom in on your subject in live view to get the focus as best as you can. Don't just turn your lens to infinity and hope for the best as some lenses will focus past infinity. I am not sure what lens you are using here. Set your exposure to manual on the command dial and set the shutter to 15 seconds. You maybe able to get away with a longer exposure, try it. It will depend on the focal length of the lens that you are using. Select the widest aperture of your lens that you are using, and the shortest focal length, and hit that shutter button, or a release cable button if you have one. When I mean widest aperture, I mean the lowest number, so f3.5 or whatever that it is on your lens. Let us know how you get on, and I hope it helps. Good luck. Gary
Just to add one more thing. Is noise reduction turned on or off? I have not done any long exposures with my Canon stuff (but that night is coming up very soon), when I use my Pentax gear with noise reduction turned on, after I take a long exposure, the camera then takes a second long exposure all by itself. So the image of what you have just taken is unable to be viewed until this second exposure has completed. Just something to be aware of. Gary
Great ideas many thanks Gary could easily be any of those things will definitely try them all tonight and post outcome thanks so much for taking the time to reply
Hi Gary had no idea about noise reduction am very new at this! Will have a look at the settings and see what camera is doing. Thank you!
I just down loaded a copy of your camera manual, in the error codes at the back it says for codes above 5 to turn your camera off and on, also to remove the battery and then replace it back in the camera. Give this a try.
NIce one Craig will add it to the list of things to try later tonight appreciate your reply - thank you!
Just an update and thanks again to all who replied. The issue was auto focus - I guess with a dark sky and a tiny moving object auto focus wasn't able to pick up anything to focus on. I switched to manual focus as Gary suggested and the image took no problem. I kept ISO low at 100 but I will play with various ISO settings So now I need a clear night when ISS is visible, will post an image if I get a success. Craig I looked for error codes in the manual couldn't find them there is some troubleshooting which didn't really help. Will browse more though.
Ah - read the manual!!! Craig I looked for error codes and in doing so found the viewfinder information screen. A blinking light in the right hand corner next to the 9 does not mean that the maximum burst is the problem, the indicator itself is the focus indicator. Makes more sense now thanks guys, focus was the issue all along!! I do need to play with both auto focus and manual focus techniques sounds liek my next learning opportunity!
Sometimes playing with your gear is the best way to learn. Just go outside at night time and play around, so that when the time comes and the ISS comes along again, you will have a better chance of capturing it. It is an added level of frustration when it's in the dark, and things will not work as planned. Gary
Nick, in the manual I downloaded it was in the reference section Check in the contents and go down to the E section under Error code, Page 294. The error codes go down to error code 4 and in a panel below they go from 10 and above, all with the same advice , no error code 9 is shown.
