canon 550d bulb setting for stars etc.

colined

colined

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Colin
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Hi all.
Im new to slrs and looking for help and tips.
I have been playing around with manual settings and trying to get star pictures.
I was trying the bulb shutter setting but you have to hold the button in? Is that right? Im sure i was able to press it once for open then again to close but cant seem to do it again?
Am i best buying a ir remote?
And any other 550d canon tips welcome?
Thanks
 
Buy a wired remote with a running lock (they pretty much all have it)...

IMO IR is too iffy (especially from behind - and unless you want to risk a ghost of yourself in the frame then you need to be behind) and pressing the shutter release on the camera itself introduces unnecessary additional vibrations.

550D wired remote - less than a fiver on eBay (looking very quickly I see them from £2.50 and up - probably from HK/China at that price)
 
Welcome to TP :wave: as Jason says all you need is a locking remote trigger, there is a multitude of options to go for but if all you want is to lock the shutter open for however long you want then go for a nice cheap on :thumbs:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
Thanks guys.
What setting do you recommend for stars.
 
Well it depends what you want to capture, if you want to capture static star then you want a shot of exposure as possible, if however you want to capture star trails then I would suggest that you read my guide on start trails a link to which is in my signature :thumbs:

Generally it's a wide aperture, highish ISO and required exposure, and for the exposure to avoid seeing movement in the stars you need to divide 375 or 600* by the focal length that your using and this will be the number of seconds you can shoot

*600 if your on full frame but that doesn't effect you :thumbs:
 
Try the stacked method instead of bulb, it's much better, easier and there is less risk attached to it (Subjective and my opinion, before anyone pipes up).
 
Like i said im new so sorry to sound dumb but whats stacked?
 
colined said:
Like i said im new so sorry to sound dumb but whats stacked?
Click to expand...

It's where you layer multiple consecutive exposure one on top of the other to create star trails but if you don't want star trails you don't need to worry about it but its easy to do there are free software products that will handle the stacking automatically for you :thumbs:

Matt
 
Thanks matt
Just read your brilliant guide and cant wait to try...just have to order a remote.

Thanks again and will post you a picture when ive done one. ;-)
 
hunnymonster said:
IMO IR is too iffy (especially from behind - and unless you want to risk a ghost of yourself in the frame then you need to be behind)
Click to expand...
Never had a problem with my RC-6 IR remote. From standing behind the camera/tripod, just hold it in front of the camera, about 45 degrees below the axis and close enough so that it's out of lens view.
 
The Chinese knock-offs on ebay are dirt cheap, I bought both wired and IR ones for my 550D, no problems with them so far.

Alan
 
Have a look into the MagicLantern firmware for the 550d, or a cheapy Chinese cable release.

For stacking images for startrails you cant go far wrong with this freebie
 
Shoot around 200 images using a release locked exposure 400 iso 15 seconds f8 continuous drive manual focus white balance daylight and high quality jpeg. Download startrails from startrails.de. Install the English version and use this to make a star trail image. You will need to make one image with the lens cap on to let the software deal with noise and make sure you cover the eyepiece up long exposure noise reduction off as well.
 
tonybarber253 said:
Shoot around 200 images using a release locked exposure 400 iso 15 seconds f8 continuous drive manual focus white balance daylight and high quality jpeg. Download startrails from startrails.de. Install the English version and use this to make a star trail image. You will need to make one image with the lens cap on to let the software deal with noise and make sure you cover the eyepiece up long exposure noise reduction off as well.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but there is a lot of information in there that is not really very good for getting a great star trail, white balance to daylight I'm sorry but no, if anything to help deal with light pollution it should be tungsten, but personally I use a customer white balance, secondly there is no need to shoot any exposures with the lens cap on, there is also no reason to cover the eye piece up finally not knowing where you did your star trail but under most situations those settings will be next to useless

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
Well it depends what you want to capture, if you want to capture static star then you want a shot of exposure as possible, if however you want to capture star trails then I would suggest that you read my guide on start trails a link to which is in my signature :thumbs:

Generally it's a wide aperture, highish ISO and required exposure, and for the exposure to avoid seeing movement in the stars you need to divide 375 or 600* by the focal length that your using and this will be the number of seconds you can shoot

*600 if your on full frame but that doesn't effect you :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Mathew, first of all thanks for the great write up in your other thread.

To clear something up (for shooting with my 7D) I have a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 (vc) & Siggy 10-20mm f4-5.6

My question is would it be best to use the largest FOV with the Siggy @ 10mm but suffer with a maximum apperture of f4

or lose a little FOV and go with Tammy @ 17mm & f2.8?

I guess if it's about composition and fitting it all in, I'd use the Sigma, but...

what about the aperture sizes, the amount of light required, and ultimately IQ? So which lens? :D
 
Last edited:
Lbm said:
Mathew, first of all thanks for the great write up in your other thread.

To clear something up (for shooting with my 7D) I have a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 (vc) & Siggy 10-20mm f4-5.6

My question is would it be best to use the largest FOV with the Siggy @ 10mm but suffer with a maximum apperture of f4

or lose a little FOV and go with Tammy @ 17mm & f2.8?

I guess if it's about composition and fitting it all in, I'd use the Sigma, but...

what about the aperture sizes, the amount of light required, and ultimately IQ? So which lens? :D
Click to expand...

To be honest you've hit the nail on the head with the fact it's about composition, though if I had a chose between those two lens personally I'd go 10-20 every time as I love my UWA star trails as it allows me to fit a many stars a possible in :thumbs: you don't really need f/2.8 for star trails, all my star trails have been done between f/3.5-5.6 :thumbs: I hope that this helps

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
To be honest you've hit the nail on the head with the fact it's about composition, though if I had a chose between those two lens personally I'd go 10-20 every time as I love my UWA star trails as it allows me to fit a many stars a possible in :thumbs: you don't really need f/2.8 for star trails, all my star trails have been done between f/3.5-5.6 :thumbs: I hope that this helps

Matt
Click to expand...

That's great, thanks.

The thing is, the internet is just too easy to ask questions, rather than

actually trying both lenses :)
 
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