Originally posted by Rage Hi all!
I recently purchased myself a k200d, and I am new to dSLR's in general.
I was trying to take a quick test-shot of some stars, but I couldn't get it to focus.
I set the focus to manual, and to infinite. Other settings were:
Exposure: 30 seconds
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO: 800
F: F/5.6
Spot Metering
Any hints?
Cheers,
Rage
The clear misfocus is one of the typical problem with astro photos. Focusing is tricky and very often I am just a tad off, which is enough to ruin the image. Here it is more than "just a tad". I would suggest to really look through the viewfinder for focusing, the distance marks on the lens are useless for this.
Also, adding a good viewfinder loupe helps tremendously. I use the Olympus Varimagnifinder, but ofcourse the Pentax ones do work just as good. The added advantage is, that these are right angle finders, which make focusing much easier, if the camera is very low or in an awkward position mounted (to a telescope for example).
On the K20 Liveview would be of help, if it could display fainter stars, which it can't...
Ben