Live View: i am a beginner and was reading here about focusing with live view for Milky Way shots. i found Live View in my menu but, could not figure out if it was working or not.

DougBlearning

i am a beginner and was reading here about focusing with live view for Milky Way shots.
i found Live View in my menu but, could not figure out if it was working or not. Additionally,
i couldn't find a way to use Live View to zoom in on a single star to focus, thus assuring that
the Milky Way was in focus ?? thank you in advance for any tips.my camera is a Canon Rebel T5 18-55mm.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

DougBlearning wrote:

i am a beginner and was reading here about focusing with live view for Milky Way shots.
i found Live View in my menu but, could not figure out if it was working or not. Additionally,
i couldn't find a way to use Live View to zoom in on a single star to focus, thus assuring that
the Milky Way was in focus ?? thank you in advance for any tips.my camera is a Canon Rebel T5 18-55mm.

Live View is enabled by a button on the back of the camera and the 'live' view of the sensor is displayed on the LCD on the back of the camera. Chapter 5 / page 133 of the EOS T5 manual is dedicated to using the LCD Monitor aka Live View. You can set a single AF point almost anywhere on the screen and half-press the shutter button to focus at that point. You can also change the lens to manual focus and focus yourself based on the details as you see them on the LCD. This method is easier to accomplish with the camera mounted to a tripod so you can use both hands.

CaliforniaDreamer

I don't have a T5 but on all of my canons there is a "magnifying glass" button that lets you zoom in to aid in manual focus. The button is on the left of the LCD screen.

EDIT: I just looked up a picture of the T5 and there is a "magnifying glass" button just to the right of the LCD screen.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

CaliforniaDreamer wrote:

I don't have a T5 but on all of my canons there is a "magnifying glass" button that lets you zoom in to aid in manual focus. The button is on the left of the LCD screen.

EDIT: I just looked up a picture of the T5 and there is a "magnifying glass" button just to the right of the LCD screen.

Good catch! I just went through the EOS 5DIII manual, thinking that manual must describe it differently. Alas, no. When I use Live View on the 5DIII, I'll set an AF point and use the magnifying glass and zoom the full 10x to see the details at that AF point via the LCD. I think the AF works better and / or my ability to manual adjustment the lens focus. I don't see in either the T5 nor the 5DIII manuals a description of this usage of this very useful feature.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

DougBlearning wrote:

i am a beginner and was reading here about focusing with live view for Milky Way shots.
i found Live View in my menu but, could not figure out if it was working or not. Additionally,
i couldn't find a way to use Live View to zoom in on a single star to focus, thus assuring that
the Milky Way was in focus ?? thank you in advance for any tips.my camera is a Canon Rebel T5 18-55mm.

Um, at that distance, focusing on any star they will all be in focus.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

DougBlearning wrote:

i am a beginner and was reading here about focusing with live view for Milky Way shots.
i found Live View in my menu but, could not figure out if it was working or not. Additionally,
i couldn't find a way to use Live View to zoom in on a single star to focus, thus assuring that
the Milky Way was in focus ?? thank you in advance for any tips.my camera is a Canon Rebel T5 18-55mm.

Keep in mind when you use this technique that the idea is not to magnify, then use autofocus. The idea is to magnify, then use manual focus. In my experience, it is better (and much easier) to focus on one of the bright planets (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and sometimes Venus) to do this. Any of these planets is much brighter than any star in the sky, and the planets also have a tiny bit of width.

I haven't looked in a couple of week, but you should find Mars in the eastern sky after sunset, and Saturn is somewhat more to the south. Saturn moves verrry slowly as the seasons pass.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Do you have the PhotoPills app? If not spend $10 and get it... Tons of good tutorials and tools. I’m not sure you will be able to focus on one star with your DSLR. And keep in mind that everything is moving relative to your camera...

DougBlearning wrote:

i am a beginner and was reading here about focusing with live view for Milky Way shots.
i found Live View in my menu but, could not figure out if it was working or not. Additionally,
i couldn't find a way to use Live View to zoom in on a single star to focus, thus assuring that
the Milky Way was in focus ?? thank you in advance for any tips.my camera is a Canon Rebel T5 18-55mm.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

The "Live View" button is just to the right of the viewfinder with a red dot.

DougBlearning

CHG_CANON wrote:

Live View is enabled by a button on the back of th... (show quote)

wow, thank you. summer solstice is the next new moon, and i'll give it a go!

DougBlearning

thanks Dreamer !

DougBlearning

thanks Paul !

DougBlearning

thanks Larry !