Brighter view finder?

[scotty365]

I have a Canon 300d which I use for general photography but also for astrophotography, as locating objects is difficult at the best of times - is there anyway I can modify the viewfinder to make it brighter?
I once read that its possible to use a v/finder off a Nikon to acheive this but Im not familiar with other makes of camera.
Thanks

Scotty

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum

I don't know about switching the viewfinder on that camera :scratch: but maybe.

What lens are you using? A faster lens will certainly brighten up the viewfinder.

 

[Don Simon]

I highly doubt you can change the whole viewfinder... but you can change the focusing screen. Katz Eye make bright focusing screens with different focusing aids for many dSLRs... including the Canon 300d. If you don't mind paying $105 that is.

 

[Jeremy Z]

Even changing to a brighter focusing screen will not help all that much.

You can either use a faster (lower f-stop number) lens, such as an f/2.8. ($$$) or get another camera body that uses a pentaprism design instead of a pentamirror. They are usually more expensive, but are brighter and have more magnification.

Edit: Looking at your profile and making a guess, you are using the 500mm f/8 mirror lens? I had one of those. They are just dark lenses and sometimes difficult to focus and find things on account of the long focal length. They give good results if you do your part, but it can be challenging to do your part. If you want a lightweight, compact, and inexpensive 500mm telephoto lens, that is the price you pay; or rather the reason you don't pay the price, hehehe.

 

[scotty365]

I'm using a 200mm appature 1000mm long (f5) newtonian reflecter telescope. I've only used prime focus - no eyepieces or lenses, just the camera. basically focus on a bright star and then swing the scope to the object I want to photograph, they are often too faint to focus but if you can see a hint of it then you know your in the right place. It means using the bulb setting for long exposures and the telescope itself is motorised to follow the movement of the earths rotation so that there is minimal trailing of the stars/object you are photographing.
Thanks anyway, I'll have to struggle on until I get the hang of it better.

P.S The 500mm lens is just for terestrial stuff - its possible to make out the larger craters on the moon with it but the telescope is breath taking, I can only see about a 10th of the moon without any lense so this requires building a mosaic.


Scotty

 

[fightheheathens]

if you had a full frame camera, your viewfinder would be much larger and brighter. bigger hole, more light...

the best thing to do is use a lens with a large aperature. like a f/1.4 or something