ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH THE MINOLTA DIGITAL SLRs
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Last updated: 13 November 2007

This page documents MINOLTA DSLR camera comments, tips, and photos. Search the site for "minolta dslr" for other items about the Minolta DSLR cameras. Contributions welcome.


Subject:	My Latest freebie... A Minolta Dynax 5D
Sent:	Monday, November 12, 2007 09:22:27
From:	PETER SMITH (psmithuk@btinternet.com)
A mate of mine was clearing out the stock room when he found a "faulty"
brand new Konika/Minolta 5D - the fault was a sticking CF card ejector
and after a bit of searching the solution is to cut it short !

So for the cost of a battery, Mains adaptor, Remote and T Adaptor,  I
know have another camera for astro-photography...Its a lot lighter than
my D200 and wont really care about leaving the shutter open for long
periods on it either or getting it cold and damp - hence the mains
adaptor...

I will then hopefully have a solution to the guy asking questions about
using a 5D on an ETX....

At a guess all you'll have to do is use the camera in manual mode and
"guestimate" the exposures although I have read that even when set to
manual focus the camera drives the lens to infinity for "auto" mode
photography...

As soon as I know how to do it I'll let you know :)

One worry I have about mounting on the rear cell is the scope when its
aligning might slew through an alt/dec position that would collide...any
suggestions...I would have thought that adding the camera after
completing alignment would probably totally mess it up..?
Mike here: Yes, it could collide and yes, if you add the camera after the alignment the OTA could shift, messing up the alignment. How much it will mess it up depends on the amount of shift.

And:

The joys of google....
 
Here is the solution to the problem when using a 5D with a T Adaptor

From a photography forum...

Hi, on the 5d press MENU button, shift right to sun icon, select, shift
right to list 2, shift down to "Shutter lock ... no lens", this will
give you 2 options "On" and "Off" shift down and select "Off: no lens"
exit menu and away you go. I use M42 for a set of bellows with a Helios
58/2, I also have a Helios 135/2.8 some extension tubes and a 2X
Teleplus.
 
Regards,
 
Peter Smith (UK)

And more:

Can confirm that this works...
 
on the 5d press MENU button, shift right to sun icon, select, shift
right to list 2, shift down to "Shutter lock ... no lens", this will
give you 2 options "On" and "Off" shift down and select "Off: no lens"
exit menu and away you go. I use M42 for a set of bellows with a Helios
58/2, I also have a Helios 135/2.8 some extension tubes and a 2X
Teleplus.n

I also set the camera to "manual focus" and set the shutter release
priority to "release" rather than "focus".

For shots up to 30" exposure then the camera seems to be able to
correctly expose when set in "A" aperture priority mode without knowing
the actual aperture.

For Astro work you will likely to be using "Bulb" which is under "M"
manual mode anyway.

Another tip is set the drive mode to self timer as the camera lifts the
mirror as soon as the shutter release is pressed and then delays before
the exposure so you effectively have a  mirror delay function. This will
allow the vibrations caused by the mirror flipping up to die away before
the image is captured.

Hoping for clear skies to try it out as apparently the Minolta 7D and
5D's have very good response from blue to red wider than that of some
other DSLR's so make good cameras for emission nebulae...without having
to remove the hot mirrors :)

Hope this helps sort out the problem.
 
Peter Smith UK


End of today's update
Subject:	Minolta Dynax 5D
Sent:	Thursday, November 1, 2007 10:48:24
From:	Marcel Molenaar (molenaar@onsnet.nu)
I'am from the Netherlands and i have an Meade ETX 105 and a adaptor 64T
an a t-ring minolta maxxum. The camera (Minolta Dynax 5D) is fitting ok,
but it will not reconise the ETX. It says that there is no lens
attached. I tried to seek for answers on the internet, but i can't find
anything about this problem. Mayby you know what i have to do, to get it
working. Your my only hope.

Greetings Marcel
Mike here: None of the SLRs or DSLRs (that I've heard of) will "recognize" an attached telescope as a lens. But the camera should still work in some manual mode to allow you to take photographs.

And:

Well i tried everything but nothing works. i can't find a manual
overdrive or even a manual option. and nothing on the internet too. I'am
out of options.

Thanks for your fast repley.

Marcel
Mike here: I'm surprised that there is no option that lets the camera work with non-Minolta lenses. But if not then not much you can do about it.

Go back to the Astrophotography Page.

Go back to my ETX Home Page.


Copyright ©2007 Michael L. Weasner / etx@me.com
Submittal Copyright © 2007 by the Submitter
URL = http://www.weasner.com/etx/astrophotography/2007/minolta_dslr.html