Hard Things Should Still Be Possible
It’s strange but true. The more sophisticated things get, the less you can actually do with them.
I tried setting up my Canon 40D with the new telescope to see how it does with prime-focus astrophotography. “Prime-focus astrophotography” is where the telescope functions as the camera’s lens. There are other ways to connect a camera to a telescope, but that is the simplest one, and best for deep-sky objects. I wanted to see whether there was any vignetting, how sharp the images look, and all that kind of stuff. Instead, all I get is:
Err 01
Communications between the camera and lens is faulty.
Clean the lens contacts.
Um, of course the camera can’t communicate with the lens. The telescope mount certainly doesn’t have any electronics built in.
So, I read the manual to see if there was a way to tell the camera to ignore a “missing” lens. Nope. Search around on the Internet for a way around this? No dice. Call Canon tech support. That was the infuriating one - they acted like this was a silly thing to want. To take a photograph without a lens? Who would want to do something like that??!
Guess what - the 20D can do it! I’m sure glad I still have my 20D…
September 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
UPDATE:
I finally got a hold of someone at Canon tech support who was actually qualified to help. Turns out that it’s a broken camera. So, a repair or replacement will be in order…
January 10th, 2008 at 11:38 am
CameraLabs.com provides information on this fault. In coupling a 40D to a TeleVue refractor they experienced the same problem. Their solution was to depress the lens release button and very slightly back the T-ring out from its locked position. This fixed the problem and the camera worked fine.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:44 am
That can certainly help with certain T-adapters. For me, it actually was a faulty camera. I tried the trick you mentioned when I still had that camera body and it didn’t solve the problem either. The camera wouldn’t trip the shutter even with no attachments.
But, as I mentioned in my update note, I finally got a hold of a Canon tech who knew what he was doing, and I was able to get the problem diagnosed right away. I got the body replaced the next week, and I haven’t had a problem since.