Focusing to infinity on canon rebel t7's kit lens

[arasridh92]

Hello folks

I recently got a canon rebel t7 and I'm trying to do some astrophotography with the kit lens. I noticed that when I move the focus ring all the way to the left, the camera seems to be focusing on far away things. Is this the right way to focus to infinity on my basic lens? TIA

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[Tronhard]

If your lens is set to autofocus, as your explanation seems to suggest, it will generally focus on the closest object, which is obviously closer than outer space.  Best to set the camera to manual focus and focus yourself.

[arasridh92]

Hey Tronhard, thanks for responding. But is moving the ring all the way to the left the best way to focus to infinity on a lens that does not have an infinity symbol on it?

[Tronhard]

It's not about focusing on infinity per se, it's about focusing on objects in the sky.  So, if you look through the LCD and magnify that display, look for brightest objects in the sky - obviously the moon is the biggest and brightest, but there are other bodies that you can look for depending on your location and the time.

[arasridh92]

I'm planning to go to death valley soon and I don't anticipate having anything far away that is bright to focus on. I will also be visiting during the new moon time. What alternatives do I have in that case?

[Tronhard · Accepted solution]

Pick a bright star or planet.

[Waddizzle]

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@arasridh92 wrote:

Hello folks

I recently got a canon rebel t7 and I'm trying to do some astrophotography with the kit lens. I noticed that when I move the focus ring all the way to the left, the camera seems to be focusing on far away things. Is this the right way to focus to infinity on my basic lens? TIA

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Rotating the focus ring until it hits a hard stop is incorrect.  Most lenses are able to focus “beyond infinity”, which basically means infinity focus occurs shortly before the hard stop.

Lenses with distance scales have an “L” shaped symbol laying on its side at the long end of the scale.  The top of the L is the hard stopping point of the focus ring.  The small piece of the “L” that sticks out is approximately where infinite focus is located.

[arasridh92]

Ah that was what I was trying to find out (the part about rotating till I hit a hard stop)

My lens doesn't have a distance scale. It sounds like in that case, I need to focus on a bright planet or star.

[Waddizzle]

Your camera might have difficulty focusing in the dark.  Focusing on stars is a little bit of an art form.  I use Live View to do it, and I crank the ISO up with ExpSIM enabled.

Follow John’s advice just below to focus the lens during the daylight hours, and taping the lens ring in place.

[jrhoffman75]

In daylight find something a mile or two away (i.e. infinity) and use Auto Focus to focus on it. Then switch the lens to MF and use a small piece of gaffer tape to tape the focus ring to the lens body so you don't accidently move it.

When you are finished with astro shoot just remove the gaffer tape and stick it on the kens hood or the focus ring itself.