Help with shutter speed settings - EOS 50D

[CharliePowell]

Hello

I have bought an old canon 50d.  I want to do astrophotography.  

I need to do long exposures. 

I know how to change my ISO settings.

I know how to set the timer so I dont get camera shake when I press the shutter button.

I am really struggling to find the setting to increase the length of time that the shutter stays open to capture the image.

Im not really techo savy, so an explanation in plain language.

Im starting to get a bit frustated.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Michael Powell

[rs-eos]

I believe you'll want to use Bulb mode.  Check out the section on that starting on page 104 in the User Manual.

[kvbarkley]

Better than self-timer, you want mirror lock up mode, because in the shutter timer mode you can still get mirror slap, but a few milliseconds of shake does not matter with a 30 sec (or more!) exposure.

[CharliePowell]

I may have said this wrong.

I want the make the exposure time longer.

When I press the shutter I want it to stay open longer, not just close straight away and take the photo

[CharliePowell]

So basically I want to change the setting to a slow shutter speed on my Canon 50d

[rs-eos]

Yes.  You can adjust the shutter speed which maxes out at I believe 30 seconds.   To have longer exposures, you'd need to enable Bulb mode.  See the earlier link I provided to the user manual.

[kvbarkley]

You want to use M mode so you can set Aperture *and* shutter speed. Look online for a good Aperture for your version of astrophotography, though wide open is a safe bet: