Canon xTi (400D) and BackYard EOS shutter time longer than 30 seconds

Before I get into the iOptron SkyGuider Pro (SGP), I want to detour and talk about what prompted me to purchase a new camera.

One of the pieces of equipment I thought I could get started with was my Canon xTi (400D). Sure it has the crop sensor, but I have seen some really nice astrophotography photos taken with crop sensor DSLRs.

I did some test runs with BackYard EOS, a USB cable and my Canon xTi. It worked great. I tested 25 “light” frames at 10 second exposures on my kitchen counter. This allowed me to get familiar with BackYard EOS to the point I could use it in the dark.

At 4am, I sneak out of the house, set up my 35 year old tripod, the SGP, polar align it. I wanted to take it reasonably conservative, but still push it a bit, so I set the exposure times to 120 seconds. But BackYard EOS keeps giving me a warning and won’t connect. It was 19 deg F, I thought it might be the cold, or the cable or both. I finished the session using my Canon infrared remote RC-6, and manually triggered 30 second shots because I didn’t know what was wrong with the setup.

Later that morning, I actually read the BackYard EOS manual and found out there are some of the older Canon DSLRs that in order to take exposures longer than 30 seconds you need a “serial” cable and can’t use only USB. I am not sure I understand why, but that is the reason.

This is one of the many reasons (I will post about this later) I decided to actually take the plunge and upgrade to the Canon 6D.

It has now been cloudy for almost 4 weeks. This weather has to be my fault!

The next post will be about the SGP.