stars and night sky

[sedwards]

I will be heading north for 10 days this weekend and the sky on a clear night is incredible up there.
I want to try and get some star pics but i dont have an infinity setting on my lenses (18-135 kit lens and 50-1.8) how do you focus on the stars ? I tried live view last time i was there and i couldnt really see very well.
Anyone have any pointers that might help ? I have a tripod and one of those wired remotes with a timer .

[ahab1372]

LiveView is your best ("set" was a typo) option. Try to point the camera (on a tripod) towards a bright star, then use live view at 10x magnification. Finding a bright star really can make the difference. Once you have set the focus, set the lens to manual focus, and then point the camera to the part of the sky you actually want to take a picture of.

[conropl]

LiveView is your set option. Try to point the camera (on a tripod) towards a bright star, then use live view at 10x magnification. Finding a bright star really can make the difference. Once you have set the focus, set the lens to manual focus, and then point the camera to the part of the sky you actually want to take a picture of.

Arnt has it right. A couple things to make it easier to see the stars to focus in live view at 10x:

• Make sure you have eposure simulation set so you can see the light of the star in live view.
• You can adjust ISO and exposure higher so you can see the star in live view better.
• Start with the focus on the lens all the way to infinity and then back off a small amount in live view until the star is sharp.
• Manually focus.
• You can get real close if you focus on a far away light or moon first.
• Once you have the star focused sharp; turn live view off, make sure the lens is set to MF, and then make sure you do not bump the focus ring.

Have fun, and post some of your results.

Pat

[Jayson]

I follow Mike Salway on Facebook and he does some amazing night sky work. He recently wrote some articles here that might help you. I personally have not tried night sky photography (due to the kids never sleeping).