Need some major star trail tips..

[passingby]

Okay can you guys please help me with star tails. Firstly, how on earth do you focus a kit lens (18-55mm) when it's pitch black and no 'infinity' option?

Any tips on keeping the noise down etc.?

Thanks!

[LeeR]

According to the 'Rule of 600' you divide 600 by the length of your lens to determine the number of seconds it will take before movement in the heavens will appear; in your case 12 seconds at 50mm. Significant movement will take much longer; several minutes to several hours. That means you will have to set your shutter to bulb and, depending on your camera, set the focus to manual. Most of this you are going to have to learn by trial and error, but its a lot of fun and the results never cease to be at least interesting and at best spectacular; making your friends wonder at your photographic prowess. Many of the newer cameras are extremely good and very high ISO's and long exposures; others, not so much. Noise is always an issue, but that will largely be a function of the kind of sensor you have. Personally, I have never been thrilled with the noise reduction feature on my camera and have found it wiser to deal with noise in post processing. ( You might also want to metion the kind of camera you are using; someone here may have the same camera and be able to give you more detailed information on that subject.)

[passingby]

Ah okay, that's new to me, sounds interesting. I've been doing 30 sec shots but it's never smooth, even with a 2-4 sec break max (until I am able to take another photo) it's still noticable.
I have achieved a good focused image prior but I'm starting to think that was just luck, since then I have not been able to focus the lens at all in any which way possible!

I'm using a Nikon D3000 if that helps

[sk66]

focus using live view (zoomed in if needed)...you'll be able to see the stars on the LCD.

[passingby]

unfortuantly the nikon d3000 doesn't support live view