Shooting star trail

As a general rule of thumb...

Point at the North Star, or the Southern Cross (unless you want a different effect than circular trails)...

Use a sturdy tripod.

Shoot film, not digital (exposures will typically be hours not seconds or minutes.

Use moderate speed film (ISO 200-400).

Use a fast lens, but close down at least one stop from wide-open to improve optical abberations at the corners of the frame.

Set the camera to T, or use B with a locking cable release.

Exposure from 20 minutes to several hours should be tried. Nights without a moon are best, but a crescent moon out of the frame may not create too much light pollution.

Needless to say, shoot from as dark a location as possible, preferably many miles from the nearest town.

Michael

[cookielida]

Hello all!
I want to shoot star trails but I dont know what are the technical configurations appropriate for such a shot (i.e. f#, speed, ISO etc.).
Im currently traveling in South America, so I know that in order to get a nice circule, I need to point my camera toward the south pole.
Some specs that might be of importance: Im using a Kodak Gold 200 with an EOS33 mounted with 28-105 EF USM lens.
Thanks for your time,
Cookielida
 

[cookielida]

10x!
Chen