[tah997 (Tim)]

Hey folks,

Sorry for the slow reply.

Yeah 10sec was probably a little too long.

Focus is a little tricky to get setup. I start off finding a nearby bright star and focus manually through the viewfinder (remember to switch to manual focus), then I switch to live-view (I have already turned the LCD brightness right down). I then zoom in to 5x and move the zoomed in area to where I remembered the brightest star to be. Sometimes it takes a few attempts with refocussing manually because the focus will be slightly off and the star cannot be seen at 5x zoom. When I have found the bright reference focussing star, I zoom into to 10x and then ever so slightly adjust the focus. You have to be very delicate, once you have found focus, then I just turn live view off and start snapping away.

I use a remote timer, the 2sec internal timer and mirror lockup to prevent camera shake. A sturdy tripod with the camera as low as possible to the ground is recommended.

As for a tracking mount, yes I would like a tracking mount one day, currently I can't justify one: expensive, and where I live at the moment, I am close to ocean spray and light pollution from Sydney and the Port Kembla Steelworks so I wouldn;t be able to use often. I am fiddling around with a barn door mount atm. Currently I am pretty happy with the results I am getting using the 100mm macro and lots of short exposures. I have some other recent shots I have taken, one of the Sculptor Galaxy that I was amazed my 100mm macro was able to pick up, it's definitely no world beater but pleasing considering the setup.

I'll keep you posted with the results.