Beginner Focus for night photography

[Tom30]

Apologies if it is a stupid question, how do people focus for sky/stars photography at night? Do you pick something visible far away and use manual mode to focus on that?

 

[Jannyfox]

Apologies if it is a stupid question, how do people focus for sky/stars photography at night? Do you pick something visible far away and use manual mode to focus on that?

Yes, or you should be able to autofocus on something far away then switch the lens to manual
Or zoom in on live view if you have it
Or use a bahtinov mask but that'll only work if you can get the star image big enough to see where the spikes are. Best used with a long lens
Whatever works for you, your camera, lens and the circumstances

 

[TCR4x4]

Or use the infinity stop on the lens is it has one. Some lenses have one but arent quite right though, like my samyang 12mm, so you have to back it off a few mm from infinity.

 

[Nod]

The Moon is often a good option as an AF target for stars. Depending on the camera and lens, one of the planets might be an option - they're a bit further away (Saturn is about 1.3 light hours away).