My most recent attempt. (and help?)

I spent a few days in the BC/Okanagan region... here are the best couple shots.

I also took 5 shots hoping to stack them, but Registax just keeps crashing on me. (and I don't know what I'm doing anyways)
I wonder if someone wouldn't mind doing the stacking bit for me and seeing how it turns out? (I can link to the photos here)

1

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

The shot of the northern lights is great, where did you take it from?

Thanks! This was in south-central BC. 'Osoyoos'
I grew up in northern BC and I've never seen anything like that.

Now that I look at these closer, I don't think I had them focused. I remember struggling with this in the dark.

Last one especially looks OOF.

Did you change to manual? And focus is crucial!!

What a missed opportunity! I think I assumed autofocus wouldn't work in that light. Should it normally work?

I think autofocus doesn't work usually, and you prolly should manually focus them. I agree that especially the last photo seems to be out of focus a bit. Basically when you focus star, manually focus them nearly at the infinity. Some people uses live view 10x to focus stars. Others including myself, I do several trials of shooting, then see zoomed image if stars have been focused. If you see star is out of focus adjust a bit of your focus ring till you see focused star which looks much clear pinpoint rather than lighter and bigger radius in shape. What I mentioned may not be the best way but I have learned it from other people as well, and it works fine for me.
thanks for reading,

I guess my related question... I assumed infinity focus was as far out as the lens could focus.. but I usually have a bit PAST this where even the furthest objects aren't focused.. I would need to pull the focus a little closer than this. (is this clear?) Is infinite focus not quite focused all the way out?

Find a bright star, go manual and focus on it - live view really helps. Zoom in as much as possible on the star and focus on it. This should set the infinity minus one poopteenth range. Zoom back out and try then.

I am a total novice on this stuff myself and not professing to be an expert, just what I have picked up, I am trying to pass on.

so there are two rings on lens. bigger one which is closer to the camera body, that's the zoom in/out ring. There is another ring near the outer most, this is focus ring and this will be the one that you will be adjusting when you focus stars manually. See the image below, this should do better than my text lol
Thanks for reading,

Sorry... I know what the focus ring is. What I was asking was that I figured infinite focus was all the way 'out'.. but on all my lenses, this puts even the most distant objects out of focus.

sorry, had issues attaching the image, but take a peek at this website.
http://asia.cnet.com …and-exposure-62201920.htm

Oops I apologize. I must have misread something from the one of your postings..

first, it may work better at near the infinity but not exactly all the way out, according to other people. And that's why most of the people likes to use 10X live view when they focus. I haven't had such issues, but I saw some other people using blending two images, one focused on starts, and another that is foucsed on your foreground. I may not be writing the perfect information, but hope it helps a little.
Thanks for reading,