New at this! Need help!

I tried some shots last night of the sky and I am unable to get the photos in focus. I am manually trying to focus on the brightest star I am framing up to, and I am able to make them appear focused in the view finder. Once downloaded though the photos are way out of focus. My camera setting was 1600ISO 4.5 and .20 shutter lens: 18-55 a/f turned off. Camera is an older Rebel XTi. Also note worthy is the camera was on a tripod, and I used the shutter timer to take the photos. I attached an example below.

Try taking some more photos.this time turn your focus all the way to the left then turn back to the right just a tiny smidge

AWD FTW! wrote in post #16208864
Try taking some more photos.this time turn your focus all the way to the left then turn back to the right just a tiny smidge

OK I tried this. Got one pic out of 5 that was in focus, but noisy. Could I be battling to much ambient light where I'm at? Could this be fooling me into thinking I'm seeing clear in the view finder or is it my equipment? ie my camera settings? Or is it more than likely my old worn out eyes? Attached a photo of the best one of the five I took tonight.

Almost all my pics look good on the LCD. I was so excited my first night because the looked good on my the screen but most of my pics sucked. You just have to play with all your settings as I am gradually improving.

First night I took 110 pics and most were nothing to brag about. second night took 180 and had some better ones. And I don't remember how many others I've taken since but I gradually get better the more I take. I would turn on the mirror lockup too. Just takes practice with ISO, exposure time etc.

What I usually do is use the live view feature on my 5DIII, point my camera at the nightsky, then zoom in on the screen and start focusing from there. Zooming in really helps for me since I'm out in the pitch dark to begin with, so focusing is hard enough. Additionally, once I fire off a shot, I will check the image by zooming in again to make sure everything is in focus. If not, then I will adjust the focuse again before I fire off another shot.

Looks like another clear night tonight, so I am going to try again to get some pics. I'll have more time tonight as well to take more photos. I'll give what I've been told a try and let you know how it turns out. Thanks for everyone for your help. I was really starting to get discouraged and I was at a loss on what to do.

To focus on the stars, I usually do the following:

On a tripod, set to manual and slow down the shutter speed. Aim at a distant street light (or bright star) and use the live view zoom feature, Manual focus on that and leave alone.

Recompose and re-adjust exposure settings to suit.

Lawrence

I use a 350D for some shots and do it this way (since it doesn't have live view either).
Pick something that is easy to focus on. A street light or a neighbors house works well. It doesn't have to be too far away - more than 20ft for your lens at 18mm or 100ft at 55mm. Focus as best you can through the viewfinder. This will get you very close.
Now point at the stars you want to photograph and do a test shot with the highest ISO you have. Review it on the LCD zoomed in as far as you can, moving around to a bright star. If it is slightly out of focus, move the lens focus a tiny amount in one direction, remembering which direction you moved it. Do another test shot and zoom in on the display again. When you press the button to go back to the previous shot, it remains zoomed in so you can compare the two shots quite easily. If it got better, move the lens in the same direction. If it got worse, move it in the other direction.
You can zoom in much further on review than you can in live view and it only takes a minute or two to get good focus.
Back the ISO off, adjust the shutter speed and go for it.