Star shots

Hi all. I am new here and quite new to using a DSLR. I have bought a canon EOS 700D. I'm sure it's been covered a million times so I apologise in advance. I'm having trouble working out how to focus on the stars for a long exposure night shot. Any advice on this and also suggestions for other settings.... E.g. ISO f-stop etc would be greatly appreciated.

First off, I would like to say welcome to the forum!

As for focusing, might I ask what lens you're using? That would be a good start.

For ISO - 1600-3200
F-Stop - Wide open, that means you want the lowest number the lens will allow.

KyrinBingaman wrote in post #16885379
For ISO - 1600-3200
F-Stop - Wide open, that means you want the lowest number the lens will allow.

This to start

I'm a newbie too; on the 60D for example you can zoom to the brightest star with the live view on x10 and set the lens on manual so you can tweak the focus. Usually it's a hair away from infinity.

If you don't want a star trail, use the rule of 500. 500 divided by the focal length of your lens. If it's 17mm on a crop (multiply by 1.6), it'll be 500/27.2 = 18.38 seconds. That's the maximum time you can keep the shutter open before the star starts to move in the image. Obviously, play around with this as the time differs depending on the location of earth (someone correct me if I'm wrong here). You can also use 600 instead of 500. See which one works for you.

With the 60D I was shooting around ISO3200 and 22-24 seconds. It wasn't bad with single exposure in a very dark location.

Location is key too! Go far away from any city/towns. It'll make a huge difference in your quality of image or you'll end up with orange glow from the city lights after long exposures.

Watch for moon (new moon or closer to it the better), clear sky days (obviously) and also nights with low humidity.

And dress warm like an Eskimo to not freeze your butt off (assuming from your location it's cold there at night right now?).

Lowro;
You are very welcome to this site.
Your question is by no means in need of apology and very legitimate indeed.
Good advise so far.
Your 700D is also known as T5i in this side of pond and a truly excellent camera for any price range though it is called entry level. If you don't believe me look at many threads dedicated to T4i (Same exact camera under earlier name) or T5i such as photographer "Wise" under user name "MalVeauX" such as this thread LEFT CLICK ON LINK HERE and be the judge yourself regarding excellent tool available to you.
Then to be specific to your question, yes Slow speed of shutter, Wider F, Sharper, ultrawide to wide angle lens, higher ISO, Steady tripod, Remote shutter release are the way to go but then as you very clearly state, need to master that critical focusing. Manual is way to go with checking your images on camera's LCD with x10 mag on LiveView (Check it on your camera manual if you are not familiar with LiveView and Manual focusing), or several checking on a transferred larger monitor at the site to make sure you have good sharpness in your images and then rest is fun and enjoying rest of night with a companion friends or just view of dark sky. But then after few initial general images of sky, you would like to know what to shoot and when. So I recommend you to check THIS LINK for events available and I will try to add a general newbie type in technical part to answer many users who like to start with astro photography and need initial info. So check with the link.
Have fun.

Where are about are ya mate?

Thanks for all the info and advice so far guys! I'm using a canon EFS 15-85 mm lens.
Cheers.

I am in southwest Victoria mate. Where are you?