Off to Chile

I am off to Chile to the Atacama Desert and would appreciate it if I could get some settings for photography at night. I want to do time lapse of the heavens so this is what I think is needed, please correct me if I am wrong here? I will also try some star trails as well.

TIME LAPSE
Manual mode
wides lens mine is 17-40 set to f4
set lens at infinity
manual focus - where do I focus?
speed 1/30th - tripod
iso 3200
shooting interval every 30 seconds using intervolometer
noise reduction on for long exposure

now for

STAR TRAILS
same as above except set for 30" second exposure - duration ?

Cheers

There's a great app called Magic Lantern for Canon cameras. Has many cool options including and intervalometer and long exposure (via bulb mode) over 30 secs.
Infinity is your focus? Pick a star you can focus on through the viewfinder or liveview and set to manual.
I'd go far slower for time lapse. You can get 30 sec exp with no trails and you'll get far more detail.

Star trails Exposure for as long as you can without blowing the sky.

I'd suggest practicing before you go at home

picworx wrote in post #17362850
I am off to Chile to the Atacama Desert and would appreciate it if I could get some settings for photography at night. I want to do time lapse of the heavens so this is what I think is needed, please correct me if I am wrong here? I will also try some star trails as well.

TIME LAPSE
Manual mode
wides lens mine is 17-40 set to f4
set lens at infinity
manual focus - where do I focus?
speed 1/30th - tripod
iso 3200
shooting interval every 30 seconds using intervolometer
noise reduction on for long exposure

now for

STAR TRAILS
same as above except set for 30" second exposure - duration ?

Cheers

noise reduction OFF for long exposure..1/30th isn't a long exposure, and even doing astro photography this is best turned off.

Isn't magic lantern another firmware for the camera?

I thought nr for long exposure was the option that should be on? perhaps you can explain this?

picworx wrote in post #17364507
Isn't magic lantern another firmware for the camera?

It sits ontop of the Canon firmware. Does not replace it. It just gives functionality Canon should have or could have included.
I use it for my DSO images

picworx wrote in post #17364518
I thought nr for long exposure was the option that should be on? perhaps you can explain this?

Short exposures with NR off will produce a lot of Noise in your image but the longer the exposure and the more you stack will reduce a lot of the noise to start with . So if you have NR on for long exposures your images in the log run will be even more softer than you want or need to make a good image .

picworx wrote in post #17364518
I thought nr for long exposure was the option that should be on? perhaps you can explain this?

The bottom line is noise can be dealt with better in post processing, also consider, if you're doing an astro time lapse or tracking on a mount you'll have twice the in camera processing time
otherwise required