Shooting the stars from a Boat

How do you shoot the stars from a boat?
The boat is over 300 ft long with a large deck.
What settings and lens would you suggest?
Due to boat movement and engine vibration a long shutter speed with or without a tripod is out
Thanks

You really have few option. As you mentioned, long shutter speeds are not an option because the boat is always moving so experiment and see what's the slowest you can get away with, use your fastest glass, and bump the ISO as high as you can. You can also try using one of the astro stackers and see if you get better results stacking multiple images.

Ontario55 wrote in post #18045728
How do you shoot the stars from a boat?
The boat is over 300 ft long with a large deck.
What settings and lens would you suggest?
Due to boat movement and engine vibration a long shutter speed with or without a tripod is out
Thanks

Heya,

Really, really high ISO and a lens with IS (or a body with in-body image stabilization), and fast aperture.

I'd start with F1.4 or F1.8, ISO 12,800, 1/10th with a wide angle (24mm) on a full frame in very dark skies with stabilization on (if applicable, dunno what you're shooting, a Sony body with IBIS would allow a 24mm F1.4 to be stabilized). See if you can get anything with it. That's probably the limits of your camera & lens, which means, if you can't get anything, that's it. Long exposure and stable mounts are really how it's done, as you know. It will be a challenge from a boat for sure.

That said, at 300 feet, the boat might be stable enough to get 1~2 seconds without much error on a wide lens. Might be worth trying.

Very best,

I should have mentioned that I was planning on shooting this with a Canon 5D MK 111 and my 24-70 2.8 lens, which is non IS

Ontario55 wrote in post #18045743
I should have mentioned that I was planning on shooting this with a Canon 5D MK 111 and my 24-70 2.8 lens, which is non IS

All you can do is max the ISO, wide open the lens, and take exposures at the lowest tolerable shutter speed you can manage at 24mm since you have no stabilization and no mount.

Again, on a 300 foot vessel, unless it's ultra windy or in really rough seas, you could probably get 1~2 seconds from a tripod. Or, at least a really slow shutter, far slower than you'll get handheld I would bet. I would take a tripod just to experiment with if possible. Or at least a monopod.

At F2.8, and ISO 12,800, you're going to still need 3 second exposure time for a lot of things (like core of milky way where it's bright). For less bright areas, it will take longer exposure.

F2.8, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds is a common exposure for core of milky way for example. You can extrapolate from there.

You might get 3 seconds from a wide angle on a tripod, even on a boat, since it's so large.

Very best,

Thanks for all the info and suggestions. It is a large lake (not one of the Great Lakes so movement will be less than a Cruise ship at sea (or hopefully it will be).
If possible I'll try to get near the center of the boat to lessen any side to side and front to back effects.

Ontario55 wrote in post #18045862
If possible I'll try to get near the center of the boat to lessen any side to side and front to back effects.

If that doesn't help, then run the boat aground.