Advise for first milkyway shoot

I am planning to go out to shoot milkyway photos in the near future. I tried just shooting the sky outside my home today to see if I am able to focus and see what I can capture. Please see the below 2 photos. I haven't done any processing on them except applying some crop to remove the surrounding elements.

The first one is shot with a sony 24mm f/1.4 GM lens, ISO 6400, 6s. The second one is shot with a Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 6400, 15s. There is some lens flare from the street light in the Samyang Image.

Can you please help me with the below questions?
1. Are the stars looking sharp in the photos?
2. In the Sony photos I see a red circle around the stars. Is this normal?
3. Manual focus was really tricky. I used 12.5x Magnification and tried to focus on a star. As I moved focus ring left star was getting bigger, so I tried moving it right till it looked like a single pixel. I didn't get any focus peaking.

Not sure how much detail will come through in the JPEGS. You can see the Sony ARW files in the below link.
https://www.amazon.com …ZH6lNdJjwG4Djzc​k8qlvkRMoS

Mine always come out overexposed so I'm following this thread. The really great Milky Way pictures are most likely stacked images and edited with one of the better photo editing apps.

I am thinking of going out tonight and giving it a try as it is new moon.
Still unable to figure out all the settings. Probably will try shooting multiple photos and different ISO settings. Considering a max of 7s for the 24mm and 15s for the 14mm. These are the Default NPF calculator values I am getting from PhotoPills.

The stars look fine. I think that you'll have a hard time getting it if there is a street light nearby, as there is too much scattered light and it is stronger than the light from the milky way.

I am very amateur but here's a bit of what I've learned. I was just out shooting the comet Neowise last night

Stop your lenses down just a click or two. Try the 24mm at f/2.0. The Canon 24mm f/1.4 has an issue known as coma where it almost creates comet tails in the stars. Stopping down a little helps get rid of it. Could be what you are seeing in your? I don't see any red rings on my screen.

Getting out away from the lights will be the best thing for you (obviously). My issue is focusing in the dark. You can do a couple things to help yourself. I find a light source like a far away street lamp, or even last night I used Jupiter, and have the lens AF on it then switch to manual and be careful not to touch the focus afterward. I never know where my focus distance ring is for maximum furthest focus, so I always use AF. Another option is to focus in the light on something like a tree or mountain before sun goes down. Then switch to MF and don't touch the focus. Easier to get good focus but harder to not change the focus on accident.

Wider lenses can use a bit longer shutter time and not show too much star movement. 30sec on the 14mm and resized for internet can be just fine. But shorter times are still preferable.

Use mirror lock up and a timer or remote. Even the mirror slap can introduce movement. Using the mirror lock up will open the mirror and then wait for a few seconds, or set a 10sec timer. Then just the shutter moves and you'll get less movement.

@kawi_200 thanks very much for the info. I went out to do my first milkyway shoot today. Below is what I was able to get. I was able to shoot with Samyang 14mm f2.8 at 2.8, ISO 800 and 15sec shutter speed. Tried at ISO 250, 1250, 1000 as well, but 800 looked best. The cloud started moving in, so I had to call it a day.
Milky way doesn't look bright like some other photos I have seen... May be I can do a better job next time .
Also the jpeg looks darker than my processed version in Capture One. Will need to check what's going on there...

Adding one with the sony 24mm f/1.4. Shot at ISO 250, 4s shutter speed and f/1.4.

I haven't done any noise cancellation in both the shots. Only changed white balance, exposure, clarity and curves.

One other trick to reduce mirror slap, hold a dark object in front of the lens (not touching it), press the shutter, wait two seconds then remove the object. I just use my ball cap. Then about two seconds before the shutter closes put the hat back in front of the lens.

SAPSTAR wrote in post #19096465
@kawi_200 thanks very much for the info. I went out to do my first milkyway shoot today. Below is what I was able to get. I was able to shoot with Samyang 14mm f2.8 at 2.8, ISO 800 and 15sec shutter speed. Tried at ISO 250, 1250, 1000 as well, but 800 looked best. The cloud started moving in, so I had to call it a day.
Milky way doesn't look bright like some other photos I have seen... May be I can do a better job next time .
Also the jpeg looks darker than my processed version in Capture One. Will need to check what's going on there...

Adding one with the sony 24mm f/1.4. Shot at ISO 250, 4s shutter speed and f/1.4.

I haven't done any noise cancellation in both the shots. Only changed white balance, exposure, clarity and curves.

Hosted photo: posted by SAPSTAR in
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forum: Astronomy & Celestial

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It's looking better. With a 14 mm lens, you can try for a 30 second exposure. There's some sort of equation that relates the focal length and exposure time before star streaking from the earth's rotation becomes noticeable. That means the buildings will be too bright, and you will need to make a composite image so they show properly exposed. with your milky way shot.

https://monochrome.sut​ic.nu …era-score-calculator.html

Here is a lens calculator for astrophotography

Capn Jack wrote in post #19096907
It's looking better. With a 14 mm lens, you can try for a 30 second exposure. There's some sort of equation that relates the focal length and exposure time before star streaking from the earth's rotation becomes noticeable. That means the buildings will be too bright, and you will need to make a composite image so they show properly exposed. with your milky way shot.

Could also try an ND filter on the lower land portion and have the sky fully exposed. That would only work well with shots in a field or over water that have a nice flat horizon.

SAPSTAR wrote in post #19096465
@kawi_200 thanks very much for the info. I went out to do my first milkyway shoot today. Below is what I was able to get. I was able to shoot with Samyang 14mm f2.8 at 2.8, ISO 800 and 15sec shutter speed. Tried at ISO 250, 1250, 1000 as well, but 800 looked best. The cloud started moving in, so I had to call it a day.
Milky way doesn't look bright like some other photos I have seen... May be I can do a better job next time .
Also the jpeg looks darker than my processed version in Capture One. Will need to check what's going on there...

Adding one with the sony 24mm f/1.4. Shot at ISO 250, 4s shutter speed and f/1.4.

I haven't done any noise cancellation in both the shots. Only changed white balance, exposure, clarity and curves.

Hosted photo: posted by SAPSTAR in
./showthread.php?p=190​96465&i=i18779238
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

Hosted photo: posted by SAPSTAR in
./showthread.php?p=190​96465&i=i85976306
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

Looks great, the 14mm shot does start to show a little bit, and looks like you caught a shooting star too.

Actually based on the 500 Rule I think I can get 36 Seconds, but there is a new rule now based on the camera Megapixel as well, called NPF rule. I used Photo Pills app which calculates this to be 15.88 Sec. So using 15 Sec for the 14mm. For the 24mm it gave me 7 Sec.

I am planning to go again in the weekend to give it another try.

I used the one in the below app. It lets me select my camera model, set focal length and f-stop and provides the max shutter speed.
https://www.photopills​.com/

I am using a Sony A7R II which is mirrorless. Is this still relevant for me?

Are my stars sharp? Do I have any issues with Coma, focus, camera shake or shutter speed? Would someone be able to look at the RAW files from the last shoot and let me know please? One of the photos is shot with Sony 24mm and the other with Samyang 14mm. I am planning to try this again in the weekend and want to get everything right this time.

https://www.amazon.com …tB6hO1rciPjzGg5​cqZ0&mgh=1