Need help preparing for first Star Trail shots.

Hey everyone! Next weekend, I will be going camping on the northern border of New Hampshire by Canada -- I will be miles from any civilization, and think this will be a perfect opportunity to do some star trail shots! I know there are two methods -- 1 long exposure, and multiple 30s exposures, I have questions about each!

One Long Exposure --
I hear this is easier, but has problems with noise.
-What sort of recommended settings would you guys recommend? I was thinking lower ISO(200-400) Around f/7.1 and about 30 - 60 minutes for exposure.

-I am guessing I shouldn't bother with noise reduction -- turn that off? Just shoot it in RAW?

-For wide angle lenses, I have the Tokina 10-17 Fisheye, and the Canon 17-55 2.8 IS. Which would you recommend?

- Would 30 minutes be enough time for the surrounding landscape to get enough light to be in the photo? Should I do this under moonlight, or wait for a night with no moon at all?

- Will the Milky way interfere or get into one long exposure?


Multiple Short exposures Blended--
-First of all, I hear there is a very easy plug in to combine all these photos, can someone point me in the right direction?

- What format here -- Large JPEG, or can you do RAW? Again, use any in-camera noise reduction?

- How many 30s exposures, and also again, what settings to use since it is just 30s?

- Should I take one long exposure anyways, and then do multiple 30s exposures in order to get the foreground properly lit?

Any other tips would be great, I really want to get this right, and probably wont have another opportunity to shoot a sky like this for a while. Many thanks in advance.

Long exposure:

At around 44º N you'll probably have skies that are dark enough for a single long exposure. 30 minutes won't give very long trails (just 7.5º). Definitely turn off the long-exposure noise reduction. For circular trails you'll need to point the camera to the North which means the Milky Way (which is in the South around midnight) won't affect anything. Depending on how dark it is you'll probbaly get a bright enough landscape ofer 30 min.

Short Exposure Stacking.

Definitley my preferred method using the software from Startrails.de. It means you can use a higher ISO (I use 800 on my 7D) without worrying about noise or a 'bright' sky totally ruining everything. I shoot raw, process one of the 30s exposures in LR, then apply that processing to all the images (normally at least an hour's worth) then stick the images into Startrails. You can light up the landscape for one of the exposures or take one at twilight, and use that image for the background of the trails image.

Thanks for the tips hollis. Any recommendations on the other settings aside from ISO 800 on the 30s stacked shots?

Also, I don't have lightroom, but I do have CS4/Bridge... is there a way to mass process raw images without LR?

I think that twilight shot sounds like a good idea -- Will the startrails program merge them properly, or do I just do that manually in photoshop after I get the trails?

Anyone else? Was trying to go back and see EXIF data for other peoples shots, but often times it is hidden. Still sort of in the dark here.

Also, would really like to know which lens would be better for this, the 10-17 Fisheye, or the 17-55.