Best tour group for Maua Kea stargazing?

[Hoag]

There is a website that I use that gets me into the right ballpark. It might not be perfect, but it gets me to a really good starting point. I plug in the numbers, and it gives me what to set the camera at. Put the camera in "Manual" mode

Based on what you gave me, it is saying to use:
18mm (Zoom your lens as wide as it will go)
Put the Aperture to f3.5
Put the Shutter Speed to 19 seconds (you might have to use 20 seconds depending on what your camera can do)
Set the ISO to 3200

This should get you pretty close. Your info says you are in St Louis, so unfortunately there is a lot of light pollution so it will be pretty difficult to try it out before you go. Don't forget, that your autofocus will not be effective at night so you will also have to focus manually and you will need a steady support (tripod). Finally, once you have your Milky Way shot, don't forget to put all the settings back to normal.

I really hope that helps and that I didn't just lead you through the looking glass and into a rabbit hole.

 

[Kimela]

OK, so, based on that, the camera has an APS-C sized sensor and the lens is 18mm (at the widest) and f3.5-5.6. (So the part you will need is to set it to 18mm (zoom it as wide as you can) and set the f-stop to 3.5) Let me see what I can come up with thanks to the magic of the internet.

I will also see what the magical internet can come up with - as this really isn't your problem and you really are being kind. I wonder if I have the manual somewhere (my husband would have it if it was his - he never throws away manuals or boxes!!).

 

[Hoag]

I will also see what the magical internet can come up with - as this really isn't your problem and you really are being kind. I wonder if I have the manual somewhere (my husband would have it if it was his - he never throws away manuals or boxes!!).

I hope that you get some incredible memories and maybe a pic or two, but whatever you do, get the memories. (Oh, and one last tip. Even in a very dark sky, the Milky Way can be hard to see. Give your eyes a good 10-15 minutes to adjust to the dark before you can really see it.)

 

[Kimela]

I hope that you get some incredible memories and maybe a pic or two, but whatever you do, get the memories. (Oh, and one last tip. Even in a very dark sky, the Milky Way can be hard to see. Give your eyes a good 10-15 minutes to adjust to the dark before you can really see it.)

Thanks for the tip. I was looking at the sun rise and moon rise tables for while we're there. I may try getting up in the wee hours to sneak out for a photo op or just to view the stars. When my kids were little I would get them up in the middle of the night to take them to the soccer fields (least amount of light in town) to see the Pleides, lunar eclipse, whatever cool thing was happening. My youngest son and I went to a cool observation area near here that is set up for star gazing - red lights only, electrical outlets for heaters and computers (and maybe telescopes?). Pretty cool.

 

[Hoag]

After my brother died, I went on a road trip to help clear my head. One of the places that I went to was Moab UT. I went to a place in Canyonlands National Park called the Grandview Overlook, and some guy asks me if I had a lens that I could do some night time photography with and I said "yes". He told me to come back after sun set because the Milky Way would be amazing that night.

I went back, after sun set and there was too much moon light to really see the Milky Way. But then, as the Moon got lower, the Milky Way became more visible, and we had about 15 minutes that were magical when the Moon gave enough light that you could see into the canyon, but not so much that the Milky Way was obscured. There was just enough light -- a "Goldielocks" amount of Moon light. This is what I got.