Hmm?

Like many others I went out to try and photograph the meteor shower last week. It was fun to watch but difficult to photograph. What I can't quite figure out is why the stars are fairly sharp but the distant mountains are terribly blurry. Any thoughts? BTW, since I had a hard time really showing the meteors I decided to catch a plane and pretend it is a meteor.

Canon 5Dii, 24-105 F4 at 24mm, 13 seconds, ISO 5000!

I like the shot Erik. You can definitely see the noise of ISO5000 but It still looks alright.

I have been out of focus like this before. It was because I set the focus to infinity, however most modern lenses have a soft infinity so the stars are far enough away (and too hard to tell if they are out of focus) that it is ok but the Mountains are close enough that you can easily tell they are out of focus. I generally bring a light with me and try to shine it on the foreground subject and focus on it. If I am not able to shine a light on the foreground then I usually turn back from infinity just a bit.

Hope this helps.

What mountains? (I think I need to look at this on the laptop's lcd monitor instead of my crt.)

While I can't answer your question, I can tell you I love the photo. The stars are so captivating I hardly even notice the mountains, so any lack of sharpness was not an issue for me.

I agree completely with Jim. Your focus is set too far in infinity and your stars are sharp, but stuff closer is out of focus. Just like you setting your focus point too far in the middle of a scene your composing and as a result your real close foreground is blurry. I usually try to do what Jim suggested. If that is not an option, I take some test shots and try to get the mountains in crisp focus. If they are in crisp focus, then you should be ok with the stars as well.

Thanks Jim and Koveh. I think you are both right. It was so cold and windy that I was more concerned about staying warm than taking the time to play with the focus setting. Koveh, that photo is phenomenal!

Wow, Koveh, your example is jaw dropping!

Erik, maybe your mountains are soft because of an earthquake swarm or were you shivering from the cold so much that the ground was shaking? Love the stars though.

I think they got it right on the focus issue. I've done the same thing recently and I can't even look at the files because the oof trees bug me. I keep telling myself, "By the numbers, Morris!" Check everything. Erik, I like your meteor. The stars are really cool! I love to try these shot, and I will keep trying them until I get something I am happy with, if I have enough time left on this earth.
Koveh, that is an excellent shot, how about some techs?

You guys are too kind.. Jared will attest that the first couple times I was shooting night shots, I was constantly mumbling "Why is my shot OOF when I have the dial on infinity?" =) Finally I stopped worrying about what the dial and started looking at the image and making fine tune adjustments. Once your focus is set, then you can do whatever you want with the rest of the shot.

Erik my friend, the cold thing I know all about! =) My cure for that one is 1 part Jetboil + 1 part hot chocolate pack!