Medium format exposures

I will have clear skies tonight and am taking out my
Hasselblad 500c/m with an 80mm lens for some northern Michigan Milky Way shots. Any recommended exsposure times/apeture setting? I would prefer non - star trail shots. Shots will be at slow film speeds: ASA 50 color slides and ASA 100 B+W on a tripod. All response greatly appriciated. Thanks, Marilyn.

Hi Marilyn,

With a normal lens on a 35mm camera mounted
on a tripod, anything more than about 30
seconds gives star trails. You may be more
constrained with the 80mm depending on final
display. See Jerry Lodriguss' web page

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/I06/I0602/I0602.HTM

To quote Jerry

Try shooting a series of exposures of 5, 10,
20 and 30 seconds. Generally, if you can see
a star or planet with your unaided eye, you
can photograph it on a fixed tripod
with an exposure of about 10 seconds at
f/2.8 with ISO 400 speed film.

All this suggests going to faster film. E200
works well, or faster as Jerry suggests.

If you have a wide angle lens for your Blad, that
may be a better bet. Also, if you stay nearer the
pole - Perseus, Casseopei - you can go longer.

As long as you're out, try some color star trails
too. On E200, 1-2 hours at f/8 is nice.

For the future, a good source on how long you can
shoot without trails is Covington's book
"Astrophotography for the Amateur". I suggest
you borrow a copy from the library and look up
his tables.

Don't forget to post your results! Good luck!

Cheers
Todd