Northern Lights/Star Shooting
Discussion
Will be in the remote parts of the highlands in Easter so hoping to catch so good shots with low/zero light pollution knocking around.
I have got myself a fairly good tripod & remote shutter for the camera, has anybody got any good tips or examples for shooting the northern lights (if they appear) or stars?
I have got myself a fairly good tripod & remote shutter for the camera, has anybody got any good tips or examples for shooting the northern lights (if they appear) or stars?
I was lucky enough to catch the Northern Lights on a work trip to Sweden.
My tips;
Focus - Auto focus has a hard time in low light, use manual focus and live view, with expanded focus, to make sure you are pin sharp on the stars. Can be worth a little bit of gaffer on the focus ring to stop accidentally knocking it in the dark.
Temperature - Frost on the lens can be an issue. (lucky in sweden I didn't have too much of an issue.). I'd recommend getting chemical hand warmers, they stay warm for ages, so great in the pockets. But in a pinch, you can wrap once around the lens barrel with an elastic band, to keep the lens warm and prevent it frosting up.
The Northern Lights themselves - the camera picks them up far more than the human eye. What could be whispy cloud, can fiend aurora. The camera picked out way more green than the eye. I also used a great App just called 'Aurora' but it gave hour by hour forecasts, and proved very useful.
White balance - I know most people shoot raw and can twiddle with it afterwards, but I let to at least set it in the right ballpark. Depending on ambient light, its around 4000-5000 kelvin. Avoid daylight preset, as it tends to make the Aurora go too green, in my experience anyway.
Location - If you can, pick out your shooting location in the day. You'd want a good, north facing horizon, in an open space away from light pollution, ideally with an interesting foreground too.
Prep - Get your gear all prepped before you goto bed at night, just in case. Fumbling around in the dark and cold isn't great fun, when you just want to look up
Camera settings - highish ISO, long exposure, lens fairly wide open - the northern lights can vary in intensity a lot, so be prepared to play around a little
Lens choice - fast and wide. Sigma make a great 20mm f1.4, if you are investing. Its 'the' Aurora lens at the moment. I used a 24mm f2 Zeiss, which was fairly decent. If you're doing long exposures, I'd stop down a little if you can. Few lenses are at their bests wide open, and when you've got stars in shot, 'comma' becomes very apparent in the corners of the frame.
Lastly - Don't just look through the camera - Nothing is quite like just watching the northern light dance away, with the classic mark 1 eyeball.
My tips;
Focus - Auto focus has a hard time in low light, use manual focus and live view, with expanded focus, to make sure you are pin sharp on the stars. Can be worth a little bit of gaffer on the focus ring to stop accidentally knocking it in the dark.
Temperature - Frost on the lens can be an issue. (lucky in sweden I didn't have too much of an issue.). I'd recommend getting chemical hand warmers, they stay warm for ages, so great in the pockets. But in a pinch, you can wrap once around the lens barrel with an elastic band, to keep the lens warm and prevent it frosting up.
The Northern Lights themselves - the camera picks them up far more than the human eye. What could be whispy cloud, can fiend aurora. The camera picked out way more green than the eye. I also used a great App just called 'Aurora' but it gave hour by hour forecasts, and proved very useful.
White balance - I know most people shoot raw and can twiddle with it afterwards, but I let to at least set it in the right ballpark. Depending on ambient light, its around 4000-5000 kelvin. Avoid daylight preset, as it tends to make the Aurora go too green, in my experience anyway.
Location - If you can, pick out your shooting location in the day. You'd want a good, north facing horizon, in an open space away from light pollution, ideally with an interesting foreground too.
Prep - Get your gear all prepped before you goto bed at night, just in case. Fumbling around in the dark and cold isn't great fun, when you just want to look up
Camera settings - highish ISO, long exposure, lens fairly wide open - the northern lights can vary in intensity a lot, so be prepared to play around a little
Lens choice - fast and wide. Sigma make a great 20mm f1.4, if you are investing. Its 'the' Aurora lens at the moment. I used a 24mm f2 Zeiss, which was fairly decent. If you're doing long exposures, I'd stop down a little if you can. Few lenses are at their bests wide open, and when you've got stars in shot, 'comma' becomes very apparent in the corners of the frame.
Lastly - Don't just look through the camera - Nothing is quite like just watching the northern light dance away, with the classic mark 1 eyeball.
There have been a fair few threads on this before - eg http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=123...
If you shoot at 18mm and f4 you'd do ok with your current lens I think - it's only for the milky way you really need a fast lens. I shoot a lot of star trails at f4. Just be aware of the 500 rule if you don't want trails.
You could go something like a Samyang f2.8 14mm for wider and faster if you wanted - it is manual focus but for night work that might be a blessing
You could go something like a Samyang f2.8 14mm for wider and faster if you wanted - it is manual focus but for night work that might be a blessing
DibblyDobbler said:
If you shoot at 18mm and f4 you'd do ok with your current lens I think - it's only for the milky way you really need a fast lens. I shoot a lot of star trails at f4. Just be aware of the 500 rule if you don't want trails.
You could go something like a Samyang f2.8 14mm for wider and faster if you wanted - it is manual focus but for night work that might be a blessing
Good suggestion with the Samyang 14mm - I used to have one. Manual focus isnt much of an issue for a wide angle lens. Its surprinsgly sharp wide open. The only downside of the samyang is, it does exhibit odd moustache distortion- Only noticeable when pointing it at straight lines, like architecture (lts less noticeable on a crop sensor too) - . But it would be great for northern lights and star photography.You could go something like a Samyang f2.8 14mm for wider and faster if you wanted - it is manual focus but for night work that might be a blessing
They're pretty cheap second hand on eBay, and you could always sell it after your trip - lenses hold their value quite well.
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