photographing an aurora

[bill_reed]

Hi

what the best way o go about photographing the northern Aurora. I head it should be strong up here in  Scotland this Sunday! do you just set up your Camera with its widest lens and have really long exposers.

[blinky]

I was up in Iceland last week - I got some great images with ISO 800 and 1.5 minute exposures

[Space Ranger]

I was up in Iceland last week - I got some great images with ISO 800 and 1.5 minute exposures

That must have been a pretty bright display - an example of the type of light pollution most of us wouldn't complain about

Hi

what the best way o go about photographing the northern Aurora. I head it should be strong up here in  Scotland this Sunday! do you just set up your Camera with its widest lens and have really long exposers.

You will need long-ish exposures with a tripod mounted camera. The length of exposure depends on how bright the aurora and overall night scene is. You'll find some advice here - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/202683-northern-lights-lenses/, but I'd suggest the following as a starting point...... attach your widest angle lens and set the aperture wide open, set your DSLR to manual mode, manual focus, ISO 1600 and shutter speed 15 sec, then after reviewing the result adjust the settings to get the exposure right. If the aurora is rapidly changing then you'll want to up the ISO so you can reduce the shutter speed and capture more fine detail from the display. Hope that helps / makes sense.

The weather forecast doesn't look too promising for northern Scotland tonight unfortunately. There will be lots of cloud about, but I'll be keeping an eye on things with camera at the ready just in case.

[bill_reed]

thanks that was very helpful.

my fastest lens is a old m42 Fuji 1.6 55m. then it my canon 4-5.6 35 to 80mm. I also have a f3.5-5.6 28-210mm.

I take it I would be better with the Fuji as its my fastest but not the widest. I know my canon 350d makes this into a 88mm.

but I don't have a really wide lens! the 28-210 would be a 44.8 to a 366.

how do you get a really wide lens on a cropped camera! without spending a fortune!

[happy-kat]

What about getting a second hand kit lens for it? They are 18-55mm. Not hugely fast but wider.

[bill_reed]

What about getting a second hand kit lens for it? They are 18-55mm. Not hugely fast but wider.

thanks.... i have a look-out for one!

[Space Ranger]

thanks that was very helpful.

my fastest lens is a old m42 Fuji 1.6 55m. then it my canon 4-5.6 35 to 80mm. I also have a f3.5-5.6 28-210mm.

I take it I would be better with the Fuji as its my fastest but not the widest. I know my canon 350d makes this into a 88mm.

but I don't have a really wide lens! the 28-210 would be a 44.8 to a 366.

how do you get a really wide lens on a cropped camera! without spending a fortune!

Bill, I've seldom taken aurora images with a FL of more than 29mm equivalent as the aurora tends to cover a large portion of the sky. I started off with the kit lens happy-kat suggested - it will give perfectly acceptable results for little expenditure. After a while I upgraded to a wider angle lens (Sigma 10-20mm), but as you say these sort of lenses aren't cheap.

Unfortunately the best part of the aurora display last night was hidden by cloud, but I did get to watch it for about an hour or so early in the evening, along with a few other locals and several people on holiday in the area. Did you have any better luck further south?

[bill_reed]

Bill, I've seldom taken aurora images with a FL of more than 29mm equivalent as the aurora tends to cover a large portion of the sky. I started off with the kit lens happy-kat suggested - it will give perfectly acceptable results for little expenditure. After a while I upgraded to a wider angle lens (Sigma 10-20mm), but as you say these sort of lenses aren't cheap.

Unfortunately the best part of the aurora display last night was hidden by cloud, but I did get to watch it for about an hour or so early in the evening, along with a few other locals and several people on holiday in the area. Did you have any better luck further south?

I saw nothing at all as it was lashing with rain all night. it give me time to try and find a nice wide angle lens before the next showing of the Aurora. I have a nice dark site only 20 miles away in the hills above Gifford (east lothian) with a view over the firth of forth into fife!