Northern Lights - Lenses

[lawsio]

Hi All,

New owner of a Canon EOS 600D and looking forward to a trip back to Iceland next week for some NL hunting. As a newbie to SLR cameras, I have a quick query about lenses;

The one that I have is that standard kit 18 - 55mm with a min F3.5 at 18mm. From what I gather, the 18mm focal lenth is ok but I need to be achieving closer to F2ish to get better results. What kind of results can I expect with the kit I've got?

I've been looking at the Cannon EF 50mm f1.8 to acheive a faster aperture but is the focal length of this too long? Can anyone suggest anything around the £100 - £150ish quid mark that would be an improvement or am I better to roll with what I've got so far? I know this won't get a lot if anything for that sort of price but times are hard at the moment!!

Ben

[Space Ranger]

Wide angle lenses are generally pretty expensive, and I'm not sure what lenses you might be able to get your hands on before your trip to Iceland, but here my advice for what it's worth.

I have a Canon 650D and started off with the 18-55mm kit lens. It is f3.5 at 18mm which isn't bad and can certainly give decent results (eg this shot was taken with one - www.flickr.com/photos/57299237@N05/8253702453/). So it will do a good job if you can't get a "better" one before your trip.

I quickly found however that 18mm (on a cropped sensor this is ~29mm full frame equivalent) didn't have a wide enough field of view for expansive displays that filled a large proportion of the northern sky. As a result I have since bought a Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 lens which allows me to capture far more sky (and more of the auroral display). If all goes well when in Iceland you might find the aurora filling much of the sky, which a wider the angle will help you capture. A 50mm f1.8 will allow shorter exposures but is not really ideal for aurora imaging unless you want to capture a small part of the display in detail.

I know people with other lenses that produce good results eg Samyang 14mm & Tokina 11-16mm (both f2.8), but these like the Sigma are above your stated price range. You might want to send Maciej (Spider72 - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/198465-just-a-few-shots-from-my-short-recent-trip-to-iceland/) a message to see what advice he has. He uses a cropped sensor camera and I'm sure he has quite a few lenses in his kit that do not require a second mortgage to buy. He was also in Iceland recently, so might be able to pass on tips for good places to take photos.

I wish you luck with your aurora hunting and look forward to seeing some spectacular photos.

[spider72]

I agree with Space Ranger. If you want to buy a lens for aurora shots or Milky Way / star fields shots go for fast wide angle lens, you will not get too much sky/aurora with 50mm lens and you need to remember that longer the lens focal length, less time for exposure before stars will start to trail, so fast aperture of 50mm is mitigated by shorter exposure time.

Every wide angle lens with f/2.8 aperture will be fast enough with your camera (able to shoot with ISO 3200) to catch auroras and Milky Way because you will be able to use much longer exposure time.

Unfortunately, you will not buy fast wide angle lens for £150 at least not a new one, I can recommend you mentioned above Tokina 11-16mm, which is really good lens for the price http://www.digitalrev.com/product/tokina-at-x-116-pro/Mjk5Mw_A_A .

If you can't afford it now before you go to Iceland then just use your 18-55 kit lens at f/3.5 and 18mm it's not bad lens after all, below pictures of aurora which I've shot with this kit lens, first one from Scotland, second one from Iceland.

[lawsio]

Cheers guys, the pics you have both put up are fantastic, if that is acheivable with whst Ive got thrn Im more than happy

What settings were you both using at the time?

[spider72]

In both of my shots above settings were ISO 1600, f/3.5, 18mm, 20 seconds exp.

I shot this with my old camera Canon 1000D which has max. ISO of 1600.

I would recommend you to shoot with ISO 3200 to get shorter exposures as auroras are sometimes really fast and with too long exposure you will lost some details.

Set ISO 3200, f/3.5, 18mm and make trial exposure of 10 seconds and then adjust exposure for longer or shorter depends on the result of trial shot. Generally exposure will depends on brightness of auroral display and on Iceland they might have really wide range so you may be changing exposures many times depends of aurora activity and brightness.

[tdmodels]

Shame you don't live near Maidenhead or posted earlier.  You could have hired a lens form http://www.lensesforhire.co.uk

£32 to hire a Canon 15mm f2.8 for 10 days seems like an excellent deal!


 

[tdmodels]

Sorry, I meant £46

[Space Ranger]

Cheers guys, the pics you have both put up are fantastic, if that is acheivable with whst Ive got thrn Im more than happy

What settings were you both using at the time?

My image was an 8 second exposure at f3.5 and ISO 3200......

I fully agree with Maciej's advice on camera settings. I tend to start with ISO3200 and the aperture wide open then work from there - if it is a bright or fairly static display I might reduce it to ISO1600 just so the post processing of noise is easier.

[stoffe]

Great pictures! I can also recommend a prime lens, Samyang 14 mm, probably the cheapest lens of all these previous mentioned. I use it with a full frame body but also works with a crop sensor.

[BellP]

Hi Guys,

Great pictures, I have a query as I am also going to Iceland next week, I have a Panasonic Lumix GX1 with the kit 14-42mm lens and an OLYMPUSM.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40 - 150 mm f/4.0 - 5.6 R Telephoto Zoom Lens, I might only take 1 of the lenses due to baggage restrictions, which would you recommend to take and also I read somewhere that the cold there could cause condensation if/when I move indoors, what can be done to prevent moisture damage to the camera and/or lens moving between extreme temperatures?

Oh, and once again any advice on settings for this camera for the lights if we are lucky enough to see them would be appreciated, are polarizing filters okay or not needed?

Thanks,

Pete

[Space Ranger]

I'm not familiar with your camera, but from what I've seen of the specs it should be more than capable of capturing good aurora images. For aurora photography you'll want the wide angle lens - no filters are necessary. Camera settings mentioned above should be a good starting point for you.

Condensation can be a problem, both on the lens when out shooting and if you then move indoors. I've no ideal solution for you, but I have utilised the following occasion to help deal with this - take a few lens cloths for wiping the lens, keep the camera warm under my jacket when not shooting, use dew heater tapes/ hand warmer sachets to warm the lens during longer sessions, let the camera gear warm up slowly when taken indoors and don't take the lens off exposing the cold (and delicate) internals to warm moist indoor air.

Hope that helps, and that you get nice clear skies and some memorable aurora displays during your trip.

[BellP]

Hi Space Ranger,

Thanks for the information and sound advice, fingers crossed for the viewing. It is a good camera and I am just learning it's features, will take a bit of getting used to as I am more used to the old SLR's built like tanks with obvious settings and compacts, bridge cameras etc, one other thing, how about maybe a fisheye lens, or not really?

I always appreciate the help and advice!

[glappkaeft]

One simple way to avoid ice (it'll most likely be too cold for dew) on the lens is to fasten some chemical heat warmers on the lens with rubber bands.

[BellP]

Thanks, I may have to resort to that, it also may be a good idea for the batteries as well, I believe the cold greatly reduces there life.

[BellP]

Sorry, I meant "their life"

[stoffe]

One of my pictures taken with 36x24 mm sensor and Samyang 14 mm.

Btw, how do I edit previous posts to correct my bad grammar and spelling?

[BellP]

That's a fantastic picture,I didn't know the Samyang lenses could be that good, sadly for me the Northern Lights never materialised, we went on the Northern Lights Mystery Tour, the guides were trying really hard to find them for us and several coaches drove in convoy to two different locations where there were clear skies, very crisp and beautiful, eerie landscape, but solar activity was extremely low/non-existent despite the forecast of 4 for visibility.

One thing to note about these tours, and apparently all of the ones in Reykjavik do this, but if you don't see the Lights on the night you go, they will let you re-book for free to go another night and I was told by a tourist information guide that some allow unlimited free returns during your stay, can't say enough nice things about the tour staff, drivers etc, everyone we met was helpful, cheery and knowledgeable, we had a great stay despite our disappointment.

Unfortunately for me I didn't have room for a tripod, I tried different approaches(placing my camera on my bag on the ground, etc) to allow me to take some decent shots but the wind and light sleet had other ideas so no usable pictures I'm afraid.

Really can't emphasise enough the need for a sturdy tripod, baggage weight and size restrictions didn't allow for this.

Regarding the editing of old posts, I'm not really sure if it's possible, maybe one of the more experienced contributors can advise, sorry!

Pete

[stoffe]

Hello

Thanks for the info, I have never been to Iceland but it sounds like a very interesting place to visit! I have the opportunity to live very near the 60 degree latitude and I can see northern lights some times from my backyard. And also thanks for your comment about my picture, it was taken on ~53 degree latitude on an island in baltic sea called Gotland. It is possible to take very good aurora pictures even at more south from where I live.

[Space Ranger]

Thanks for the report on your trip to Iceland BellP - I hope to go there someday myself and it sounds like they are very accommodating to aurora hunters. Shame you didn't get to see the lights though.

Cracking photo stoffe!

[BellP]

Thanks Guys, always appreciate the feedback, one thing to add about Iceland, well Reykjkavik anyway, although I didn't get to see the lights, there were some pretty amazing sunsets and cloud formations.

 

As soon as I can compress files I will post some landscape pictures, it was the closest place I have seen that can only be described as a moon landscape on earth, beautiful in it's unspoilt state.

 

Pete

[747pete]

We went to Northern Norway in early January 2013.I did a little research,so we had no moon and a sky orientated se/nw a carbon tripod (metal and your fingers freeze to it).,cable release,lots of batteries,very warm clothing...a must!There are 2 really good websites if venturing up there and in real time,my lad bought his laptop so we could keep track.We really like the look of Iceland too.Regards lenses,the Samyang is good value for money.I used a Nikon 14-24 f2.8 amazing lens,a pre retirement present to myself.I used a full frame sensor camera too.

http://spaceweather.com/

http://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~acaurora/aurora/Tromso/

on that  last site,just scroll to the bottom and see what is going on right now!

We found by going on our own we saved a fortune even though it is very expensive.