Northern lights trip

[houston]

After no sighting of the northern lights last year in Norway we are going on Sunday to Levi in Lapland to hopefully have some luck. Think I have everything covered for photography, tripod, shutter release, spare batteries. What do people do bringing the camera from the cold into a warm room? Been reading to put it into a sealed bag to stop moisture getting into the camera. Will this work or be a bit pointless? Any other tips would be a real help!

[bingevader]

I've absolutely no idea!
But I'd be interested to find out as we're off to Tromso in a couple of weeks, so any info will be greatly received!

[Wazzat]

I would do that with the camera, yes. When it has warmed up, unwrap it and it won't get condensation on it.

[houston]

Good luck in tromso bingevader. I got tiniest hint of green there between the clouds but dont think that counts! Great place for them and the scenery is amazing. Cheers, ill get one of those zip lock sandwich/freezer bags and hope that works.

[m.tweedy]

put some dessicant sachets in the bag.

get the disposable handwarmers and good old elastic band with a bit foam to cover the pad and put it on your lens to stop it fogging up.

really does work. bit masking tape when focus is achieved to stop focus slip

[Saganite]

Hi Houston,

Great choice of destination and good luck.

My wife and I went to Levi in March 2013, for a skiing holiday and it is superb, but the "icing on the cake" was

seeing the Northern lights in spectacular fashion, on most nights, February and early March being considered

optimum time.

The approach and landing at night in Levi is also very exciting.

[houston]

Cheers guys, masking tape (good tip!), hand warmers and sealed bags sorted. Oh and a nice big bottle of Scottish single malt and a hip flask wrapped up in my thermals. Getting excited now. Just need the sun to wake up a bit and give us a good show and the clouds to behave.

[m.tweedy]

i assume it is going to be a static set up. you can do excellent timelapse. if single exposures remember the 500 rule to avoid trailing. iso reasonably high 

http://www.mikesalway.com.au/articles/nightscape-photography-101/ShutterSpeed-500-600-Rule.pdf

http://www.davemorrowphotography.com/p/tutorial-shooting-night-sky.html

[houston]

Hi everyone, just got back from lapland and pleased to say we got to see the northern lights at last. When I get a chance I'll post some pics. Not great displays but the camera picked them up quite well.

[Astro Imp]

Sounds like a great trip, look forward to seeing the pics.

[houston]

A few pics:

[ronin]

I bet the Norwegians buy their DSLR's go out take a picture or twenty come back and never even consider wrapping them up or whatever.

[houston]

My camera was completely frozen, shutter release switch got hard to push. Sealed bag worked well, it got down to -28c!! Focus was a struggle, masking tape lost its grip in the cold. Used nail polish in the end to mark position. Heat pads from bodycare for 99p were amazing, lasted 10hrs.

[Astro Imp]

Those pics look amazing, thanks for sharing.

[m.tweedy]

My camera was completely frozen, shutter release switch got hard to push. Sealed bag worked well, it got down to -28c!! Focus was a struggle, masking tape lost its grip in the cold. Used nail polish in the end to mark position. Heat pads from bodycare for 99p were amazing, lasted 10hrs.

Glad the heat pads worked for you. I have now invested in reusable ones that you boil to recharge all of £4.99 :-)

[houston]

Thanks astro imp and for the tips m.tweedy. So many people were using little cameras with the flash, getting nothing and moaning, so when they walked past I offered to put their memory cards in my camera so they would at least have something on record of the lights. They were the best shots I got .. Grrr..

[m.tweedy]

did you attempt a timelapse

[houston]

No time lapse im afraid.

[bingevader]

Lovely pics.

Here's 2 of mine.

My daughter's bridge camera and tripod.