Aurora Tips

[Alexei TND]

Hey there, i have a small question
I got a shooting offer for february 2010. Ill be spending a week or so in northern Norway chasing the northern Lights.
I was wonderign if anyone had any tips they could give me, not only photography wise, but also what i should take with me and what i should pay attention too.
Since i dont often shoot in those extreme temperatures ill find there any suggestions would be much appreciated.
I also have an option of renting equipment so anything you feel might be usefull please feel free to add.
ATM all im renting extra is a 300 f/2.8 and a 400 f/2.8
The camera bodies me and my team will be taking:

2x 5d mk II
2x 5d
1x 40D
1x 450D

And i assume wide angle is pretty usefull so my siggy 12-24 is coming along for the ride

Thanks in advance

[Stealthy Ninja]

PM Karl Johnston he's the Northern Lights master. :)

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/member.php?u=157323

[Alexei TND]

Cheers ninja :) will do

[jgrussell]

i assume wide angle is pretty usefull so my siggy 12-24 is coming along for the rideThe wider the better. I used my 10-22 and 17-55 at the 17mm end exclusively. I never even tried anything longer than 55mm with the aurora.

Keep in mind you'll be shooting long exposures, so you want to use the best bodies you have at high ISO performance.

Be prepared for the cold. REALLY cold. Forget average temps at that time of year; prepare for the worst. (Average temps for the time when I was in Alaska are 0-20F. Actual temps ranged to -28F with -60 windchill.)

Bring lots of cable releases (if the temps really go down, they could freeze). Forget wireless -- batteries die fast if the temps drop.

I'd love to see some aurora video with the 5DII.

[Talaska]

I live in Alaska but have not tried doing northern light photos yet, but what a fellow photographer has told me is this. You need a wide angle lens and the faster the better, something in the 2.8 range or faster. The reason being that the longer the shutter is open the individual streaks of light moving on the horizon become one solid beam. He said he usually shoots around 3 seconds but with a slower lens the time goes up to around 8 seconds or so. Also keep something in the foreground for composition. Hope this helps.

[Mike-DT6]

This is something that I would love to do as well. What a great trip that would be!

These links might be of some help:

http://www.alaskaphotographics.com/how_to_photograph_northern_lights.shtml

http://www.venhaus1.com/photographaurora.html

http://www.my-photo-blog.com/how-to-photograph-the-aurora-borealis-northern-lights

http://icelandaurora.com/articles.html

Mike

:-)