Will It Be Possible to Photograph the Northern Lights With My Cameras?

[BORDER REIVER]

We're off on a Hurtigruten "Round Trip" cruise to Northern Norway in February, particularly to try and see the Northern Lights.

If they are visible (and that's not guaranteed), I'm wondering if either or both of my two compact digital cameras will be good enough to capture the lights successfully.

I have a 12mp Olympus Tough TG1...ISO 100-6400, F2.0 - F4.9 & shutter speeds down to 4 sec.

I also have a 12mp Panasonic DMC TZ8....ISO 80-6400, F3.3-F6.3 & shutter speeds of 15sec, 30sec & 60sec.

I'm going to buy a lightweight tripod to take along.

Any tips or advice would be useful.

[zackiedawg]

I definitely think you'll be able to capture them, if they are occurring when you are there. Even basic cameras can capture northern lights, as long as you can go with a longer exposure - the 4 second camera would be pretty limitde, but your TZ8 should be able to capture it just fine. A 15 second exposure with ISO400-800 would probably be about right, with the aperture on a compact camera probably needing to be around F3.5 to F4.3. If it's really dark and the northern lights are dim, you might need to crank up the ISO to 1600 and suffer a little noise in the shot, but better to get noisy shots than none at all. If the display is very bright and vivid, you may find you don't need very long shutters at all, and can keep the ISO down lower. It may take some testing on the tripod to see what shutter speeds work best for the light display you're seeing - I'd probably try a few longish exposures, such as 15-20 seconds at around ISO400 and F3.5, and see what that produces...if it's too dim, then lengthen the shutter speed if needed, and then raise the ISO if needed after that. If it's too bright, then stop down the aperture to F5.6 or F6.3 or so, and try again, then lower the ISO if it's still too bright.

[BORDER REIVER]

I definitely think you'll be able to capture them, if they are occurring when you are there. Even basic cameras can capture northern lights, as long as you can go with a longer exposure - the 4 second camera would be pretty limitde, but your TZ8 should be able to capture it just fine. A 15 second exposure with ISO400-800 would probably be about right, with the aperture on a compact camera probably needing to be around F3.5 to F4.3. If it's really dark and the northern lights are dim, you might need to crank up the ISO to 1600 and suffer a little noise in the shot, but better to get noisy shots than none at all. If the display is very bright and vivid, you may find you don't need very long shutters at all, and can keep the ISO down lower. It may take some testing on the tripod to see what shutter speeds work best for the light display you're seeing - I'd probably try a few longish exposures, such as 15-20 seconds at around ISO400 and F3.5, and see what that produces...if it's too dim, then lengthen the shutter speed if needed, and then raise the ISO if needed after that. If it's too bright, then stop down the aperture to F5.6 or F6.3 or so, and try again, then lower the ISO if it's still too bright.

Thanks for the reply, it's what I was hoping to hear. I normally just go for point and shoot, but I've had a look at my camera manual and there's enough options to be able to shoot longish exposures. Just need to see the lights first. I'll practice night shots out in the country before then.

[donaldsc]

The big problem will be ship movement on your long exposures. Also if you do get to see aurora, they can cover the entire sky (I used a 10mm wide angle when I did my Alaska aurora photo trip) but even if the photographs do not come out, it will be the trip of your lifetime.

 

Don