Iceland Northern Lights: I will be traveling to Iceland this coming Feb. I want to shoot the northern lights. Was hoping that someone on this forum may have done that and could offer...

blue-ultra Loc: New Hampshire

I will be traveling to Iceland this coming Feb. I want to shoot the northern lights. Was hoping that someone on this forum may have done that and could offer some tips. I will be traveling with a Nikon D810 with several lens and hoping to capture the beauty of this natural light show.

JPL

I have done this, not with a Nikon D810, but in Iceland in February and many other months. You need long exposures so it is good idea to have tripod. It is generally better to use wide lenses so if you have 14-24 or something alike you should throw it in your luggage. There is lot of detailed info about shooting northern lights that you can google. But basically it is about using long exposures like 4-30 seconds, aperture 5,6 - 8, Iso 100-800. Focus manually. This is about it. And remember to shoot RAW or Raw and Jpeg. You take some test shots and adjust your settings accordingly. Shutter speed and ISO can vary do to the amount of Northern lights, if it is snow or not etc.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Do northern lights tend to shimmer, so wouldn't a video grab more effect.

JPL

John_F wrote:

Do northern lights tend to shimmer, so wouldn't a video grab more effect.

Yes, Northern lights can be very lively. Video captures are very good idea, at least if the person in question is interested in video.

Chemwood Loc: UK

I was in Iceland in September and got a stack of Northern Light photos. Just looking at the light display it doesn't seem that bright, but through the camera, with the right setting, they are stunning. You need a good tripod, a wide lens with f2.8 or f4 , an iso about 600-800 and a shutter speed of 15 - 30 seconds BUT most importantly set the white balance at 3700 - 2800 Kelvin. Brings up the green very well indeed. The lights are moving quite quickly so I would experiment with a slightly higher iso and shorter exposure. Didn't try video and regret it now.

Cheers

Mike

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

I got a very good ebook by Patrick J. Endres, How to Photograph the Northern Lights 3rd edition, forget what it cost, but not that much and very interesting. Iceland is one of the best places on earth to shoot them!

I recommend a wide rectilinear MF lens. I have heard that autofocus can really mess up trying to shoot them and shooting an autofocus lens in MF mode is not that easy to confirm focus. The images on your view finder are small and there is usually no manual focus marking for infinity, and many lenses focus PAST infinity, especially AF ones. I like the Zeiss 15/2.8 ZM if in your budget. It can be used with an adapter I think.The 18/F4 ZM is very reasonably priced, but not as fast.

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

I got a very good ebook by Patrick J. Endres, How to Photograph the Northern Lights 3rd edition, forget what it cost, but not that much and very interesting. Iceland is one of the best places on earth to shoot them!

I recommend a wide rectilinear MF lens. I have heard that autofocus can really mess up trying to shoot them and shooting an autofocus lens in MF mode is not that easy to confirm focus. The images on your view finder are small and there is usually no manual focus marking for infinity, and many lenses focus PAST infinity, especially AF ones. I like the Zeiss 15/2.8 ZM if in your budget. It can be used with an adapter I think.The 18/F4 ZM is very reasonably priced, but not as fast.

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

Sorry for the duplicate post. Not sure how that happened! Enjoy your trip!! Also recommend a wired remote to trip the shutter!!

bweber Loc: Newton, MA

Why worry about focus. You are always on infinity as you are way beyond the maximum focus distance of your lens, unless you are using a telescope.

ralfstinson Loc: SF Bay Area

Patrick Endres's ebook is excellent! Some quick recommendations: Tall Sturdy Tripod (for back & neck), Preset Lens to infinity and tape with gaffers tape, red led headlamp, practice with gloves at night with stars (if you have trouble with stars, you will have trouble with the lights), gaffers tape in you bag, even if you barely see the lights, take photos (camera can still get something), scout places in daytime, lens aperture wide open. If the lights are dancing you will want to up the ISO for shorter exposure. If the lights a stationary, you can lower the ISO and use a longer exposure. Remove any lens filter, with the monochrome light you can get an interference pattern. Bag the camera before you go inside. Spare battery and keep it warm. When waiting, aim camera down to prevent frost on the lens. Time-laps photography can make some excellent videos! Look for ways to orient the picture (lights reflecting off of snow/ice, silhouette of trees, etc). Keep safety in mind, you are in a strange area at night with cold temperatures!

ralfstinson Loc: SF Bay Area

Go to http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Europe for the Aurora forecast!

IowaGuy Loc: Iowa

blue-ultra wrote:

I will be traveling to Iceland this coming Feb. I want to shoot the northern lights. Was hoping that someone on this forum may have done that and could offer some tips. I will be traveling with a Nikon D810 with several lens and hoping to capture the beauty of this natural light show.

Be sure to take extra batteries. Depending on the temperature the battery life may not be what you expect. Keep a couple warm in your coat pocket so you can swap them in and out.

ralfstinson Loc: SF Bay Area

Batteries are better kept warm in an inside pocket. Also, plastic gets brittle in cold conditions, so be gentle with plastic on the tripod, and one of the reasons to have gaffer's tape on hand. Also the rubber on the area where you mount the camera on the tripod can shrink, Mount the camera tightly but don't go overboard. If the monitor on the camera can have it's brightness adjusted, turn it all the way down, you should have good night vision after a while out in the dark. Don't forget to turn it back up for the next day, I thought my camera was damage when I could not see the monitor in the bright sunlight the next day! LCD's can be effected by the cold, but will return to normal when the camera warms up. I have used cameras at -40 degrees (both F & C are the same at this point!) in 120+ MPH wind without a problem (skydive from 30,000 ft). Use the histogram for exposure, your night vision and monitor's brightness may make your vision undependable.

Robeng Loc: California

blue-ultra wrote:

I will be traveling to Iceland this coming Feb. I want to shoot the northern lights. Was hoping that someone on this forum may have done that and could offer some tips. I will be traveling with a Nikon D810 with several lens and hoping to capture the beauty of this natural light show.

Was there last October. Contrary to what people say, it all depends on the weather. If you have a cloudy night its tough to get the shot.

As far as equipment, dress warm most of my shots were at around midnight, have a flashlight or something you can use to see when you make adjustments on your camera. A shutter release, because your exposure is longer than you can hand hold the camera. A GOOD tripod that doesn't move when the wind blows. For my shots, I used Nikon 14mm-24mm & a 16mm-35mm lenses.

Try to arrive at your location at least and hour early to scout out your location and set up. The Northern Lights moves pretty quick so be ready. You will see the night sky start changing colors that's your clue its coming.
Have fun and post your pics when you get back.

Rob

ralfstinson Loc: SF Bay Area

The space weather on the sun two day prior will be the cause, and give you the Lights. They will happen daytime and night time, no matter what the earth weather is. The next part of the equation is if you are in a good location (away from city lights, not having a midnight sun, not having a full moon), and the last part is good weather. The lights, like the stars are up in the in heavens, but if it is overcast, you won't be able to see it! I got some great pictures last October, the end during the new moon, in Fairbanks. Just checked the aurora for tonight, and it is energetic! Good Luck!