JimNC

I will be traveling to Iceland in December and look forward to seeing the Aurora Borealis. If you have successfully taken pictures, I would appreciate knowing the settings you used. Thank you

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

You should be able to experiment in real time and get some good settings. I have gotten good photos of the Aurora with color film 50 years ago and current sensors are more sensitive so just try something. If you're under the Auroral Oval it gets pretty bright and you should be able to get shots with less than 1 second shutter speeds. Aurorae are above 85 KM altitude so DOF should not be an issue unless you're trying to get nearby objects in the shot.

You can read a newspaper by the light of a bright aurora.

Note that aurora are dynamic so there will be motion.

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

Do an online research on camera settings for photography of the Aurora Borealis....

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Best way: experiment when you see them. The light is different for each occurrence.
I used a 50mm wide open, for seconds...
A tripod is a must.
(Don't expect to see what is usually shown in Nat Geo.)

photoman43

I have not done it, but these links have been recommended to me by friends who have done it. The info may be somewhat repetitive, so I suggest you look at them in order of posting.

One tip that may or not be mentioned: your camera and lens may record more than what your eye (and brain) may be seeing so if in doubt, shoot some images. There may be more to see than what you first saw.

https://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-the-aurora-borealis

https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-the-northern-lights-or-aurora-borealis/


https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/awesome-skies-tips-and-techniques-for-photographing-the-northern-lights.html

https://www.photopills.com/videos/night-sky-photography-class-rachel-jones-ross

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/8-tips-for-photographing-the-northern-lights-from-rachel-ross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykNYEh1V1sI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH2Mx4F6Srg

ricardo00

I have successfully photographed the aurora in several places. My advice is try to get the settings approximately set before you go outside since it will likely be quite cold. First, it will depend (as others said) on the strength of the aurora. Also it will depend on both your camera and lens. Do you have a wide lens with a good aperture (ie. f/2.8 or faster)? You should set the lens distance ahead of time for infinity and then fix it (ie. prefocus at infinity when there is light and tape the focus on manual at that distance). You want to use an ISO that on your camera doesn't give that much noise (I used 2,500) and the shutter speed at 8 or 10 seconds (to long will result in blur since as was mentioned the aurora will move). So set these as a starting point (and don't use a variable ISO setting). The settings for my pics are shown on Flickr in my Aurora album for each pic:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60519499@N00/albums/72157718786455688

You can also read one of the excellent eBooks on photographing the aurora:
https://www.expeditionsalaska.com/downloads/photographers-guide-shooting-aurora-borealis-free-ebook/

https://www.alaskaphotographics.com/products/alaska-books-ebooks/how-to-photograph-the-northern-lights-ebook/

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Camera?

glennk

No quick answer. It's really dependent on how much noise you can accept from your camera. And the settings will be different than you use to shoot the Milky Way. My data from Iceland last October:

5 seconds at F4 (EF11-24 with RF adapter) and ISO 1250 on my Canon R5
and 1 second at F2.8 (RF15-35) ISO 8000 on my Canon R3

For me, I prefer shorter exposure times so that the Northern Lights are not mushy and you can see the structure in them. 5 seconds is max for me. Both lenses are sharp wide open, so I adjust the ISO to whatever level is needed for a properly exposed image when used wide open, then deal with noise in post processing. The R3 handles noise better than the R5 so that's why the higher ISO and shorter exposure time on it.

For those traveling with me, I suggest practicing some night work before they go, quarter to half moon images, to make sure you can get sharp nighttime star images using manual focus (a must for the Northern Lights). They can also check to see how much noise their camera has at higher ISOs and if it can be acceptably dealt with in post.

Good luck in December. There's a lot of nighttime then. Dress warm...

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

If you want to photograph the Northern Lights, a good starting point is: aperture f/2.8 or the widest possible in your lens, ISO 3200-8000, and a shutter speed between 1-12 seconds, depending on the Northern Lights activity. The quicker the Aurora moves, the faster your shutter speed should be.

Canisdirus

You are basically still shooting in a low light situation...act accordingly...not that different.

Shooting video...way easier.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

You probably want to shoot manually, otherwise your camera may take exposure information from either a bright or dark region of the sky. And, of course, autofocus off.

Hsch39 Loc: Northbrook, Illinois

I went to Alaska - north of Fairbanks just for the Northern Lights. Here are the settings and lenses and camera I used mostly. Canon 5DII, EF24-70mm f2.8 lens, Rokinon 14mm f2.8. Don't forget your tripod. The image below was taken at ISO 1000, 24mm f2.8, 10sec exposure. I like the long exposures, you can see the movement of the Aurora.

(Download)

gunflint Loc: Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

I was in Iceland last March and shot many at F1.8, 2 seconds, and up to ISO 1600. Had no issues with noise. Sacrifice ISO for shutter speed to freeze the action. Any moon at all will light up the snow covered landscape.

Go to at least one ice cave while you are there and for sure go to Vestrahorn for a sunrise and even Aurora at night.

Dave