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gasman1973

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steve
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hi everyone,
i've got myself into a bit of a panic,
I have been given a lovely 40th birthday surprise of getting a trip to see the northern lights in December, and I would love to be able to take some good shots of the lights if we get to see them plus the usual tourist sort of pictures.
i've been looking on the net for more information on this, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere fast.
I wouldn't even give myself Amateur status at taking photos as I have always had a point and shoot camera.
I currently have a Fuji 770exr, which i've had for about a year now, which I still haven't got to grips with.
i've only really used it for trying! to take pictures of my daughter doing her gymnastics, and when she does competitions, (9 out of 10 pics fail)
any movement is a nightmare,
I think maybe its time to get a proper camera but on a tight budget as with xmas coming up.
sorry to go on a bit but any suggestions or help would be very much appreciated
thanks
 
You'll need to put camera in Manual, slow shutter, low iso, small aperture, on a tripod. Maybe mirror lock. Stumped still? Ihave some time off soon, could come and show you maybe.
 
On the Huh said:
You'll need to put camera in Manual, slow shutter, low iso, small aperture, on a tripod. Maybe mirror lock.
Click to expand...

You mean high ISO and large aperture, surely? When I saw the northern lights in Iceland last year I was using 3200 ISO and f/1.4.

PS The OP's camera doesn't have a mirror. However, using the timer would be a good tactic to avoid vibration on the tripod.

PPS I'm really not competent to judge whether the OP's Fuji EXR7700 is up to the task. I suspect it could be, but if anyone with experience of that camera is able to comment, that would help.
 
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No, he means low ISO (100-200) and small aperture (16ish).

This will give you a long exposure with almost everything in focus.
 
Stewart is right the general settings are a high ISO with some fast glass at around f4 to capture the northern lights or moonscapes.
 
st599 said:
No, he means low ISO (100-200) and small aperture (16ish).

This will give you a long exposure with almost everything in focus.
Click to expand...

Trouble is with the northern lights the display is moving all the time, it isnt a stationary thing, I used to see them all the time when in the north Atlantic and Gulf of St Lawrence, and it is an active moving display.
 
st599 said:
No, he means low ISO (100-200) and small aperture (16ish).

This will give you a long exposure with almost everything in focus.
Click to expand...
If he does that, he'll end up with shapeless green smears across the sky. To capture that classic "curtain" formation of the Northern Lights, you need a reasonably high shutter speed.
 
Hi Steve,

If you use "search" in the blue bar at the top and put in "Aurora Borealis" it brings up loads of previous threads with lots of info in them.

I am very jealous too....



Heather
 
Apologies. I've made the classic mistake of giving advice on something I haven't shot before. :shake:

My advice was for more general night-scapes (and before anyone have a go I should have added orAP to my original reply)

Anyhows, hope I will be forgiven and I wll try not to drink so much before giving advice. :gag::exit:
 
Short answer would be sorry but I don't believe that camera will allow you to take enough control of it in order to be able to capture images of the AB, you don't appear from reading the specs to be able to set the camera to Manual focus, this means that the camera is likely to spend the majority of its time hunting for focus :shrug:

In order to be able to capture the AB you really have two routes to go down..

You can go the low ISO route that will get you a coloured blur in the sky...or you can go down the high ISO route this will allow you to freeze the motion of the AB in the sky, aperture wise you'll generally look to shoot between f/2.8-f/8 personally I'd be expecting to shoot at f/4.5

On a low ISO (50-200) I'd suspect you'd be looking at a shutter speed from 3-4 minutes at a minimum

On a high ISO (3200-12800) you'd be looking to get your exposure as fast as possible ideally 5-10 seconds at the very most

Shooting wise I would always be using a stable tripod and a shutter release so no need for a shutter delay and I likely wouldn't bother with mirror lock up unless I felt it really needed which is rare for myself

I hope this helps someone :thumbs: and sorry about not really being able to help with your camera :(

This is photo a friend of my recently shot on a trip to Alaska, this was shot at f/4.5, 15 second exposure ISO1600

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowdey/9588268997/
 
HMansfield said:
If he does that, he'll end up with shapeless green smears across the sky. To capture that classic "curtain" formation of the Northern Lights, you need a reasonably high shutter speed.
Click to expand...

Yep

Antony Spencer is well acquainted with aurora shoots. Typically his settings are...

ISO 800 - 1200
f/2 - f/4
6 secs

Needless to say that the full frame sensor can handle higher ISO's than an APSC. You should try to avoid exposure times longer than 10 seconds so I'd say f/2.8 if you can at ISO 800 should give you about 6 - 8 seconds.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/antonyspencer/with/4865882699/

Good luck on your trip.
 
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If you don't want the hassle of carrying a tripod, you could find somewhere (rock, tree stump etc) and use the self timer. Or maybe one of those little Joby Gorillapods would do the trick?
 
hi everyone and thanks very much for all your comments,
I understand that the camera that I have at the moment is definitely not up to what I want a camera for.
so I have been having a look at some dslr's and managed to short list it down to 3.
they all come in a bundle which include an extra lens which may come in handy when I am taking photos of my daughter doing her gymnastics.

Nikon D3200 + 18-55mm VR Lens + Tamron 70-300mm Lens. £449.00
Pentax K-500 Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm + 50-200mm DAL Lenses. £429.99.
Canon EOS 600D + 18-55mm DC + Tamron 70-300mm Twin Lens Kit. £449.99.

if anyone has any experience of using any of these or have any other suggestions to any other cameras I would be very grateful.
 
gasman1973 said:
hi everyone and thanks very much for all your comments,
I understand that the camera that I have at the moment is definitely not up to what I want a camera for.
so I have been having a look at some dslr's and managed to short list it down to 3.
they all come in a bundle which include an extra lens which may come in handy when I am taking photos of my daughter doing her gymnastics.

Nikon D3200 + 18-55mm VR Lens + Tamron 70-300mm Lens. £449.00
Pentax K-500 Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm + 50-200mm DAL Lenses. £429.99.
Canon EOS 600D + 18-55mm DC + Tamron 70-300mm Twin Lens Kit. £449.99.

if anyone has any experience of using any of these or have any other suggestions to any other cameras I would be very grateful.
Click to expand...

Any of those would do the job I'm certain the D3200 now has a socket for a trigger which is something that was IMO a major flaw in the design on previous D3XXX models you'll also want to budget for a tripod, memory cards and a trigger... (A cheap cable trigger is all you need :thumbs:

You need a tripod as although it was suggested above a rock or a gorilla pod sorry just doesn't cut it
 
MWHCVT thanks a lot for your comments,
I managed to get an old looking Slik 88 tripod for free!
i've had a play with it and it seems to be all working ok.
I know a lot of people say ball heads are better,
but a free pan and tilt will do me while i'm learning.
 
gasman1973 said:
MWHCVT thanks a lot for your comments,
I managed to get an old looking Slik 88 tripod for free!
i've had a play with it and it seems to be all working ok.
I know a lot of people say ball heads are better,
but a free pan and tilt will do me while i'm learning.
Click to expand...

Any head that is stable and locks tightly in place will do nicely :thumbs: It what ever works best for you :thumbs: just happy to be able to help
 
Nawty said:
Don't think it does - can't see one on mine.

It does have an IR sensor front and back for an IR remote though :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I could have sworn it was now available for the 3200 :thinking:
 
I tried a few times to get pictures of the Northern Lights, but in the days when I saw them regularly, 1970's and 80's, it was film cameras, and being on ships I was never on a stable platform.
 
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