Beginner Northern Lights

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bobbin

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Hi to everybody
We have now settled back in after returning from the Northern lights trip, Christmas and new year.
I thought I would post my experience as regards photography, lens and using the camera on the trip.

First I would like to thank everyone for there advice and thoughts, which I did take on board and tried to execute whilst on the trip.

We were part of a astronomy group 26 in total specifically looking for the Northern lights and leading us was Tom Kerss from Greenwich observatory, who was very good at predicting when the Northern lights would show themselves.

We were fortunate over the 12 days to see the Northern Lights on seven of the nights and as the trip went further north the more intense they became.

So now to photographing the Northern lights, I should add at this point that within our group we had a professional photographer from USA. On the second night the northern lights decided to show themselves and I had ready my camera in the cabin(we were two doors from the rear deck on 5 perfect) spare batteries in inside pocket as suggested, camera mounted on tripod settings sorted with spare lens in pocket (David Bailey nothing me on I thought) .Went out and up to top deck dressed like Michelin man only to be hit by a wind chill of -24 degrees and that was a wake up call. So opened tripod and focused on the northern lights only to find that I had trouble trying to focus and operate the camera not only because of my gloves but as Kell had suggested the movement of the boat from roll to up and down movement. I did persevere over two nights, trying to get some photo's I did manage to get some but sadly no where near good enough. So packed my gear away and just enjoyed the marvelous spectacle of the Northern lights.

The thing that struck me was how many of the group had brought cameras along in total 3 all the rest where using phones and in my humble opinion were getting some spectacular photo's including the wife I'm going to upload some of them taken with her phone. I did mention above about the professional photographer and the camera he was using a iphone

Northern lights.jpg




Below is a link to the trip we were on

https://www.space.com/see-northern-...astal-express-astronomy-voyage-what-to-expect.

Once again thanks to all who gave lots of help and advice it was very much appreciated I hope you all had a great Christmas and new year.

Bobbin
 
Thank you very much for sharing this.
I was also planning a trip with a friend to chase the aurora and this is really helpful indeed.

This may sound silly but can I ask what clothes you purchased for the trip and where. Especially the shoes because I can't seem to find anywhere in UK that really is able to tell me how good it bad the shoes are for snow. Most of them will tell me it's water proof and leave it at that.
 
Regarding clothes, you really need to go to a specialist shop. Cotswold Outdoor are good, but somewhere like Ellis Brigham even better. A lot depends on the experience of the sales person you talk to.
 
Hi Nandbytes

We bought boots for both of us from go camping (Peter Storm) which were waterproof and warm I can testify to that we did quite a bit of walking on the trips with snow at times up to our calf's and of course some socks at the same time try both on together new boot and sock i mean. These were really good at being sure footed warm and waterproof and were really light, as looking at them you would expect them to be really heavy and no problem with any water ingress as we were using them every day for twelve days.

Our coats with hoods are wolfskin again from our local store remember when buying the gear that it is layers that keep you warm we always had one base layer then a standard sweatshirt and then coat and we were experiencing temperatures down to minus 24 and the only thin that was getting cold was our hands when we removed our gloves .
We purchased hats which were really good at keeping our heads warm most times we didn't put our hoods up because the hat was sufficient they were called fjallraven Expedition Down Heater Hat and I think around £70-00p

Then we bought long sleeve base layer tops with short zip up to neck and waterproof over trousers from our outdoor store in Lancaster, again all Peter Storm and again I can testify that they all did what they said on the tin and not breaking the bank at the same time.

We bought windproof and waterproof gloves from Mountain Warehouse and again they worked i think that these were ski gloves, over and above these I would suggest a thin inner glove if you are taking photos as when you take main glove off your hands become very cold Its the only thing we didn't take and wished we had.

The other thing to take are a set of crampons if you are planning to walk about in the towns as not all of pavements are heated and free of snow and ice and for what they cost just take them I think about £20-00p a pair.

We were buying with a view to be able to use coats gloves hat etc in this country when we got back which we have some use out of them this week with the weather going through a cold spell.

Hope that helps if you want anymore info don't hesitate to drop us a line .
Bobbin
 
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Thank you very much for such a detailed reply.
I will look into that brand and also find some outdoor shops near by as suggested.

I'm sure I'll make good use of the stuff even after Norway apart from may be the crampons (and thanks for bringing these to my attention would have totally missed them).

I do plan on taking my camera with me. My wife recently got an iPhone 15 and I must say I'm impressed by it. I have even reached out for it on occasions over my camera.
But my wife isn't going with me and my phone isn't as good as her's.
She'll let be borrow it if I ask nicely but these days it's such a faff swapping phones. All our banking apps, her social media apps (I don't have any) etc are all tied to our phones. I use android and have no intention of using iPhones for everyday use which adds another layer of pain for swapping phones.
 
Hi nandybytes

Yes understand about swapping phones, I to have an android and found that the iphone wiped the floor as regards taking photos of the northern lights just my opinion, I would also have a look at a telescoping pole for the phone which will keep phone steady as you use it, a lot of the guys on our group were using them and they do collapse down to fit in luggage our professional photographer was using an extending pole with phone clamped to the top.

The Peter Storm stuff really impressed me not overly expensive in comparison to other stuff on the market just remember with clothes you need to layer up and you will be fine.

Enjoy the experience we thought it was a trip of a life time with the bonus of seeing the northern lights.
We were told by Tom that this year and next year are going to be the best years for sun activity and the northern lights.

Hope that helps if you want any more info just drop a line.

Bobbin
 
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