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Looking to get into aurora photography? Here are the best cameras, lenses and tripod kits for capturing the Northern Lights.
The best camera kit is the one you already own. But if you’re just starting out with aurora photography – or astrophotography more generally – there’s some specialized kit out there that might be worth the investment, including the best cameras for astrophotography (opens in new tab). Below, we’ve created a guide to the best cameras available for capturing the Northern Lights, as well as the best lenses and tripods to support your kit.
The Aurora Borealis (opens in new tab) is one of nature’s most majestic spectacles, making for some truly breath taking photography. But before you head out with your camera, you should plan your trip thoroughly – make sure you check out our guide on where to see the Northern Lights (opens in new tab), for some simple tips on where and when to travel. And if you’re completely new to all of this, have a quick look over our astrophotography for beginners guide (opens in new tab), where you’ll find some introductory advice.
Being mirrorless means no vibrations during its quick shooting speeds, and with its low noise sensitivities, this camera ticks all the boxes for the Canon user, especially when shooting time lapse photography, though this camera is also capable of shooting 4k video of the Northern Lights. It has a weather and dust-sealed magnesium body and works great in temperatures as low as -40°C, perfect for aurora-chasing in arctic conditions.
The camera body comes with durable magnesium-sealed weather proofing, a ‘live feature’ view along with a red-lit virtual horizon (which allows you to check that your camera is level) and two card slots for a smooth shooting experience: one CF card slot for high-speed UDMA 7 cards, and one SD card slot for high-speed, high-capacity SDXC and UHS-I cards.
There are some other great modern Cropped-Sensor Options to look at, as well as the above, which are slightly less expensive: Canon 80D (opens in new tab), Nikon D500 (opens in new tab) and Sony A6000 (opens in new tab).
When shooting the aurora, you ideally want to shoot with a wide angle ‘fast’ lens in the 10-35mm range. Wide angle lenses allow you to capture as much of the sky and landscape around you as possible for a beautifully composed nightscape. A fast lens is one with a high aperture allowing more light to the sensor; f2.8 or lower is considered fast.
In order to capture the Northern Lights at their best, it is crucial that you have a tripod that can support the weight of your camera equipment and hold everything steady.
With quick power lock legs, it is fast to set up and start shooting when the Northern Lights erupt across the sky. With its maximum height of 170cm and weight of 2.4kg, this tripod is perfect for a long night of time-lapsing the Northern Lights and packs down to a convenient 69cm.
Two exciting new alternatives to a ball head are the Move Shoot Move V and Z (opens in new tab)platforms designed by UK Astro photographer Alyn Wallace. Both solve the problem of having your ball head at an awkward angle when using a star tracker or for those trying to save weight if already using a heavy set up.
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Hannahbella Nel lives a split life; half the year she’s an aurora guide in the far north and the other half she’s a conservation gardener and freelance writer based in the south west of England. In between she fills her spare time with being a NASA citizen scientist with Aurorasurus, studying space weather and plasma physics. She unwinds with landscape and astrophotography, paddle boarding and hiking the Welsh mountains.
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Best Equipment for Aurora Photography – Space.com
06/06/2022 360 Photography
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