Lens for Northern Lights

Barnes44

Hi,

I just have the kit lens, but I'm going to Norway and would love to try and capture a decent picture of the Northern Lights. I have the cheat cards so I'll be practicing shooting in low light before I go but wondered if I should invest in an additional lens. I'm new to this and still not very confident - total mine field of advice out there.

Thanks

bruto

Ideally you'd probably do best with a fast wide angle, which of course means big bucks for the combination. The 18-55mm is reasonably wide and at its fastest when wide, so it might not be so bad. In the past I've done the rare auroras with a lens of about that speed, though a bit wider, and gotten OK results. A manual focus 20 is not so expensive. The DX equivalent, which would be around 13 mm, will be hard to find for a reasonable price especially if it's fast.

I'd stick with the 18-55mm if possible, and practice getting the exposure right. Manual focus, tripod, not to bright. A little overexposure can be handled in post if you shoot in Raw mode, but don't overdo it. You can go down by 2 stops without actually changing the raw file (meaning you can revert to the original at will), and in the process reduce some noise, but that's as far as you can go.