Phantom 3 Adv Camera and Northern Lights

tundrastruck · Sep 9, 2015

HI All,

I am in the Arctic region of Canada and lately these past evenings there's been some nice Northern Light shows occurring.

I am curious to know if it's possible to photograph the Northern Lights with the Phantoms Camera.

If so what settings and exposure should I try for the photos.

Thanks for nay info you can offer.

4wd · Sep 9, 2015

It would be worth trying it on auto first.
If on manual you'll need a fairly high ISO.
Your histogram and exposure indicator will want to be well to the minus because you aren't trying to create a daylight scene. Keep it dark and a bit of work in post processing later could pull out more detail.
If you could find a spot with them reflected in water it might give you a brighter frame.

sergekouper · Sep 9, 2015

You can try at the max iso, lowest shutter speed in hope to get something but I don't think it's going to work. The recent Sony A7S is supposed to be the first one able to capture northern lights live, and it's way way more sensitive than the P3 camera. I did some in Iceland with a DSLR and Canon at 2.8/1600 iso/ at least 15 to 20sec. more iso brought grain, longer exposure and the stars started to move... not easy. If they are very active you may get something though.

AlmostTan · Sep 9, 2015

sergekouper said:
You can try at the max iso, lowest shutter speed in hope to get something but I don't think it's going to work. The recent Sony A7S is supposed to be the first one able to capture northern lights live, and it's way way more sensitive than the P3 camera. I did some in Iceland with a DSLR and Canon at 2.8/1600 iso/ at least 15 to 20sec. more iso brought grain, longer exposure and the stars started to move... not easy. If they are very active you may get something though.

I would kill for an A7S.

Chuck Young · Sep 9, 2015

I have been getting messages from www.spaceweather.com about solar flares so it should be a good chance. Saw a picture a guy shot in Rock Mountain National Park here in Colorado last night and it looked very nice. Looked out this morning when I got up at 5:30 but a bit to much sunrise light. Tried taking some shots of stars last weekend and they were not so good. Should have had the "review 5 seconds" to check shots, I would have re-taken some and maybe got some good ones. Make sure to get full elevation control on your gimble.

Chuck Young · Sep 9, 2015

tundrastruck said:
HI All,

I am in the Arctic region of Canada and lately these past evenings there's been some nice Northern Light shows occurring.

I am curious to know if it's possible to photograph the Northern Lights with the Phantoms Camera.

If so what settings and exposure should I try for the photos.

Thanks for nay info you can offer.

I would give it a try using max exposure on still camera. Guy on Spaceweather.com shot this one at RMNP Colorado. Just about 25 miles north of where I live. Getting my DSLR ready to go now.