A trip to the Cold North

[FineTuned]

With the short shutter speed in live comp, the pic is underexposed. Pulling up the exposure in post processing will result in grainy image. With the poorer iso performance of smaller sensors, this is a double whammy. Nonetheless, still a sight to behold

In Live Composite mode, the base exposure can be set quite long, for example, 30 seconds (correct me if I'm wrong, Firefly) with a duration up to 3 hours. In the case of Firefly's shot, he set the base exposure at 1 sec, which turned out to be too short for successful Milky Way capture, but perfectly adequate for normal stars and aurorae, which was his main intention at that time, I think. Longer shutter speeds could result in less saturated Aurora colors, considering that the Northern Lights are considerably brighter than the Milky Way. Just food for thought.

[mick123]

True but he was shooting at high iso. So by shooting at a longer shutter speed, he can bring down the iso thus minimising the noise. So will need to balance out the settings with the limitation of the gears. I've no idea about shooting Ms Aurora but i would think the principle is the same.

[Naka]

My failed Aurora shots.

I am a bit free today & here is my ideas and contribution according to the calibration of my lap top.







I looked at them 30 inches from the screen

[FineTuned]

True but he was shooting at high iso. So by shooting at a longer shutter speed, he can bring down the iso thus minimising the noise. So will need to balance out the settings with the limitation of the gears. I've no idea about shooting Ms Aurora but i would think the principle is the same.

This could turn into an interesting technical discussion.

I'd agree with you on the general principle of shooting at longer shutter speeds and lower ISOs in almost ALL low light conditions. This exposure method (AKA ETTR) is central to successful Milky Way photography.

However, remember the Northern Lights are also known as the `dancing' lights. They are in constant motion, and while the main body may hold its shape for up a couple of minutes (or longer), some of the details, especially at the fringes, morph from second to second. So just like shooting streaming water, you would get a flowing blur (still nice, BTW) at slow speeds, while at short exposures you would capture the more fascinating and intricate ripples. Hence there is an argument for high ISO settings for Aurora shots. Personally, I'd try at 25,600 followed by 100 (and perhaps if time permits, everything in between) and get the best of all worlds.

Obviously, the Live Composite mode does not operate like a normal long exposure mode - a 1s/30s Live Comp pic is not the equal of a single long 30s exposure, but it is a rather nice in-camera Olympus feature to get reasonably dark skies and avoid overexposed, washed out shots of the night sky, especially in slightly hazy or light polluted sky conditions. I have almost the same function in my Panasonic TZ7, only it's called the `Starry Sky' mode. You can bet it got used a lot since this camera doesn't have a proper`manual' mode.

I believe what we really need for stunning Aurora pics is probably a Sony A7SII with a super fast f1.2 wide angle glass, but $$$$ compromises are a part of life. Sincere apologies to all you FF Canon and Nikon aficionados.

[mick123]

...............I believe what we really need for stunning Aurora pics is probably a Sony A7SII with a super fast f1.2 wide angle glass, but $$$$ compromises are a part of life.

oooohlala

[mick123]

.................al principle of shooting at longer shutter speeds and lower ISOs in almost ALL low light conditions. This exposure method (AKA ETTR) is central to successful Milky Way photography.

However, remember the Northern Lights are also known as the `dancing' lights. They are in constant motion, and while the main body may hold its shape for up a couple of minutes (or longer), some of the details, especially at the fringes, morph from second to second. So just like shooting streaming water, you would get a flowing blur (still nice, BTW) at slow speeds, while at short exposures you would capture the more fascinating and intricate ripples. Hence there is an argument for high ISO settings for Aurora shots. Personally, I'd try at 25,600 followed by 100 (and perhaps if time permits, everything in between) and get the best of all worlds.

...........................

True. It highly depends on how active Ms Aurora is. If she's in the mood for waltz, then shouldn't be a problem with longer exposure but if she's in for cha cha, then a fast fast shutter will do good. FF's night seems like waltzing and a longer shutter wouldn't have made any difference. At the end of the day, it all depends on the mood of the moment

[kwchang]

The best camera in the world is actually our own eyes

When we go for a star-gazing, asteroid-shower or aurora-watch trip, just be happy you were there to see the phenomenon yourself.
I don't know about you folks, but spending time to capture the dim images with mechanical contraptions is so distracting that you lose the wonderful event right before your eyes (this includes fireworks displays).

In my recent holiday in NZ in the Mt.Cook resort, I joined a star-gazing tour since the resort is in a natural-heritage zone with almost zero light pollution. We were pointed to the Southern Cross, and various constellations that gradually appeared when our eyes adjusted to the darkness. Even saw the 7-stars cluster (Subaru). My hope was to see the Milky Way and for that night, it creeped up the southern horizon nearer to midnight. Couldn't wait till 3am, so had to content with my first sighting of part of our Milky Way - live in my eyes.

[Naka]

The best camera in the world is actually our own eyes

When we go for a star-gazing, asteroid-shower or aurora-watch trip, just be happy you were there to see the phenomenon yourself.
I don't know about you folks, but spending time to capture the dim images with mechanical contraptions is so distracting that you lose the wonderful event right before your eyes (this includes fireworks displays).

In my recent holiday in NZ in the Mt.Cook resort, I joined a star-gazing tour since the resort is in a natural-heritage zone with almost zero light pollution. We were pointed to the Southern Cross, and various constellations that gradually appeared when our eyes adjusted to the darkness. Even saw the 7-stars cluster (Subaru). My hope was to see the Milky Way and for that night, it creeped up the southern horizon nearer to midnight. Couldn't wait till 3am, so had to content with my first sighting of part of our Milky Way - live in my eyes.

Sure or not??

Not even a photo to share?

[opulant]

I think we can have both... enjoy the wonderful scenes and capture the spectacular moments for memory.

[FineTuned]

....When we go for a star-gazing, asteroid-shower or aurora-watch trip, just be happy you were there to see the phenomenon yourself.
I don't know about you folks, but spending time to capture the dim images with mechanical contraptions is so distracting that you lose the wonderful event right before your eyes....

Couldn't agree with you more, kwchang. And yes, astrophotography can be extremely time consuming. But some people enjoy it so much, I won't knock them as it is entirely according to their personal satisfaction and anyhow it's their time to spend as they wish. Meanwhile, you and I will pursue adding to our unforgetable experiences with our in built cameras.

Hope you are continuing with star gazing back in good old USJ. In fact, you should enjoy seeing the Southern Cross again, rising as high as 30 degrees to the south nowadays in the predawn hours. I have been delighted by it these mornings after the frustratingly cloudy nights of the past months. The center of our Milky Way is also starting to make its appearance in the wee morning hours, time to say hello to Scorpius and the Teapot again!

And there's that enticing comet Honda-something-something 45P coming into closest approach to Earth this Saturday, best time to try eyeballing for it is from 5.30 am onwards. It moved into the Hercules Constellation yesterday, near the Swan, so can find it slightly to the north of East. Unfortunately it is now dimming rapidly as it moves away from the Sun, at least a pair of binoculars or small telescope may be needed.

Plenty more I would like to yak about, but this is about Firefly's recent trip to the North thread, it's not nice to clutter up his space any further.....

[mick123]

Yes the milky way hunting season is on again. Now horizontal position at the best sleeping hours

[Firefly]

The best camera in the world is actually our own eyes .............

Unfortunately this may not hold true to the Auroras. The digital media captures more light spectrum than that of the eyes. (told by the Lapland local guide)

While I was there viewing it, the aurora looked just like some grey cloud on the horizon. My eyes could not detect the Green or red. (ok..maybe old eyes) But through the LCD, I could see the green and red waves. I also tried to video it on my Asus Hand phone but it turned up all black.

[Firefly]

Yes the milky way hunting season is on again. Now horizontal position at the best sleeping hours

Anywhere in Subang that can do that? and what about mozzies? Don't want to catch Denggi, Zeka or Malaria in the process.

[Firefly]

In Live Composite mode, the base exposure can be set quite long, for example, 30 seconds (correct me if I'm wrong, Firefly) with a duration up to 3 hours. In the case of Firefly's shot, he set the base exposure at 1 sec, which turned out to be too short for successful Milky Way capture, but perfectly adequate for normal stars and aurorae, which was his main intention at that time, I think. Longer shutter speeds could result in less saturated Aurora colors, considering that the Northern Lights are considerably brighter than the Milky Way. Just food for thought.

True but he was shooting at high iso. So by shooting at a longer shutter speed, he can bring down the iso thus minimising the noise. So will need to balance out the settings with the limitation of the gears. I've no idea about shooting Ms Aurora but i would think the principle is the same.

Sadly I have not found how to reduce the ISO 1600 to 200 in Live Composite. In Live Time, I shot at ISO 200.

[mick123]

Anywhere in Subang that can do that? and what about mozzies? Don't want to catch Denggi, Zeka or Malaria in the process.

the nearest place to catch the milky is actually in telok gong. mozzzies? got repellant and coil ma. much better than the sandflies at sekinchan!