A great set! My favourites are numbers 2, 3 and 4. In number 2 I like the composition and the island/rock on the left hand side, covered in mist. Number 3 has, IMHO, a very strong composition. Number 4 has a minimalist touch to it, which I like.

Bjørn

I have made a time lapse video of my Northern Lights images from 2. October. The video is made from 300 images, 10 frames per second, total length 30 seconds.

link

This is my first time lapse. Any constructive feedback is welcome!

Regards
Bjørn

Thank you Brian, Don and Rob!

I will try to share some of my experience. Last winter I purchased a K-5, and with this camera I now have much more freedom regarding exposure time and high ISO. My previous camera, the K20D, was just not good enough at ISO above 400. The K-5 gives perfect (more or less noiseless) images up to at least ISO 1600.

You need a really wide lens for Northern Lights photography, because you want to capture both something on the ground (water, house, lake, tree, etc.) and as much of the Northern Lights as possible. Sometimes the lights appear as high as 300km up into the atmosphere, and you need a really wide lens to capture this. Here in Norway the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is very popular amongst NL photographers, unfortunately it is not made in Pentax mount. I use a DA12-24mm f4 lens together with my K-5. 12mm is wide enough, and together with the K-5´s brilliant high ISO capability, f4 is fast enough.

The problematic area with Northern Lights photography is the compromise between short enough exposures and high ISO performance, and wanting to end up with good image quality. With ISO 1600 and lens wide open (f4) I experiment with exposures between 5-30 seconds. Sometimes, if the Northern Lights are really intense/strong, one needs to use even shorter exposures to capture as much detail and shapes as possible.

Camera settings:

"M" setting on camera (manual)
RAW+ (jpeg and RAW) or just RAW
White balance: fluorescent light "L" (warm white)
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 15 seconds (as a point of departure)
Aperture: Wide open
Manual focus: You need to check exactly where infinity is on your lens, so that you can adjust this manually (at night).

Equipment: Tripod, extra battery, flashlight, warm clothes, gloves and boots

When processing RAW I most often set Temp to around 3250 and Tint between 20-40.

Hope this is of some help!

Bjørn

Thank you S.M. and Phil!

Bjørn

Thanks Gwyn! Are you in Finnmark now? If so, I hope the weather improves and that you have a pleasant stay there. Our house is situated overlooking parts of the Trondheimsfjord, very convenient if you are a lazy photographer (just open the window and shoot away)

Bjørn

The Northern Lights were active above Trondheim last night. Unfortunately I was unable to go down to the fjord, where I usually do my NL photography. Instead I installed my camera in an open window in our house, and programmed many hours of interval shooting. Even though there is quite a lot of light pollution in the area where we live, the images turned out quite okay. I have tried to reduce the lights of all the houses and the street lamps in PP. Otherwise all the images have the same adjustments with regards to WB, contrast, ect.

C & C is welcome!

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Regards
Bjørn

It is a pity that the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm is not made for Pentax K mount, from what I have read, it is a superb lens. Many Northern Lights photographers here in Norway use that lens, because of f2.8, and great colour reproduction and contrast. For classic landscape photography with a Pentax camera, I believe the Pentax DA 12-24 is a brilliant performer. The slowish nature of this zoom, f4, is not really any problem when one uses a K-5, a K-30 or similar Pentax DSLRs, because of the high ISO capabilities of these cameras. The DA12-24mm is very sharp across the whole frame, has great colours and micro contrast, and 12-24 is a very useful zoom range for landscape.

Bjørn

I also have a Pentax 67, and am looking at different scanning possibilities. One can for instance buy new or second hand (and very expensive) Imacons, or second hand Coolscans 8000/9000. I will probably go for an Epson V700 flatbed scanner, which does a good enough job with 120 film scanning. I can then send off for professional scanning the few shots that would deserve higger quality than the V700 can produce. The V700 costs maybe about GBP 500, and 67 bodies and lenses are relatively inexpensive (compared to pre-digital prices). Armed with a K-5 and a Pentax 67ii I see no immediate need for digital 24x36 format.

Bjørn

Thanks for your advice Carl! I have ruled out the Lee system, due to the high pricing (and reported lack of availability of some filters). I also find the HiTech aluminum modular square filter holder more attractive than the Lee holder. I will have to start saving for a CPL and the HiTech square filter system for my Pentax 67ii system.

Bjørn

Thank you DrO! It seems like I have to start saving for filters then. Maybe HiTech ND grads will come first.

Thank you for the link to landscapes by Canon photographer, I will check it out!

Bjørn

BTW: "Essential" is a better word for my query than "obligatory". Pentaxuser.co.uk (also) provides useful English language training for us Norwegians