topic Re: Northern lights with 70D in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 70D Exposure setting recommendations for northern lights

kd6y74 — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 13:14:14 GMT

Currently in the UP of Michigan trying to take pics of the northern lights. Can’t seem to get the setting right .. any suggestions?

Re: Northern lights with 70D

shadowsports — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 21:50:02 GMT

Greetings,

What lens(es) are you shooting with? A tripod is also recommended. Any pics for us to look at? Or links to uploads that have EXIF data.

Re: Northern lights with 70D

kd6y74 — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 22:52:41 GMT

I believe I’m not properly equipped. My lens won’t go down passed f3.5 (ef-s. 18-135mm and 55-250mm) and no tripod.Never got any pics with my canon just used (unfortunately) iPhone. All new to this .. keep reading its trial and error for settings. No lights forecasted tonight.

Re: Northern lights with 70D

shadowsports — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:08:44 GMT

Greetings,

Don't feel bad. I just spent 12 days in Alaska and I never saw the aurora borealis. I was up late too. 🙂

18-135mm and 55-250mm. Those are nice kit lenses, I owned both years ago. However, they are not optimal choices for night time or astro photography. Popular lenses for this might be something 14-35mm with an aperture of f1.8 or f1.4. Shutter somewhere in the 8-12 sec range, ISO 6400 or less and a tripod.

Any lens with a maximum aperture above f2.8 will require higher ISO and longer shutter. The camera's sensor only has so much capability. Without a tripod, you'll get blur. The higher ISO's will also introduce various degrees of graininess. The photosites on an APS-C sensor are smaller and have less light gathering capability. That is not to say you cannot get good night time shots with an APS-C based camera, but a faster lens is needed to help the sensor do its job.

Re: Northern lights with 70D

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 13:11:14 GMT

As Rick says, the wider the aperture the better.

Some aurora are moving and you want a higher shutter speed, but if you are lucky to get relative static aurora you could get a good shot with your equipment.

I captured this in Iceland. One-click Auto in Lightroom produced the processed image.