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Ok so I’m hoping to get to Iceland in February and started looking into taking photos / apps to use for the Northern Lights using my iPhone 11.
Whilst pondering I’ve been offered a older camera from a family member, never been used but I believe 10 years old or so - it’s a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2
My question is, should I pick it up and try to learn to use it? Or will my iPhone but almost as good?
Any lenses with it?
You'll be able to do proper long exposure shots with the camera, it's m43 so plenty of cheap lenses available second hand.
I've got a pixel 6 so a very very good phone camera but my (similar age) Olympus omd em1 m43 camera still takes better shots thanks to a proper sensor size and good wide aperture lenses.
In short, yes - get the camera and use it.
Thanks!
Yes it has a “ Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH”
That doc will take photos of far better quality than your iPhone. Especially at low light and long exposures.
Take the camera and very importantly a tripod too. Widest aperture you can get (lowest F), long exposure, noise reduction. You'll need to try lots of exposure times until it's right and balance it with the ISO to try not to get too much noise.
Lots of warm clothing and a head torch too.
There's plenty of pages dedicated to advice on photographing them on the web, probably YouTube videos too.
Hope you get a good showing.
That lens is pretty average. The camera is good - if you could buy/hire a better lens (or two) you could get some really good results, especially shooting in RAW.
Ok thanks, so definitely sounds like it’s worth picking the camera up. I’ll have a look on YouTube to.
Suggestions on what lens to buy / hire?
I assume a longer lens would be a good idea for the northern lights?
It's been a while since I used m4/3 stuff as I use Canon full frame for work now so I'm not an expert.
For a general purpose lens something with more zoom like the 14-140 would be good and is a higher quality lens all round I think.
For landscapes I like an ultrawide. I seem to remember there is a relatively affordable Olympus one as the Panasonic/Leica one is pretty spendy.
A tip with long exposures: use a self timer so any vibrations from you pressing the camera will go before it actually takes the photo. Even 5 seconds makes a difference.
If it can shoot in RAW, use RAW.
Wide angle for shots like this.
(Random from Flickr)
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51409603695_1f453ae0c5_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51409603695_1f453ae0c5_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2mjTE6v ]Northern lights reflection[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/186549625@N06/ ]Urpo Pätsi[/url], on Flickr
Oh and remember with m43 the focal length is 2x the lens length. So a 25mm lense is 50mm, which is equivalent to what the human eye sees.
Wide angle is 25-50mm, ultra wide anything below that until you start hitting fish eye lens under 10mm.
I was gonna say I'd defo take a tripod for long exposure shots of northern lights/stars etc.
This is the Olympus Ultrawide:
I'd look at a prime lens rather than a zoom, should be able to get an f1.8 or maybe faster.
Get a spare battery or two as well
It's not especially wide but the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 is an absolute peach
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Not to put a downer on it, but it was only when I started looking for and photographing the aurora that I realised how much the images you see are the product of well taken nd edited long exposure photography and to the naked eye, unless you are exceptionally lucky, they really are not all that. I've taken 10s of images that if I was the upload to social media kind would get hundreds of self-affirming likes but in reality in the flesh were an underwhelming experience.
In an under-promise, over-deliver way, go expecting very little then you won't be too disappointed and might be pleasantly surprised.
I think convert is right but also that's just photography in general, to an extent. 🙂
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That's what she said.
Yup, as Convert says unless it's a very strong showing they're often not like the photos you see as the camera takes in so much more light over uour eyes and then there's the edit too to bring it out.
I've ok only had a couple of occasions when it was genuinely mesmerising to the naked eye, and it truly was. I ended up just lying on my back (in a graveyard 😳) and enjoying the light show for ages on the best night.
Fast & wide is what you need for the lens.
An f1.4 will let you shorten exposure times & you need something wide to take it all in.
This was taken with a Fuji 23mm f1.4, which is a 35mm full frame equivalent, but the exposure was only 2.5s. Wish I had something wider to take in more.
Fast & wide is what you need for the lens.
Not convinced about this approach and your photo is a good example of why.
Your bike is nice and sharp but your stars are blurs. If you'd have stopped that down and increased the expose time you could have had both in focus.
Also, very few lenses perform at their best at their very widest (chromatic aberrations and the like) especially at the mid/budget level. If you are on a tripod and shooting something very slow moving or still it's always considered better to stop the lens down into its hitting zone and increase exposure times. It's already on a tripod so it's no biggie.
Use a remote or cable release (or digital equivalent) and ideally a tripod with a bottom hook to hang a bag off (so it's just touching the floor and not swinging about) - Iceland is a windy place and you don't want your tripod moving in the breeze during the exposure.
You need a fast wide lens
Options are limited limited for that camera
But one of these will be a great option
You don’t need fast for night or northern lights. You only need fast if you’re trying to get shorter shutter speeds to freeze movement in low light. I’m pretty sure you want long exposure to get as much of the aurora in shot (it moves around) and plenty of depth of field.
f8 and long exposures of 30s ish would be where I’d start but sure there’s a “how to photograph the northern lights thread” on dpreview.
This was 30secs balanced on a gate post with an slr - invisible to the naked eye and mediocre shot but you get the point
You're right there @convert, though most of my aurora photos are focusing on the big show.
Which brings up another point; focusing can be tricky at night.
Love it. iPhone or point and shoot camera? Simple question. We are now at a discussion over lenses, long exposures at varying F stops, and the poor OP has to get a tripod with a weight. What a faff. Not going to happen is it? Just a road to disappointment.
How about forgetting the camera and just enjoy the holiday for what it is? Also, Google how to take such photos with an iPhone...
Which brings up another point; focusing can be tricky at night.
Yes, forgot that tip. Unless you are trying to get something in the close/medium foreground in focus too, it's always best to put the camera focus into manual and focus to infinity. Auto focus will hunt around like crazy at night. If trying to get something in the foreground in focus too I've been known to put the camera in live view and zoom in to 'peep' at a hard edge of an aspect of the foreground object to manually focus, sometimes getting a helper if available to shine a torch on it to make it easier to see. Then go up an F stop or two again (to maybe f11 or 13) to ensure the stars are also in focus.
You could get into focus stacking too but that's going down a uber geeky rabbit hole way beyond the needs of the OP.
How about forgetting the camera and just enjoy the holiday for what it is? Also, Google how to take such photos with an iPhone
Well, there is that 🙂 (although the offered Lumix is not a point and shoot camera) . Unless the OP wants to go down the tripod route and some of the tips here, they would be best leaving that offered camera where it is and letting the iphone night mode trickery do it's thing for a quick snap and be done with it. Ultimately aurora photography is a fairly disappointing experience unless you are going to really go for it (and if it's your thing, the social media reactions from those who only know the lights from well 'tricked' photography will be underwhelming) so unless you are going to make the evening an exercise in trying to get a good photo you are better served just going out and enjoying what you see (and stealing an image off the internet to keep the folks back home satisfied 🙂 )
Love it. iPhone or point and shoot camera? Simple question. We are now at a discussion over lenses, long exposures at varying F stops, and the poor OP has to get a tripod with a weight. What a faff. Not going to happen is it? Just a road to disappointment.
That's not really fair - the camera mentioned by the OP is not a point and shoot by any means. It's more than capable of getting good aurora photos but he needs to be aware of the points raised, mainly that he will need a long exposure to get anything like the shots he has seen online, and this requires a tripod of some sort. The lenses mentioed can probably be picked up from eBay or MPB for about the price of a pizza in Iceland.
I'd suggest taking the camera as is and practicing locally as much as you have time for. A tripod will be a big help for low light.
It's possible to spend a lot of money on the 'right' equipment but there's a learning curve and you're talking about a trip next month.
Thanks everyone, I think I'll take the camera and have a practice locally as suggested. See if I enjoy playing around and watch some tutorials first.
A lot of this also depends on who you're going with. If you are going with a partner unless they are unusually patient or into photography themselves the novelty of waiting for you to set up your tripod and do multiple long exposures will wear off quickly!
A lot of this also depends on who you’re going with. If you are going with a partner unless they are unusually patient or into photography themselves the novelty of waiting for you to set up your tripod and do multiple long exposures will wear off quickly!
This is so true!
My big camera never come on walks when out with others. They find it frustrating and I find the 'pressure' of others waiting removes 100% of the joy.
The only exception being aurora photography! The act of watching the aurora is actually just standing and waiting for an hour or two so ideally suited to having a daft partner geeky around with a camera!
You don’t need fast for night or northern lights. You only need fast if you’re trying to get shorter shutter speeds to freeze movement in low light. I’m pretty sure you want long exposure to get as much of the aurora in shot (it moves around) and plenty of depth of field.
f8 and long exposures of 30s ish would be where I’d start but sure there’s a “how to photograph the northern lights thread” on dpreview.
I've never seen a suggestion for the Northern lights that didn't sugest you to use your lens at the maximum aperture
Your bike is nice and sharp but your stars are blurs. If you’d have stopped that down and increased the expose time you could have had both in focus.
and how streaky/blurry would the stars be...
and how streaky/blurry would the stars be…
If the exposure length went from 2.5secs to 25? Assuming the tripod was solid, so just the star's movement....remarkably little.
If the exposure length went from 2.5secs to 25? Assuming the tripod was solid, so just the star’s movement….remarkably little.
the 500 rule suggests quite a bit.
https://astrobackyard.com/the-500-rule/
the 500 rule suggests quite a bit.
My years of experience (doing it rather than googling) suggests not so much 😉
Anything over 10-15 secs the streaking of stars etc starts to look pretty significant IME. Unless you're using an astro-tracker gimble etc but that's a whole other conversation.
MrSmith does know what he's on about when it comes to photography, annoyingly. 🙂
I’d recommend finding a course to do.
I really enjoyed the one I did in Sweden and got some great photos. The fella had cameras for us to use, you just had to take your own memory card.
We have been to Northern Finland a few times during the winter and have managed to capture the lights a couple of times (it can be cloudy during December).
This was a useful read:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-Fourth-Photographs-Camera/dp/1607748509
I have a very old DLSR (Olympus e450) and although it is quite old fashioned by today's standards it can still take decent pics and something of that vintage can be picked up for next to nothing.
As everyone above has said, a tripod is a must (I have tried a monopod but they are a waste of time for long exposures).
The lights can look pretty unimpressive to the naked eye but the long exposure photo will bring them out. If you are unsure if you are seeing the lights and not just clouds try taking a pic and see what they look like.
I am not sure what the temperature will be like but if it is very cold, take spare batteries and keep them close to the body (we were seeing -30 Deg C at times).
The image below was taken with a 20 second exposure time.
