Originally posted by Silent Street [/COLOR]I will be travelling to Scandinavia in 2016, so this thread on the Northern Lights is of interest to me. Photographers I have spoken to have said it is easier to photograph these shows on digital than it is for film; I regard this as speculative given the amount of work I have produced with star trails using Bulb and a fixed camera position and Provia 100F. The difficulty is with reciprocity and casting which would definitely interfere with the aurora's colouring. I will probably take Velvia 100 (even though I detest it!) and a small digi camera working the scene in parallel — I do work in and enjoy the best of both worlds.
I strongly recommend digital over film for this usage. As I've mentioned above it is easier to focus on the film(sensor) plane something you have to do to get maximum sharpness out of your lenses. When I used film I had to use my fast lenses at F:4 to be sure of really sharp images. Lenses and cameras also expand/contract with temperature so that infinty on the lens may vary with temperature. This matter at wide apertures.
Reciprocity isn't a problem really. However the Aurora intensity, and thereby exposure, may vary a lot from one second to the next. With digital you get a hang of the exposure immediately due to immediate feedback. Also, you can shoot at 800ISO and get better quality than 100ISO Provia.
In the film days hardly anyone (except me!) did aurora photography. Now its all the rage due to digital.
A K-3 or a K-5 would be ideal.