Going to Norway (Tromso) next week, need some advice please chaps!

[Whiternoise]

Going right oop north next wednesday to Norway. Tromso's right above the Arctic circle so it means short days, long nights and with a bit of luck - Aurora watching (even though the solar flare index is dire at the moment).

I'll be taking my D40, Tripod, 50mm f/1.8 and the 18-55mm f/3.5-4.6 kit lens. I debated quite a lot about getting an old AI wide angle prime, like a 24mm or something - but i never really got round to it. Now, the 50mm is obviously pretty fast, so i'm hoping to use it for taking pictures of the sky without having to compromise on shutter speed - though it's not the best for a good star field i know. The benefit of the kit lens is the nice wide angle range, but it has a problem in that it's impossible to focus in the dark, and if i try manually the infinity "point" is just before the end of the twist, so it's hard to judge (in comparison the 50mm has a range dial).

I'd really like to use the 18 for some decent wide angle pictures, but what's the best way to guarantee i'm getting everything in frame? I thought perhaps increase the DOF, but that'd mean losing a few stops and ending up with star trails. Provided it's not too windy, my tripod should hold out ok (it's a Manfrotto lightweight one - forgot the model, but £50 ish and weighs around 1kg).

So, tips for taking photos of the Aurora would be good - and stars in general. We'll be spending a night on a farm in the countryside somewhere, so the star field should be great if it's a clear night.

Otherwise, just one thing that i wondered about - is it ok to take photos at airports these days? I'd really like to get a few shots at Heathrow, but i understand that they don't look too kindly on it sometimes.

Thanks!

[Funkstar]

Going right oop north next wednesday to Norway.

No tips, just wanted to say I'm envious! I'd love to go up there having spent quite a bit of time in Bergen and love the country.

Looking forward to your photos

[Whiternoise]

Yeah i want to take a lot! Ideally i want to fill the card, so.. we'll see how that goes

If it gets bad i've got an 8GB microSD i could sling in an SD adaptor!

[chriswood_7]

I'd love to go up there having spent quite a bit of time in Bergen and love the country.

Really? Is there any reason why/

[Funkstar]

Really? Is there any reason why/

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...6,8.453979&z=8

[Whiternoise]

I think the aurora is one of those things that you should see at least once in your life.



And Norway is a beautiful country.



That's Tromso city, quite small (i reckon you could walk from one end to the other in an hour and a bit) and it's on an island.

[0iD]

Spent a small ammount of time in Norway at Nyhamna on the Ormen Lange gas plant project.
Beautiful country.

[Whiternoise]

Heh, good we agree that it's a nice place, but any tips?

[brammers]

Norway rocks - had some amazing times there.

I've never shot the lights myself, but I came very close to doing so once, so I did a bit of reading. From what I remember you can't just use long exposures - the lights move fast enough and are bright enough to just turn the sky green at anything over a few seconds - maybe even faster. So a lot of people reccomend fast lenses and fairly high ISOs. Strongly reccomend you check that though - just do a google for shooting northen lights, I bet there's thousands of results. Depending on what you read then maybe a fast wideangle would be good to rent/buy - you can get a Sigma 20/24/28 f1.8 for about 150quid 2nd hand, or you could try to rent something fast and wide in Nikon.

One thing I can be positive about is that your battery life is going to drop hugely due to the cold. Any battery in the camera just isn't going to last. A battery grip might be a good plan to let you use 2 batteries at once, as might be a load of OEM cheapos. Remember that the battery life only drops when they get cold - just keep the spares in an inner jacket pocket or somewhere and they'll keep their charge until its time for use.

As for SDs - just buy loads, they're dirt-cheap now. 7dayshop.com - should do you for OEM batteries too.

[merdat]

Here's a tip: don't drink any alcohol as it costs a fortune

[Whiternoise]

Ta for the advice, i think i can cope with a couple of 2GB - i can always bring my microSD - SD adaptor for a bit of leeway.

As for lenses, i can probably get away with the 50mm in that case, and the 18-55 isn't tooo bad.

Battery life is the one i'm worried about. I think i'll just have to grit my teeth and hope. Plan is to carry the battery in my pocket and take it out after each round of shooting. Any way i can wrap the camera up or something? =P

I would get a grip but they're a bit pricey for one trip, and it'd be a stretch as we're going at around 7am wednesday.

Here's a tip: don't drink any alcohol as it costs a fortune

Well, i'm going to the "northernmost" brewery - http://www.olhallen.no/ - so we'll see! I think i'm going to have to try some at least. If not, i guess it'll be tee for a week

[shiato storm]

carry spare batteries in your inner coat pockets. this is a good thing to do when shooting in cold conditions, also put your camera in a sealed zip-lock baggy when going inside - it saves it from the condensation thanks to rapid temperature changes. wait a minute or two and it should be fine.

[tfboy]

The battery discharge due to the cold is only temporary. So keep your spares on an inside jacket pocket and swap out when the camera battery is saying it's dieing. After some time, you'll find that it has partly recovered and usable again without needing a recharge.

[Funkstar]

The battery discharge due to the cold is only temporary.

Exactly. Basically, at extreme low temperatures, the chamical reaction inside the cell that creates the power starts to slow down or even stop.

There was a series on the BBC about extreme conditions, where they went to the hottest, coldest, driest, wettest, etc places on earth (wettest wasn't the sea btw) to see how people lived there. In the coldest they had to ditch their fancy HD TV cameras and rely on DV camcorders as their batteries lasted just long enough for them to take a reasonable amount of footage before dying.

[Whiternoise]

Well, i've been here for a few days now - seen the lights once and got a few photos

Although i'm going to try again when we go out tomorrow, realised after i got back that it'd focussed on the wrong thing - so naturally it all looked great on the LCD and looked crap when blown up - though they'll look nice as prints even if they are a bit blurred.