Photographing The Aurora:
Use a camera and lens faster than f/2.8 set on a rigid mount, having a cable trigger and 'B' shutter setting for timed exposures. Colour slide/transparency film stock gives excellent results. Negative film can, of course, also be used. Recommended film speed is 400 ISO. Faster films are available in the 800-1600 ISO range, allowing shorter exposure times at the expense of greater film grain and resolution. Accurate exposure guides are difficult to provide and a range of exposures should be made bracketed to plus and minus 2 stops. On large displays it is advisable to use semi-wide to wide-angle lenses. These have the advantage of 'sharpening' rays and other detailed features but have the disadvantage of being slow (f2.8 or greater). 28mm f2.0 lenses are now available at a reasonable cost for 35mm SLR cameras, and, when combined with 800 ISO negative film stock, is fast becoming the standard for experienced aurora photographers. 

The following exposure table can be used as reasonable starting point on a 35mm SLR format camera with 50mm f2.0 lens loaded with 400 ISO film stock:  

Aurora Brightness Index Exposure (Seconds)
1 (Weak. Barely visible) 30-60
2 (Bright as moonlit cirrus cloud) 20-30
3 (Bright as moonlit cumulus cloud) 10-20
4 (Strong. Bright enough to cast shadows) less than 10
Note that star trailing will become obvious on a 50mm lens format with exposures over 30 seconds duration. Remember that each film has its own colour sensitivity range and some may give truer representations than others. It may be useful to retain black and white negatives to show up fine structure. Record the date, time, camera aperture, exposure, film, location of camera and direction of view.

Examples of photographic work by Section members' can be found on the images page.

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