Colours in the Sky

On the tuesday a coronal mass ejection hit the earth and this meant that in the northern latitudes one could see northern lights or aurora borealis. Luckily I happened to be on a remote island on lake Saimaa that night and given that I was far away from any major sources of light pollution, this meant great conditions to see and photograph auroras...

1. The light show started quite early in the evening, faint glow from sunset still visible in the horizon

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/2.8, 2.5 s, ISO 2500

2. More colours

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/2.5, 4 s, ISO 1600

3. Auroras glowing

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 5 s, ISO 1600

4. Northern lights dancing in the sky

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 5 s, ISO 1600

5. Not sure if that light on the horizon is aurora or some human creation

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 5 s, ISO 1600

6. Green sky

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 5 s, ISO 1600

7. Colourful nightsky

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 5 s, ISO 1600

8. The light show continues

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 5 s, ISO 1600

9. Vertical composition attempt

α7R V + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/1.8, 10 s, ISO 1600

Sadly, as shown by #2 and #9 I didn't quite get (manual) focus right in every photo, but at least I got to experience this phenomenon in such nice location. Maybe I will in future get another chance... Another lesson in addition to the fact that I should be more careful with the focus, was that I definately want a proper L-bracket also for my α7R V, the Silence Corner Magic Plate is somewhat fidly alternative.

Thank for looking, any questions and comments welcome.

Harm vb wrote: Impressive views, making me jealous. Well done!

I am joining a group of jealous guys. Beautiful series, Heikki. TFS

Mestari wrote: I am looking at those on the phone so can't really see that problem with focus, all look great :) Shouldn't it be like that, that you turn the focusing ring all the way to infinity and it should focus well even if you kept on turning the ring? I thought it shouldn't go past infinity on focus by wire lens.

On those photos with poor focus the details on the landscape (trees etc.) look soft and stars in the sky don't look as sharp I would like to. I think despite the focus-by-wire design it does indeed go past infinity or something like that, at least the focus position scale on the camera starts showing infinity sign already before the scale is at its maximum. And of course, when you are reviewing pictures on the camera back screen you may not immediatly notice the softness unless you start zooming...

Mestari wrote: Were you satisfied with the image quality at f1.4 where focused well?

Yes, the lens shows great image quality when it is focused right.

Great shots Heikki. It was immediately apparent to me that #2 looked pretty sharp compared to #3-7, so i guessed the aurora effects must have moved quicker. But then i saw the last one which has good stars also, and a longer exposure too. I am curious what happened. Anyway, thanks for sharing Heikki .

Amazing images!

TFS!