Adjust from these starting values based on aurora brightness and your lens aperture.
Full manual control required — auto exposure will fail in darkness.
Start at ISO 1600. Strong aurora: ISO 800. Faint aurora: ISO 3200. Higher ISO = more noise.
Use the widest aperture your lens allows. f/1.8 or f/2 lets in far more light than f/4.
For static aurora: 10–15 sec. For fast-moving aurora: 3–6 sec to avoid blur. Bright aurora = shorter.
Autofocus fails in darkness. Switch lens to MF and focus on a bright star or distant light. Use live view at max zoom to confirm.
Auto WB can shift colours between shots. Set manually to 3500K (cool/blue) or 4000K (neutral).
Always shoot RAW (not JPEG). RAW preserves full colour data for post-processing. JPEG is lossy and limits editing.
Turn off optical stabilisation when using a tripod — it can introduce micro-shake during long exposures.
Getting sharp focus is the biggest challenge for aurora photography beginners. Autofocus is unreliable in darkness — it will hunt and miss. Use these techniques:
Use your phone's built-in Night Mode — it automatically takes longer exposures. On iPhone this is called "Night" in Camera; on Pixel it is "Night Sight".
Many Android phones include a Pro mode. Set ISO to 1600–3200, shutter speed to 8–15 sec, and focus to manual infinity.
A phone tripod is essential — you cannot handhold a 10-second exposure. Even resting the phone on a rock helps.
Digital zoom degrades quality significantly. Use wide angle instead.
iOS 14+ supports ProRAW on Pro models via the camera settings. Enable it for maximum editing flexibility.
To avoid star trails, divide 500 by your focal length in mm. E.g. 500 ÷ 24mm = 20 seconds maximum. With a crop-sensor camera divide by 300 instead. Aurora moves faster than stars so err on the shorter side (5–10 sec).
Yes. Pressing the shutter button physically vibrates the camera. Use a remote release, the camera's 2-second self-timer, or a smartphone app remote to eliminate camera shake.
A wide-angle lens (14mm–24mm) lets you capture a large section of sky. A fast maximum aperture (f/1.4–f/2.8) is more important than focal length. The most popular aurora lenses are the Rokinon/Samyang 14mm f/2.8 and the Sony 20mm f/1.8.
Shoot at the lowest ISO that gives a bright enough exposure. Shoot multiple frames and stack them in software (e.g. Starry Landscape Stacker or Lightroom) to reduce noise. Shoot in cold temperatures — sensors produce less heat noise in cold.
Yes. Modern phones with Night Mode (iPhone 12+, Google Pixel 4+, Samsung Galaxy S21+) can capture aurora. Results are best with a tripod and strong aurora (KP 4+). A dedicated camera will always produce better results.