Shooting Northern Lights on Film

Vancouver’s residents got a second chance to witness northern lights, a.k.a. aurora borealis, this year. And so, even cold-averse, city-dwelling photographers like me got their chance to see this incredible display without incurring any travel expenses.

I did a lot of research in preparation for the events. But despite the wealth of articles and videos about aurora borealis photography with digital cameras, none I saw mentioned the exact exposure settings, which are a must for film. This guide is made to fill this gap.

In this article, I’ll suggest the most appropriate film cameras, lenses, and accessories for photographing northern lights, the best film stocks for the job, exact exposure settings, as well as development and scanning techniques for the cleanest results on film.

In this guide: Why photograph northern lights on film? Best film cameras for photographing northern lights. Best lenses for photographing northern lights. Best film to photograph northern lights on. Other accessories. Picking location. Setting up and preparing for the show. Exposure values and settings. Film development and push processing. Scanning techniques. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Thank you, Daren of Learn Film Photography, for getting me out of bed to photograph the show on October 10-11, 2024.

Why photograph northern lights on film?

Aside from being a fun challenge, film has unique properties that can make your images stand out in the sea of digital northern lights posts online. But that’s not even the best part about this medium.

Software and live previews make photographing the aurora borealis easy. However, the annoying side-effect of this convenience is the disconnect from the extraordinary event it introduces: bright screens decrease our eyes’ sensitivity to light at night, thus diminishing our ability to see the event clearly. How sad is it to experience such an incredible natural phenomenon through an LCD and not have a chance to appreciate it for yourself?

I’m confident you’ll have a better experience watching the northern lights with a film camera than you would surrounded by screens. But, of course, the process is more challenging, and the results aren’t guaranteed.

Best film cameras for photographing northern lights.

Medium — and large-format cameras can preserve more details on film, but they have some drawbacks that make photographing the northern lights challenging.

For best results, you will need a fast, wide-angle lens, which is often difficult or impossible to get on any body other than a 35mm film camera. Ideally, your glass has to have the largest aperture of 𝒇2.8 or wider and a focal length of 28mm or shorter. If you can match that on your medium format camera, go for it! Otherwise, you may like to stick to a 35mm SLR or a rangefinder. I used Canon F-1.

A rangefinder can be a great option since the finder on these types of cameras can be brighter in dim light than the through-the-lens view on an SLR. Alternatively, you may like to attach an external finder to your camera.

Whatever your pick is, your camera must have full manual controls and have the ability to keep its shutter open for 30 seconds for long exposures.

Best lenses for photographing northern lights.

Though capturing interesting shots with a 50mm lens or longer is possible, northern lights light up the entire sky. Grabbing a bigger slice of the show will typically give you a more interesting effect. With some exceptions, northern lights appear somewhat smudgy in real life, so there’s usually no sense trying to zoom in.

Thus, pick the widest, fastest lens you can afford. I used my Canon FD 24mm 𝒇2.8 lens for the images in this article.

Best film to photograph northern lights on.

The shorter your exposure, the more defined the northern lights appear on your film. If you hold your shutter open for a minute or longer, the sky will appear to have a uniform colour, which is cool but not necessarily representative of the actual effect seen in nature.

I used CineStill 800T for all the shots in this article. This film’s tungsten-balanced nature produced slightly bluer images, which isn’t particularly important (as it’s easy to correct in post). You may also consider the Kodak Portra 800. And if you’re lucky enough to have gotten your hands on the Fuji Natura 1600 and are willing to risk a roll, give that a try!

Naturally, all of the above recommendations are the highest-speed colour-negative films. But that’s not all: you will need to push those films to at least EI 1600 unless you have a very fast 𝒇1.4 lens, which may give you a decent effect with the native ISO 800 (even then, I’d rather just shoot with a faster shutter). I pushed my film to EI 3200.