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If you have a Nikon camera with a detachable lens but you do not know know the difference between a full frame and crop sensor, chances are you have a Nikon DX or cropped sensor camera. All of these cameras work fine for the aurora and there is not a substantial low light performance gap from the cheapest to the most expensive. If you are planning on picking one up, your best value, for northern lights purposes, will be in getting an inexpensive DX sensor camera and spend your money on a lens where you can meaningfully improve your low light performance. The 7000 series does have one big advantage for shooting in the heart of winter, its battery. The batteries of the 5000 and 3000 series tend to freeze up easily so it is important to bring 2-3 spares to cycle them through out the night. With the 7000 series one batter is normally enough, even when it is cold (-20F or colder), but it is best practice to have one backup battery for it. 7000 Series Battery - Nikon EN-EL15c
5000/3000 Series Battery - Nikon EN-EL14a
Nikon DX Cameras with Mid-2022 Amazon Pricing  Most of the 3000 and 5000 series cameras come with a kit lens, the 18-55mm F3.5 lens like seen in the photo above. The kit lens can work for the aurora but it is difficult to manually focus in the dark due to no focus markings on the focus ring and it is at best, moderately capable for low light. You will have a vastly improved experience and photos by pairing our recommended lens below with your Nikon DX camera. Lens Recommendation
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Having a base layer of insulation all across your body will greatly aid in keeping you warm and comfortable while out viewing Aurora. You can add this to clothing you already have for additional warmth.
Socks: I suggest a high quality wool sock in addition to your warmest boot. Snow Pants: This one here is lower cost item if you plan on only using it for this trip, I personality own a pair and the insulation is light to moderate. For a better insulated and more expensive type look at Columbia's snow pants, they are a bit warmer. Long Underwear: For early fall wear men's or women's long underwear under your pants or snow pants for added comfort but by late October or so it is often extremely cold. You want to be wearing heavy weight long underwear by this time. Long Sleeve Wicking Shirt: You will want a quick drying long sleeve shirt for a base layer like this Hanes men's or woman's shirt. Long Sleeve Warm Shirt: After your base layer when it is very cold you want to wear a shirt with insulation. These men's flannel or woman's flannel shirts add a lot of warmth. Insulated Mid-Layer: I personally prefer Columbia's insulated jackets with a omni heat reflective layer for my first outer layer. When it is really cold you will need a winter coat outside of this. Gloves: My strategy for photography is to wear light gloves like this for men or women that I can operate the camera with and put my hands in warm coat pockets the rest of the time. Hat: You should bring your warmest hat, if you don't have a winter hat and want a relatively inexpensive one look into the trapper hats. No matter what hat you bring getting a good Turtle Fur Fleece will make it that much warmer, it is highly recommended. Hand warmers are nice to have too. The most important etiquette tip for aurora viewing and photography is do not make light. If you must make some light, make as little as possible, make red light, and be as discreet as possible.
The aurora can be extremely bright and easy to see and at other times it can be at so dim that it is at the edge of detectability to the human eye. Having the best natural night vision that you can have will help you see the northern light more vibrantly when it is bright and make the difference between you seeing it and it being invisible to you when it is on the dim side. Secondly, shining lights is extremely disruptive to night time photography and to people around you and their night vision. Even just looking at your cellphone screen can damage your night vision. Our eyes have rod and cone light receptors in them. The cones help us see color vision and the rods help us see black and white or night vision. From personal experience it takes at least 10-15 minutes to really get good natural night vision but the science measures increases to our night vision up to a few hours after our eyes are in a very dark environment! It is known that the time this takes increases with age so if you are older it could take even longer. Unfortunately, our eyes adapt to brightness far more rapidly than they do darkness so it will take you far longer to regain your night vision than the time spent looking at light sources like flash lights. Looking at your smart phone will also have a damaging effect on your night vision as will your cameras LCD screen. It is best to reduce your cameras screen brightness to the minimum possible in part for this reason. Even just looking at your cellphone screen can damage your night vision. We had a tour where a group of three people just couldn't help themselves from looking at their cellphone screens most of the night. The aurora was dim that night and everyone on the tour could see it but the three that constantly looked at their cellphones, it was invisible to them because looking at their cellphones damaged their night vision just enough. Most nights the aurora is brighter than this but you never know just what it might do or how spectacular it may be. It's best to have your eyes ready for whatever might occur. Our tour is mobile so that we can select the best viewing location for the aurora on any night but there are actually many criteria that go into this. One of them is how well known the area is. Unfortunately, a fare to large portion of visitors to the Fairbanks area practice terrible aurora viewing etiquette, not limited to using bright headlights, leaving them on for long periods of time while parked, shining flashlights all over, using flashes on the camera continuously, etc. Quite frankly, it has destroyed the potential of many well known aurora viewing locations near Fairbanks. Rather than attempting to educate everyone we run in to on this issue, it is far easier to avoid other people and their localized light pollution. We intentional go for spots that are unknown and we do not advertise areas we may frequent as to keep them more private and free of localized light pollution. |
AuthorAaron Lojewski is a long time Fairbanks resident, Tour Guide, and Aurora / Northern Lights photographer. Archives
September 2025
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