How to film Aurora Borealis?

[Frank VM]

There is many tutorials for photographing Aurora Borealis however I can't seem to find any technical tips as to how to actually film them. Stuff like camera setting, fps, should we use SLOG 2 or not, etc ... My goal is to capture Northern Lights as realistic as possible.

We don't have much time only (9 days in second part of January) so I would like to learn as much as possible ahead of time so that we can hit the ground running once we land in Iceland.

Here is the list of gear that is available to us, I would like to narrow down selection so that we don't have to take everything with us. I know that lenses could be better, but as of right now that is all we could gather/afford.

Cameras:

Sony A7S ( Original )
Sony A6300 x 2

Lenses:

Canon: 15 f2.8 fisheye
Canon: 16-35 f2.8 II
Canon: 24-70 f2.8 I

Sony: 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6
Sony: 18-105mm f4
Sony: 30mm f/3.5 macro lens
Sony: 55mm f/1.8
Sony/Zeiss: 24-70 f4

Rokinon: 12mm f/2.0

Any advice or source would be much appreciated!!!

EDIT: It looks like that Philip Bloom's latest post is about filming Aurora Borealis ... A lot of great information there!
Link: http://philipbloom.net/blog/tromso/

 

[Samuel H]

Forget slog2, it's noisier than the cine profiles (e.g. Cine4). I've never shot auroras but I think you'll have more noise problems than dynamic range problems.

Out of your native E-mount lenses, the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 and the 55mm f/1.8 would be my favorites. I'd definitely leave the 12mm living permanently on one of the a6300 bodies.

On my 12mm f/2.0, I carved precision markings for focus: the markings it comes with are just not good enough to be trusted, but if you put the lens on a body and mark the precise spot where you get infinity focus, you'll be able to hit that easily. But mind that this may change a bit on different bodies, so, check it on your two a6300's, and if they are very different then just choose one to be the permanent 12mm body.

Edit: If you have any reservations regarding the Samyang 12mm f/2.0, check out this review. I think it's one of the best lenses out there for astrophotography on an APS-C sensor.