I have NEX-5N and I need to know the right lense for aurora lights

[elena22976]

[Mick2011]

Hi Elena, welcome to the Sony Forums

I'm guessing you mean the aurora borealis? Without a doubt you should be looking at a wide-zoom such as the new e-mount SEL1018, in order to capture as much of the night sky as possible. You may be able to find similar non-Sony lenses that will adaprt to the NEX body, but that's the only available native Sony e-mount wide zoom at the moment.

There's no reason why you couldn't use a 'normal' kit zoom at its widest zoom setting, especially if you have a SELP1650 or similar, which has an especially wide 16mm maximum, but ideally you would have very wide-angle lens with the option to zoom in a little in order to use as much of the frame as you can. This will reduce cropping and therefore avoid excessive noise.

Bear in mind you'll need a good, sturdy tripod, as your exposures will be much too long to hand-hold the camera and could easily be as long as 30 seconds.

Have fun, and if you need any more tips just ask

Cheers

Mick

[elena22976]

Thank you very much Mick:smileywink:!
I'll check it and if I need more help I will ask you again.
Have a Happy New Year!:smileyhappy:

[cmosse]

If you are tight on budget and already own the SEL16mm lens also both available wideangle converters could be of interest: Tfe VCL-ECU1 (wide angle) and VCL-ECF1 (fisheye). Especially when using the fisheye lens I could imagine you can capture spectacular sky shots reaching from horizon to horizon....

Also using an infrared remote (RMT-DSLR1) is a good idea to avoid camera shake and have more comfort while shooting.