Is it possible to capture the Northern Lights with the Osmo Action 3?

I wouldn’t bank on it, it will be extremely noisy similar to a phone.

I doubt that. Tiny sensor.

Thanks. There are examples of GoPro footage on the net, so I thought that OA3 could also do it.

Dodo3007 Posted at 12-4 12:44
Thanks. There are examples of GoPro footage on the net, so I thought that OA3 could also do it.

Well, with a long enough shutterspeed and decent post processing, any camera 'should' be able to pull it off.

Yes, you should be able to. As an example, this is my first try doing night sky photos and timelapse. Keep in mind, I'm in the city so there are some lights around (which is not the best for night sky photography).

The timelapse was captured using a 30 second interval for 2 hours. Pro mode, using manual exposure, ISO 100 and 25 second shutter. Make sure to watch it in a (close to) dark room or else the stars will be kinda faint. Next time I prolly should pump up the ISO to 200 or 400. Just make sure to do a single ISO setting as opposed to a range when you do timelapse (or a photo).

I have also captured some photos. The photos are Pro mode, manual. The end of the filename contains the settings. There's one at ISO 100 and 30 second shutter. This is the cleanest. You can see the Orion towards the left if you watch it at full 4000x3000 size. I left the White Balance on Auto. You'll get prolly better results setting it to a correct value (...whatever "correct" would be in this case).

There are three ISO 800 test shots as well using 30, 20, and 10 second shutters. You can see they are not as clean as the ISO 100 one, but you can see a bunch of stars even with city lights around.

So  yes, I think you could capture northern lights using the right manual settings especially if you are outside the city limits. I suggest make some practice shots beforehand with the night sky.


https://drive.google.com/drive/f ... V3tRkVH?usp=sharing

Not in croatia :-)

I think the image will be really noisy or to dark.

I've never seen northern lights in person (just on photos), but what I'd do is make a batch of photos using ISO 100, 200, and 400. Maybe 800, too if you are outside the city limits. And for each ISO I'd shoot a 5, 10, 20, and 30 second photo. Then look at how they came out and choose the best one. Now that you have the right setting, you can try doing a timelapse as well.

I did capture northern lights with OA1, but it can't compare to a DSLR. But my plan is actually to test this out when I get my camera back.
Will make a thread when I have tested it out.

JustName Posted at 12-4 14:31
Not in croatia :-)

I think the image will be really noisy or to dark.

That's for sure  :-) But from Tromso, I hope...

osmonauta Posted at 12-4 14:16
Yes, you should be able to. As an example, this is my first try doing night sky photos and timelapse. Keep in mind, I'm in the city so there are some lights around (which is not the best for night sky photography).

The timelapse was captured using a 30 second interval for 2 hours. Pro mode, using manual exposure, ISO 100 and 25 second shutter. Make sure to watch it in a (close to) dark room or else the stars will be kinda faint. Next time I prolly should pump up the ISO to 200 or 400. Just make sure to do a single ISO setting as opposed to a range when you do timelapse (or a photo).

Thanks for the tips!

johansenfoto Posted at 12-4 14:44
I did capture northern lights with OA1, but it can't compare to a DSLR. But my plan is actually to test this out when I get my camera back.
Will make a thread when I have tested it out.

I will try outside Tromso

osmonauta Posted at 12-4 14:36
I've never seen northern lights in person (just on photos), but what I'd do is make a batch of photos using ISO 100, 200, and 400. Maybe 800, too if you are outside the city limits. And for each ISO I'd shoot a 5, 10, 20, and 30 second photo. Then look at how they came out and choose the best one. Now that you have the right setting, you can try doing a timelapse as well.

Northern lights will just appear completely mushy almost like a blob if you shoot longer than 8 seconds, they move a lot faster than stars and even using DSLR it would be recommended to up ISO to 1600/3200 to get correct shutter speed .

They do have some nice timelapses of northern lights up on YT shot on a GoPro. This one also gives you the settings in the description. The good thing about timelapses is that it gives the option to also shoot images so maybe you end up with a nice image, too, in addition to the lapse.

Dodo3007 Posted at 12-4 15:28
I will try outside Tromso

Tromsø is not a great place for capturing northern lights since they are at the coast and have a lot of clouds there a lot of time.
I live 6 hours further north and here it is better chance for clear weather, since we doesn't have the same climate.

johansenfoto Posted at 12-5 00:32
Tromsø is not a great place for capturing northern lights since they are at the coast and have a lot of clouds there a lot of time.
I live 6 hours further north and here it is better chance for clear weather, since we doesn't have the same climate.

Thanks for the info, maybe we'll go further north..

Dodo3007 Posted at 12-5 12:15
Thanks for the info, maybe we'll go further north..

When do you have plans for travelling here? And how long you planning for staying?

Here are some of my northern lights pictures I have taken with my DSLR since hunting northern lights with my camera is one of my favorite subjects to photograph

Wow, those are REALLY nice!!!

johansenfoto Posted at 12-5 22:40
When do you have plans for travelling here? And how long you planning for staying?

At the beginning of February we will stay for a few days, maybe we decide to go to Longyearbyen for a few days. The pictures are great. I'm really curious how it will turn out with OA3.

osmonauta Posted at 12-5 23:20
Wow, those are REALLY nice!!!

Thank you  

Dodo3007 Posted at 12-6 00:02
At the beginning of February we will stay for a few days, maybe we decide to go to Longyearbyen for a few days. The pictures are great. I'm really curious how it will turn out with OA3.

Thank you

Longyearbyen is also great but it is really far north so often the northern lights goes past there early in the day. But guides up there know bests anyway.

Hi All, I am very interested in the astro results as I'm thinking of taking OA3 to the interior of Australia. I want to capture some astro footage but need to travel extremely light which will most likely rule out my DSLR.

Thanks