Photographing night sky/ aurora from a ship

[anyone]

Hi there,
I am wondering if it‘s worth takig a ship cruising down Norways beautiful coastline. One major goal would be Aurora Borealis photography, and I wonder if this works out from a moving, trembling ship?

Thank you!

 

[akaru]

Gimbal?

 

[anyone]

Yeah… not working. Cannot imagine that any good result can be achieved in such circumstances.

 

[akaru]

Noctilux on a gfx100 variant with ibis at 6400 iso with both focus and exposure bracketing and composited in post from the few that made it? Aurora shouldn’t be affected that much from a bit of smearing, so it’s more how to get a foreground shot sharp enough.

 

[mristuccia]

Speaking of crazy ideas, if you'll be allowed to lift a drone from the ship, you could use it to take a stable photo.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dji/comments/1fysfio

 

[anyone]

Well, sometimes one realizes after a little bit of thinking that initial ideas are not the best. This is one of the cases, since two fundamental issues won't fit together:
(1) The ship is on a schedule and moves
(2) The night sky photography demands for a stable base

 

[mristuccia]

Well, sometimes one realizes after a little bit of thinking that initial ideas are not the best. This is one of the cases, since two fundamental issues won't fit together:
(1) The ship is on a schedule and moves
(2) The night sky photography demands for a stable base

By "crazy ideas" I was referring more to our answers than your initial question which is totally legit. I hope no one took offense here.

I would do the cruise in any case however. You can experience beautiful landscapes and the northern lights with your bare eyes.
For my honeymoon, a long time ago, I took a cruise from Amsterdam to Cape North skirting all the fjords of Norway. I still remember the calm, the silences and the wonderful sights I've experienced like it was yesterday.