Aurora and spruce trees, Denali National Park, Alaska. Canon 5D Mark III, Nikor 14-24mm f/2.8, 25 sec., @ f/2.8, ISO 1000
It is that time of year in interior Alaska when the skies begin to darken once again, and those brilliant stars appear in the late night sky. They are a welcomed sight for me, and on my last trip into Denali Park, I woke at 2am to go to the bathroom and looked up into an aurora borealis display in the night sky. I was not really mentally prepared, nor was my gear all set for this, but I could not resist. So, it took me a while to throw everything together and get set up, in particular because I was using a new lens which requires live-view focus, and that in turn requires placing a loupe on the back of the LCD screen to check sharpness. That need for the loupe is a special thanks to fading eyesight at close range.
I used the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 with a mount for a Canon camera. I’ve been considering this lens as an alternative for a while, as many of my colleagues have proved it’s excellent quality. There is some functionality loss on a Canon, namely the auto focus does not work, and the f/stop does not reveal in the display. But, is it a fantastic lens, and this is my first shot with it. I look forward to this year’s aurora shows and hope to capture many more images with it.
