Can You Photograph the Northern Lights with Micro Four Thirds Cameras? OM-1 Mark II Field Test

Photographing the northern lights is challenging for any camera. Low light, changing aurora brightness, moving curtains of color, and dark foregrounds all place demands on the camera’s sensor and lens. But can a Micro Four Thirds camera, with its smaller sensor, produce high-quality aurora photographs?

During a photography trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, I had the opportunity to find out. I photographed the aurora with the OM System OM-1 Mark II and Olympus M.Zuiko 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO lens in a variety of conditions. I wanted to see how well this Micro Four Thirds combination would capture the color, detail, and movement of the northern lights, and how the RAW files would hold up during post-processing.

The results were encouraging. The OM-1 Mark II captured colorful, detailed aurora photographs with well-defined stars. There were some limitations, particularly with noise and recovering details from dark areas, which I’ll discuss later in the article.

Here’s how the camera and lens performed, the settings I used, and what I learned photographing the aurora around Fairbanks.

Why the OM-1 Mark II and Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO?

The OM System OM-1 Mark II is a camera I regularly use for wildlife, landscape, and travel photography. I was interested in seeing how well it could handle the demanding conditions of aurora photography.

One of its advantages is weather sealing. Photographing the aurora can mean spending hours outside in cold temperatures, with the possibility of frost, snow, or changing weather conditions. The OM-1 Mark II and 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO are both weather-sealed, providing additional protection when photographing outdoors.

The Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO was a natural lens choice for this trip. Its 7–14mm focal length provides a 14–28mm full-frame equivalent field of view, giving me plenty of flexibility to capture large aurora displays along with foreground elements such as trees and reflections.

The constant f/2.8 aperture is also important. A wide aperture allows more light to reach the sensor, helping keep shutter speeds reasonably short and ISO settings manageable. This is especially useful when the aurora is moving quickly and longer exposures can blur the details in its curtains and patterns.

This combination provided the wide field of view, bright aperture, and flexibility I wanted for photographing the northern lights.

Finding the Aurora

Another challenge around Fairbanks was finding clear skies.

Cloud cover could obscure the aurora even when activity was present. I used weather information, including the Windy app, to help identify possible openings in the clouds.

Aurora forecasting apps and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute Aurora Forecast are also useful resources for planning.

One additional tip: don’t assume the aurora isn’t present because you can’t see bright colors with your eyes. Weaker displays may appear as faint grayish bands. Taking a quick photograph with your phone can reveal green or other colors that aren’t immediately visible to the naked eye.

Once you find the aurora, watch it carefully. Its movement and changing brightness can provide new photographic opportunities every few minutes.

My OM-1 Mark II Aurora Settings

I used the following camera settings to photograph the aurora around Fairbanks:

• Exposure mode: Manual
• ISO: 1600–2500
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Shutter speed: 10–17 seconds
• Focus: Manual
• File format: RAW

I adjusted the ISO and shutter speed based on the brightness and movement of the aurora, while keeping the aperture at f/2.8.

Aurora brightness and movement can change quickly. A relatively faint, slow-moving aurora may benefit from a longer exposure to capture more color and detail. When the aurora becomes brighter and more active, shortening the shutter speed can help preserve the structure of the moving curtains instead of turning them into a softer band of color.

Focusing on the Stars

Accurate focus is critical for aurora photography. Even when the aurora itself looks good, slightly out-of-focus stars can reduce the overall quality of the photograph.

The OM-1 Mark II has a Starry Sky AF feature designed to focus automatically on stars. However, I prefer manual focus, which allows me to use a consistent focusing process across different camera systems. I was also testing the Panasonic Lumix S9 during this trip, which I covered in my Panasonic Lumix S9 Aurora Photography Field Test.

I used manual focus with the OM-1 Mark II’s focus-assist tools. Magnification allowed me to enlarge a bright star and carefully adjust focus until it appeared as small and sharp as possible. Focus peaking provided an additional visual aid.

After focusing, I checked the results by magnifying a test photograph to make sure the stars were sharp.

Don’t assume that turning the lens to infinity will produce accurate focus. Take the time to focus carefully, particularly when photographing at f/2.8.

Saving Settings to a Custom Mode

Another useful feature of the OM-1 Mark II is the ability to save camera settings to a custom mode.

I recommend creating an aurora photography custom mode with your preferred starting exposure, RAW capture, and focusing settings. This makes it easier to prepare the camera in the dark without having to adjust multiple settings individually.

You can then change the shutter speed or ISO as the aurora becomes brighter, dimmer, or more active.

Image Quality of the Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO

The lens is an important part of any aurora photography setup. Even if the camera handles high ISO settings well, poor star sharpness, excessive distortion, or strong vignetting can reduce image quality.

After reviewing my Fairbanks photographs, I was pleased with the performance of the Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO.

Star Sharpness and Corner Distortion

Stars were clearly defined across most of the frame. The center and middle portions of the photographs were sharp, with only mild softness near the outer edges.

In the extreme corners, particularly at 7mm, some stars showed slight stretching or developed small wings. These imperfections were visible when examining the photographs closely, but weren’t particularly distracting at normal viewing sizes.

Vignetting

The Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO controls vignetting well, even when shooting wide open. Some corner darkening was visible in my aurora photographs, but the changing brightness of the night sky made it difficult to determine how much was caused by the lens.

Vignetting wasn’t a significant issue in my finished photographs.

Chromatic Aberration and Flare

Chromatic aberration was very mild. A few brighter stars showed small colored edges when examined closely, but I didn’t find distracting color fringing along the trees or horizon.

I also found no obvious flare, reflected spots, or significant differences in sharpness between the left and right sides of the photographs.

Overall, the Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO performed well for aurora photography. Its wide field of view and bright aperture were useful, and the relatively minor optical imperfections didn’t prevent it from producing good night-sky photographs.

Aurora Image Quality and Processing

One of my biggest questions was how well the Micro Four Thirds sensor would perform at higher ISO settings.

The OM-1 Mark II uses a 20.4-megapixel stacked Micro Four Thirds sensor. Its smaller sensor presents some challenges when photographing in very low light, particularly when trying to recover detail from dark areas of a photograph.

At ISO 2500, the OM-1 Mark II produced good aurora photographs. The stars were clearly defined, the colors of the aurora were well represented, and the bright sections of the aurora retained detail.

However, noise was noticeable in the darker portions of the sky and foreground. Increasing the exposure or lifting the shadows during processing made the grain and color noise more apparent.

Lightroom Denoise Makes a Difference

Adobe Lightroom’s Denoise feature worked well with the OM-1 Mark II RAW files at ISO 2500. It significantly reduced visible noise in the darker areas while preserving detail in the stars and aurora.

The biggest limitation was shadow recovery. When I tried to brighten very dark foreground areas, noise and uneven color became more noticeable. Lightroom Denoise helped, but there were limits to how much detail I could recover from those areas.

Overall, I was pleased with the finished photographs. The combination of the OM-1 Mark II’s RAW files and Lightroom Denoise produced colorful, detailed aurora images with manageable noise.

What Worked Well

The Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO was a good aurora lens. Its wide field of view, constant f/2.8 aperture, and good star sharpness made it well suited for photographing large displays and including foreground elements.

The OM-1 Mark II captured good aurora color and detail. The photographs retained well-defined stars and the shapes and colors of the northern lights.

Manual focusing tools were useful. Magnification and focus peaking helped me focus accurately on the stars.

Weather sealing provided additional confidence. The OM-1 Mark II and 7–14mm PRO are designed for use in challenging outdoor conditions.

Lightroom Denoise worked well. It helped reduce high-ISO noise without sacrificing too much detail in the finished photographs.

Limitations to Consider

Noise in dark areas. Some noise was visible at ISO 2500, particularly when brightening dark foreground areas. Lightroom Denoise did a good job of reducing it.

Shadow recovery. Recovering details from very dark areas introduced additional noise and color variation. This is a challenge with night photography in general, although larger sensors typically provide more flexibility.

Minor lens imperfections. Some slight stretching and softness were visible in stars near the extreme corners, particularly at 7mm and f/2.8. These were minor and didn’t significantly affect the finished photographs.

None of these issues prevented the OM-1 Mark II and 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO from producing high-quality aurora photographs.

Final Thoughts: Can You Photograph the Aurora with Micro Four Thirds?

Yes. My experience photographing the northern lights around Fairbanks demonstrated that Micro Four Thirds equipment can produce high-quality aurora photographs.

The OM System OM-1 Mark II and Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 PRO captured colorful aurora displays, well-defined stars, and detailed night landscapes. The lens provided the wide coverage and bright aperture needed for this type of photography, and the camera’s manual controls and focusing tools made it practical to use in the field.

There are limitations. High-ISO noise and reduced flexibility when recovering deep shadows require more careful exposure and processing. However, Lightroom Denoise helped address much of the visible noise, and I was pleased with the finished photographs.

The most important lesson is that you don’t need a full-frame camera to photograph the northern lights successfully. A capable Micro Four Thirds camera, a fast wide-angle lens, good technique, and careful processing can deliver very good results.

Want to Learn More?

• OM System 8-25mm f/4 vs. 7-14mm f/2.8: Which Ultra-Wide PRO Lens Is Right for You?
• Testing Out Olympus’ New Starry Sky Autofocus Feature
• OM System OM-3 Astro: What’s Actually New — And Is It Worth It?