going to see the northern lights and need a decent camera

buglawton

This £190 camera should do the job nicely:
http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-hx10v-camera-hd-1080i-18-2mp-16x-optical-zoom-gps-3-lcd-screen-with-8gb-card-black/p231585871

Take the 12800 ISO rating with a pinch of salt, but if it were to settle on say ISO 1600 then results should be fine. Tripod is a must.

gjchester

buglawton wrote: »

This £190 camera should do the job nicely:
http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-hx10v-camera-hd-1080i-18-2mp-16x-optical-zoom-gps-3-lcd-screen-with-8gb-card-black/p231585871

Take the 12800 ISO rating with a pinch of salt, but if it were to settle on say ISO 1600 then results should be fine. Tripod is a must.

It might, still not a large lens, but DP review has indifferent results for low light / night shots, some good some bad.

The manual suggests it can do manual shots, but some reviews say this is limited (shutter settings only not aperture) but it has no manual focus so the OP would need to spend a bit of time to get used to the camera.

buglawton

The next step up for truly better results is something like the NEX range at double the price and not quite so portable. Anyway, it cannot be long before OP departs on the trip, any later and the best season passes.