Icelandic Photographer Captures Northern Lights by Drone

It’s a sad fact, but most of us don’t live in places beautiful enough to do justice to the capabilities of today’s drones. 4K footage is great and all, but to really make the most of your drone’s potential you probably need to leave the city behind and find somewhere remote. You might even have to leave the country and go in search of some landscapes really worthy of your aerial camera’s attention.

Luckily for photographers based in Iceland, a lack of potential subjects has never been a problem. As well as being home to some of the world’s most devastatingly beautiful landscapes, the country is also a place where you can witness the mystical Northern Lights. Local photographer and drone pilot Oli Haukur, of OZZO Photography did exactly that with his drone, and the resulting footage is pretty unbelievable. Take a look for yourself…

Haukur hooked up his Sony a7S II digital camera, fitted with an ultra-wide Sigma 20mm f/1.4 lens, to a DJI Matrice 600. Among the scenes he captured from the air is the incredible sight of the Northern Lights glowing above Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula.

DJI’s Matrice 600 was launched last April and offers high frame rates and HD live-streaming capability at distances up to five kilometers. It carries the Ronin MX gimbal, which is compatible with a number of cameras from Arri, Black Magic, Canon, Panasonic, RED, Sony and Nikon. Its maximum load weight is around 4.5 kilograms.

Back then Senior Product Manager Paul Pan said that “The M600 is the most powerful and easiest-to-use professional platform DJI has ever produced. We’ve pre-programmed all M600 platform data and information into the A3 flight controller, remote and transmission system to minimize setup and get you flying as quickly as possible.”

If you’re feeling inspired by Iceland’s aerial photographers, a similar setup from DJI will set you back around $6,000, not including the camera.