Hezu

Sigma does make some decent lenses indeed, but I have to mention that Sigma 14 mm F1.8 is not the most optimal choice for E mount cameras, especially if talking about APS-C camera models, as it is still a design for DSLRs and thus is quite big and heavy. The newer Sigma 14 mm F1.4 has been designed for mirrorless cameras and it probably should work pretty well also in aurora photography since it is aimed for astrophotography, although it is also big and heavy, although it should be more balanced than the older Sigma 14 mm F1.8 as it includes tripod attachment collar. The newer Sigma 14 mm might be still bit too specialized if one does not have that big interest in night photography.

First, 25 mm on APS-C crop is not that wide. Comparable focal length giving similar field of view on full frame is 37.5 mm. My current favourite lens for aurora photography is Sony FE 1.8/14 GM. Sure, that is not something I would call a cheap lens, but on the other hand, it offers a lot bang for the buck. And it is still cheaper than Sony's (super) wide angle f/2.8 GM zooms. And it is also much lighter in weight than those zooms, so that is a definate advantage while traveling. Also it is already few years old, so there should be some available on second hand market, which could offer some savings compared to prices of a new lens. I have earlier also used other lens, some of which haven't been that fast, but that obviously has meant using longer shutter speeds (although then you sure may lose some details as the auroras may move quite actively) or/and higher ISO (might get more noise then). Also, you could try using wide angle lenses for other photo subjects than just auroras to justify the cost of your purchase.

And in European airports within the Schengen area, the airports are usually split in two separate areas: one for flights within Schengen and other for flights to/from other countries outside Schengen (eg. USA or UK). The location of facilities like lounges may thus be in either of these areas or if there is one in both areas then obviously there might be some differences. And of course if you want to go from intra-Schengen to non-Schengen or vice versa, you must go thru border control checkpoint.

Not sure how it is in actual Scandinavia, but at least in fellow Nordic country Finland you would need a prescription written in EU, ETA or Switzerland to be able to buy prescription medicines in pharmacies, thus a prescription eg. from USA or UK would not be accepted.

Start of December does not sound that early to me, I recall the cruise ferries that sail between Finland and Sweden and Finland and Estonia used to start their Christmas season early and I decided to check the websites and apparently this year on Tallink Silja ships their buffet restaurants switched to Christmas menu on 15.11. (and offering this until 26.12. or 31.12. depending on individual ships) and Viking Line offers their Christmas buffet from 16.11. to 26.12. on most ships, M/S Cinderella starting few days later on 20.11.

I had never even heard about that brand, but after searching for the specs, I am fairly confident that the camera function is a gimmick, the camera sensor seems to have only 5 MPix, which is these days a very low resolution. I would suggest to use separate binoculars and camera. Or occasionally one could also use the camera with a telephoto lens as sort of monoscope.

That long layover might be sufficiently long to get out of the airport for a while. Of course, this assumes that there is something interesting to see in the vicinity of the airport. And certainly one has to keep in mind to get back to the airport sufficiently early to reclear the security.

Although of course it is possible that some booking systems will show intra-European SAS Plus as business class as it tends to share the same booking classes as long haul business class and other airlines' business class products, although intra-Europe "business class" (or similar designation) generally still means that on a narrow-body aircraft every seat in the whole aircraft is similar design and there is no dedicated premium cabin, the front rows (the number of rows can be adjusted) will be designated for business class and often middle seats are not used (I think SAS has stopped this practice). Of course, even if the seating is not different than in economy class, catering is and there might be access to lounges etc.

Dedicated cameras (especially those with lenses that can be changed) are not going away as they can offer things that are not really possible with mobile phones (most importantly using long telephoto lenses), but it looks like mobile phones have taken over pretty much whole market for inexpensive compact cameras. And actually there has been few attempts for offering cameras with editing capabilities, generally this has been done by using Android OS in the camera, thus one could run any image editing software for Android on the camera. I think the newest attempt was Zeiss ZX1, but it is expensive and as it has fixed 35 mm lens it may not suit everyone's taste. Also worth a mention that many newer cameras do include wireless connectivity (WiFi/Bluetooth) that allows you to easily transfer images to other devices (like mobile phones and tablets), where you could edit these (and share to social media and so on).

Note that these are designed for APS-C sensors, thus if used on a camera with larger sensor the image does not cover the whole frame and you may want to use crop mode (and get images with fewer megapixels). And if I have understood correctly Canon does not even support EF-S lenses (like that 18-200) on EF cameras, so I'm unsure how it is with the EF to RF adapters. Thus if you get a new camera with 35 mm sensor, you probably want to replace your existing APS-C lenses with ones that cover the full sensor area.

What sort of equipment you currently have for Canon? Personally I wouldn't forget also Sony α7 series of cameras. And don't forget that there is EF lens adapters also for other mirrorless lens mounts than Canon RF, although of course in many cases the native lenses may still have some edge over the older designs for DSLRs.

There is indeed quite a few options for binoculars. And of course, the preferences may vary depending on what is the main purpose for using binoculars. Personally, I tend to use binoculars for birding (also when aboard a ship). Among birders, I think 8×40/42 is the favourite model with some people preferring the higher magnification 10×40/42 models since that usually offers a good compromise between suitable magnification and reasonable size and weight. Personally I have picked even one step smaller 8×32 model (currently Zeiss Conquest HD, the brands' second tier line) as I tend to carry around not just binoculars, but also camera equipment (usually including a large telephoto lens) and sometimes also my fieldscope and tripod. If money is no object, I suggest check out the already mentioned Swarowski or the high end Zeiss models, but I think there is several decent options also from the cheaper models and brands. Here is a couple binoculars review sites that can give you some ideas for other good alternatives: https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/ https://www.allbinos.com/ And finally, as a Finnish birder I cannot post this without mentioning finnstick, which is great accessory for binoculars if one wants to watch around with binoculars for longer periods of time as it helps to avoid stressing your hands as you don't have to keep hands raised to hold the binoculars.

Actually, there are Canon EF lens adapters also for Nikon Z, obviously not from neither Canon nor Nikon, but from third party manufacturers. I don't have any experience with these adapters, but if one wants to explore that option such adapters exist. And of course, the newer native lenses may offer some advantages over the older designs.

I have feeling that outside USA (or North America in general?) airlines are more stringent in enforcing carryon luggage regulations (size, weight and number of items). And that applies especially on budget airlines that may even ask for a extra fee if you want place your carryon luggage in the overhead compartment and obviously they also charge for any checked luggage and if it is determined that your hand luggage must be checked, the fees at the airport are more expensive than what you would have paid if you purchased that in advance.

I'm afraid that without seeing the pictures it is quite hard to comment what is wrong with them. But I know the camera screens may not always show colours and details the same way as what comes out of printers. For optimal digital photo prints one should post process images on a computer with a calibrated monitor and preferably colour profile for the printer to assure that colours come out the way you like them. Another potential pitfall could be issues with image sizes, resolution and aspect ratios. Low resolution image files cannot be printed in large print sizes and aspect ratio problems may result in worst case would result images being stretched unusually or at least empty space on paper if the actual image is smaller than the paper size.

In some parts of Europe there might be some school holidays also in February, for example in Finland in the latter part of February there is week long winter holidays (different parts of country having their week off different times), traditionally called "ski holiday", although some families may prefer to head south rather than enjoy the winter activities. Of course, Finnish holidays may still not affect your travel.

That 17:40 flight is to Oslo? Based on your third question I presume you are heading to UK and in that case I would look also at non-stop flights from Bergen to UK, eg. Norwegian has evening flights to London Gatwick and on some days there is Norwegian and SAS flights to Manchester in the evening. I am not sure about timetables in next April, but I would check also those options for the dates you are traveling.

Actually, I can think of also ro-pax routes outside Baltic, eg. between UK and France and The Netherlands, between Norway and Denmark, between Denmark and Iceland via Faroe Islands and various ports on shores of Mediterranean Sea. Granted, in every case the vehicle deck(s) may not have just freight on board, but also private cars and vans that travelers want to take with them across the sea.

At least in Europe there is several shipping routes that could be used for freighter cruising. Some routes (eg. between Finland and Sweden and Finland and Estonia) are operated by cruiseferries that resemble "normal" cruise ships despite that there is also vehicle decks that carry wheeled cargo. And then there is more freight oriented operations, eg. Finnlines Helsinki<->Travemünde route. Those operate from more cargo oriented ports and on board experience on these ro-pax ships is more spartan, but still includes decent cabins, sauna, gym, buffet restaurant, cafe and bar. Granted, these "cruises" are quite short, couple nights at most.

I have no experience with either camera, but I know that Canon's EF-M system is being phased out in favour of RF mount, so one potential risk with Canon M6 is that if you want native lenses for that camera there may not be many options.

Actually, October may not be that early for northern lights observations, already this September there has been at least three nights when one could see auroras even in southern Finland where I live and further in the north the suitable conditions occur even more often. And in certain way, the late autumn may offer better viewing conditions as the nights may look even darker than what they are once snow falls. But the late evenings/nights are already be quite cool (if not cold) and they are getting even colder as the winter is approaching, so the aurora hunting can be quite chilly activity. And then even if there is suitable space weather conditions for auroras, it might not be possible to see them if the sky is cloud covered...

Nope, you are misinformed: if one is a citizen of any EU country (regardless of whether the county is within Schengen zone or not) then one can freely move around anywhere within EU (and also within those Schengen countries that do not belong to EU), although obviously you are subject to border controls when moving between Schengen zone and elsewhere and have to prove that you are an EU citizen. Even a permanent residency in one EU country may allow one to travel within other EU countries without visa, but I would double check these regulations as there might be some limitations that may apply.

I have to comment this by noting that liberal use of antibiotics may lead into antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria and that is a growing problem as it becomes harder and harder to find suitable antibiotics that will cure conditions that genuinely need antibiotics. So if you get sick, it would be wise to be sure that the condition is actually caused by a bacterial infection and not by some virus before taking any antibiotics.

Dpreview reports following: So what's new? The top line features are a 'grippier' grip, a USB-C connector (for charging but not power), a 3" TFT display with more accurate color, interval and time-lapse modes, and support for the RM-WR1 weatherproof wireless remote. Support for vertical video has also been added. The TG-7 also offers a new 'construction' scene mode that can automatically remove dust from photos, brighten dark pictures, take stitched panoramas, and capture photos of blueprints or whiteboards.

I think one interesting option might be also a "Living desert tour", where your get a drive in the desert and the guide shows you various interesting creatures that live there. Most likely also Welwitschia plants. Granted, my experience of one was during a land based trip in Namibia and it started in Swakopmund and the tour begun in afternoon and ended close to sunset time (around 6 pm in early July), so I don't know how that fits into a cruise schedule. I believe there are few different local tour operators in the area that arrange these.