Buying a camera advice please - northern lights specifically

I'd recommend something like a Canon 6D as that's relatively cheap for full frame and has very good noise levels at high ISO.

I popped into The Flash Centre a couple of weeks ago to buy a new camera battery and they have some that are designed for cold weather use! So I'd get one of those (just did a search and found it here http://www.theflashcentre.com/Hahnel_Extreme_HLX-E6_Battery%20.html?category_id=0&search_string=canon+battery

If you bought one of those as a spare battery you just keep the other one in your pocket to keep it warm then you swap them around regularly.

Its such a personnel choice, what make does he have now, Canon/Nikon? what is your budget but I really think you should sound him out to see what he would really like, trying asking him but saying its for a friend of yours, he might just tell you the one he would like ?

There are so many good choices now, and more lightweight options than ever. It would be useful to know your budget.

To prevent batteries dying in the cold, keep them warm in your glove until ready to shoot.

To prevent lenses fogging in the cold, wrap (with tape or an elastic band) a handwarmer round it.

I'm not too hot on camera types, but photographing the Northern Lights is something I randomly have to know a bit about for work - it's important to have a long exposure time setting on your camera, and a wide lens aperture, and being able to keep the camera as still as possible is also very important, so tripods are recommended. Though obviously making sure none of the camera's parts are going to fail in cold weather is important too! It's easiest when there is as little surrounding light pollution as possible, the Northern Lights will show up best when they are the brightest thing in the picture. Setting the camera's ISO somewhere around 500-1000 will make it pick up light (in your case the Northern Lights ) better, too.

Hope that helps!

Thank you, I'm looking to spend no more than 500 but if I can get something around the 300 mark that would be ideal. We have a canon we got second hand that actually landed him the courses as he took it to Kenya and they presumed he was an avid photographer! He loved the Nikon the army gave him but it got lost in transit to Afghanistan so I have no details of it other than it was a Nikon, I'm kicking myself for not checking!

Ok if I had a £500 budget then I would get either of these. The 750d I couldn't find without the lens on Panamoz but this bundle is cheaper with the lens than the one at Wex for the camera on its own.

https://www.panamoz.com/index.php/digital-cameras/canon/canon-eos-70d-20mp-digital-slr-camera-body.html

https://www.panamoz.com/index.php/digital-cameras/canon/canon-eos-750d-dslr-camera-with-canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-stm-lens-kit.html

Unless keen to stick with Canon, I'd recommend the Pentax K-50 ... better vaiue, easier to use (in my opinion), and it's weather-sealed so rain or rolling in the snow won't bother it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DC4BRKS/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_l-Yswb5648ARR

That also leaves room in your budget for a nice travel tripod, which as Starshine pointed out will really help with long exposure shots of the aurora.

Thank you for all your help and advice. I'm really grateful as I went into currys earlier and felt very out of depth! It's good to have some key points to look for and to see some suggested cameras ☺️