Aerial Photography

[Wildman]

My son and his wife gave us a gift certificate for a half hour charter around the San Juan Islands in northern Puget Sound. This is a beautiful area with wonderful views of forests, islands and beaches. The flight will take off from Anacortes, WA, so we will be right there... no transition time.

I'm looking for advice on which lens to carry with me. It's a small airplane (4 seater). I have an EOS 20D and the following lenses...

EF-S 17-85IS
EF 70-200 f/4L (with a Tamron 1.4TC)
EF 50 II

I don't think there will be room or time to swap lenses. The question is which lens to use? Use the IS if I take the EF-S, or turn it off. I'm sure there will be vibration in the cabin, so IS might be useful. I plan on leaving the UV filter at home and taking the polarizer if it's sunny (always an outside chance up here).

How about settings? I generally shoot in Apature Priority Mode, but am not locked into anything. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't want to screw it up.

[neil_r]

Take them all, you will have room to change lenses.


N

[badrotation]

I am guessing you will be flying in a cessna 172, or something similar (very popular 4 seater planes)

You will have room to change lenses, so dont worry about that (though it is a bit cramped in them...)

[Trumper]

Lucky you,take them all and if you cant fit them all in the plane leave one with someone else.
It will take a few mins to get people strapped in and the plane pre flighted so you will get a chance to see how much room you will have.
Don't leave a lens and then regret it .

[Rob612]

Just remember that long lenses are quite hard to manage from a plane.

[kfong]

You will have room to change lenses, so dont worry about that (though it is a bit cramped in them...)

You may have room the change lenses, but there is usually no time since you are zipping along at 100 knots. Unless of course you're flying a helicopter, then the reverse is true.

Since most likely you'll be at 2000-2500', I'll take along the 70-200, forget the TC, that's too long when you're bouncing aroud. Unless you're equipped with a gyro stabilzator and want to shoot license plates of cars.
Wide angle usually don't work too well in a 172, due to the plexiglass reflection, the wing strut and the main landing gear.
If you're going to shoot at a slant angle, I would take along a good UV filter instead of a polarizer. There's just too much vibrations and movements and too little time in a small plane to fuddle with the polarizer. I usually took along an aggressive UV filter, Tiffen Haze-2A.
Oh, and ask the pilot to fly as slow as safety allows. If you wallow around at 80 knots, you'll have less vibration and more time to compose.

Ken

[neil_r]

Watch out for relections and ask if you can open the door ;)


N

[badrotation]

You may have room the change lenses, but there is usually no time since you are zipping along at 100 knots. Unless of course you're flying a helicopter, then the reverse is true.


Even going at that speed, he will have plenty of time to switch out lenses... the ground will seem like it is barely moving at all... (I am up in the plane ALL the time ;))


And like said above, the plexi-glass can be a problem... all the pictures I take while my buddy and I are out flying, come out with a slight yellowish tint.

I dont have much problems with reflections though, unless it is a very sunny day.

[minicooper]

Hi,

Last year I was sent on a job to go up in an RAF Chinook helicopter (who's squadrons are all are based here on an airbase near our town in the UK) to document how they train around our local area, and the lenses I found most useful were the 17-40 and 28-135 IS. As far as I can remember I had IS turned on, but just made sure my speed was suitably high to compensate for the vibey interior. If anyone doesn't know what a Chinook is, they are the twin rotor coptors which have a huge load space in side and can often be seen with jeeps or canons suspended from the undercarriage. It was a great experience, I was put in a harness and allowed to stand up by the fully open door on the side. Felt quite vulnerable but it was fantastic, and didn't have to worry about glare! Got some nice shots too.

Good luck!

Tom

[neil_r]

You will need to do some post processing, here are a few of my recent pics from a small aircraft taken with either a 17-40 L or an 85 mm

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1781 (http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1781)

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1779 (http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1779)

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1780 (http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1780)

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1778 (http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=1778)

N

[kfong]

Even going at that speed, he will have plenty of time to switch out lenses... the ground will seem like it is barely moving at all...

Well, lets say you can swap lens AND reacquire your object in 15 seconds.
Va of a 172 is about 110 knots, that's 2 miles/minute. By the time you have swapped lens you've travel 0.5 mile. Let's say your altitude is also 2500 AGL =0.5 mile, so by the time you've changed lens what's at an optimum angle in front of you (30-45 degree) will be right abeam of you or right underneath you!
You can fly higher of course but my experience is that 2000' - 2500' AGL is about right for slant angle aerial photography. Plus the fact that on a short hop pilots do not like to climb too high. Burns too much fuel and have to deal with air space changes.

(I am up in the plane ALL the time ;))

I have only a couple of hours in a 172, but over 1000 hours in a 210. When I want to photograph something interesting, I would fly 1.2Vs with 10 degree flaps. While I'll be too busy dancing the rudder to prevent the plane from wallowing too much, the wife will be snapping away.

Ken