Helicopters are Hard

I can't seem to strike a good balance between rotor blur and sharpness. What shutter speeds do you use?

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yeah i could see that being difficult.... i think you did well with it though... i like both shots.

You do have an excellent rotor blur on these. My guess is that you'll have to sacrifice some of that blur for more sharpness on the airframe.

Here are a couple that I shot recently, but there is considerably less rotor blur. I'm thinking I could have slowed the shutter down some more. That balance may be somewhere between my shots and yours .

1/250 f8 ISO100

Every shot is different cause there's too many variables: AC speed, rotor speed, distance, focal length, steadiness of the OP...
Maybe theres a better answer in here:
Airshow guys - prop freeze?

Good points. I should have at least considered the AC speed. In my shots the heli was in a hover. His heli was most likely in forward flight.

Any prop blur is good to me. As long as they are not frozen its good.

Have you tried shooting with gyroscopes? They are not arround much anymore, but you might be able to rent one.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I guess I'll play with shutter speeds to see how fast I can go and still have acceptable rotor blur. The thread PhotosGuy linked made me think about turning off the IS completely-that's something else I can try. Gyroscopes? Wow, lemme Google that one; it sounds interesting!

Use your IS Mode 2 which is meant for panning...

Did you shoot these at Infineon? I think I shot his wingman:
5D + 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS 1/125 @ ISO 100

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They would go where the tripod would. They would spin up and stop any sudden movement and vibrations.

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Now that's what I'm looking for, FlyingPhotog. Nice and sharp with enough blur to say "motion." Mine were shot at the Paso Robles Airport yesterdayat 1/60, while I was trying to shoot the CalFire aircraft. No luck with that, by the way. They were using the far runway and the waves of heat rolling off the tarmac distorted everything I shot. Some days, eh? I'm looking at the gyros from Kenyon. It's a neat little package but I'm afraid I'll still get blur from subject motion.

For helicopters the shutter speed depends on what type of helicopter.
You really don't need too much blur, average is enough, don't sacrifice subject quality over rotor blur.

Examples:-
Bell 212 (Huey) circa 1/30 to 1/125
Chinook - circa 1/125 to 1/200
Lynx or A109 - circa 1/160 to 1/320

Basically, large diameter slow moving rotors need very slow shutter, especially to enable a full disc on the tail rotor, then you are talking about silly speeds. Even 1/30 isn't enough in some cases. This goes for the Bell 212 (Huey).

Chinooks aren't too bad, even though their rotors turn much slower than the usual helicopters, they aren't as slow as the Hueys and you don't have a tail rotor as such to sort out either.

A109s or that category where the rotors are turning extremely fast you can sometimes get away with 1/320.

If the helicopter is coming right at you, then don't bother with rotor blur unless it's taxi-ing. If its in flight coming at you with the rotors head on (in line) then whack it up to 1/500 or above. No rotor blur needed. If its nose down or rotors are pitching down (like during taxy) then use medium shutter (around 1/160)

Razor61 wrote in post #5916126
For helicopters the shutter speed depends on what type of helicopter.
You really don't need too much blur, average is enough, don't sacrifice subject quality over rotor blur.

Examples:-
Bell 212 (Huey) circa 1/30 to 1/125
Chinook - circa 1/125 to 1/200
Lynx or A109 - circa 1/160 to 1/320

Basically, large diameter slow moving rotors need very slow shutter, especially to enable a full disc on the tail rotor, then you are talking about silly speeds. Even 1/30 isn't enough in some cases. This goes for the Bell 212 (Huey).

Chinooks aren't too bad, even though their rotors turn much slower than the usual helicopters, they aren't as slow as the Hueys and you don't have a tail rotor as such to sort out either.

A109s or that category where the rotors are turning extremely fast you can sometimes get away with 1/320.

If the helicopter is coming right at you, then don't bother with rotor blur unless it's taxi-ing. If its in flight coming at you with the rotors head on (in line) then whack it up to 1/500 or above. No rotor blur needed. If its nose down or rotors are pitching down (like during taxy) then use medium shutter (around 1/160)

Nice post.

That's much the same as when a prop plane is in profile. Nobody can get a good blur then, so if you need a "safety shot", use a high shutter speed.Then you can practice blurs at slightly different angles all you want & still have a shot to deliver if you fail.

Great information here. Thanks for the replies!