aerial photography

I have the opportunity to shoot a "walk for cancer research" event from a light airplane in a few weeks. Do any of you have experience in this type of shoot? I'm wondering about lens selection and any other tips you may have.

70-300 on 50d and if you take the other body 100-400. but then again it all depend on how high you'll be. And i would shoot FAST (as in like sports style).

I would keep your shutter speed pretty high - you will be travelling pretty fast by comparison to the runners so will need the speed to avoid motion blur.

If you are shooting out the door, make sure your camera is VERY secure.

I would take both cameras and put your 17-55 on one for wide crowd scenes (mass start?) and one of your longer ones for picking out individuals. I would guess you would want to be shooting fairly low and at a fairly long focal length to avoid just seeing the tops of everyones heads.

Just an opinion - never done a shoot like this so I can only speculate.

James

When you are talking light airplane, are you talking about a plane that can carry you and your camera, or are you talking about a plane that is just big enough to carry your camera and is remotly controlled. I have logged a lot of hours fly rc planes with camera, and you can find some examples here. http://www.mimlitch.co​m/aerial Btw, all photos were taken with an SD750 that I bought for $25 I am starting to work on a plane that can carry an my powershot pro1.

I'd be glad to help you in any way I can.

I'll be in a light plane, just me and the pilot. A fellow photog with some experience in this area suggested using my 24-105 at F8 and 1/2000 shutter speed, so we'll see how it goes next Friday.

The thing that's important is to try to isolate yourself from the vibration of the aircraft. Keep your butt slightly off the seat when shooting and elbows off the airframe. Only your feet should be firmly on the floor and your thighs as lightly as possible on the seat. As already said focal length will depend on altitude and desired field of view. Shutter speed can be as low as 500th of a second with the 24-105, it should be higher for longer lenses.

Equipment for Aerial Photos

I would use the 100-400. You won't be flying low enough to use the 24-105. I would throw the 17-55 on the other body and get some shots of the pilot and aircraft.