Airiel shots

Dangermouse

Dangermouse

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We have the opportunity to fly in a Cessna next weekend as a favour from a friend so whats the best lens for us both to use and at what settings

Lenses are 70-300 f5.6 70-210 f3.5apo siggy 24-200 f3.5 or 18mm wides
 
No idea about a Cesnna in terms of vibration etc but I've done a couple of shoots from a helicopter and with that I used auto ISO and set my shutter speed to 1/500 min. Although having said that once light levels dropped I used shutter speeds as low as 1/125 and got reasonable results, but then in a helicopter you can hover whereas in a plane your on the move so you need faster speeds to counter that movement too. So, bring your fastest lenses to help get your shutter speeds up. I rented a Gyro for the second shoot, £100 for the day and will help massively (although I used one for my second shoot, the shoot itself was not very successful for other reasons) for getting sharper shots at low shutter speeds. Also, I'd take a wide angle and a zoom so that you can get in lots of the ground below but also zoom in to pick out small details and patterns that would otherwise get overlooked.

Also, try not to touch the plane with the camera or have your arms touching the plane (so no resting against it to brace yourself), just your bum on the seat and feet on the floor are all that should be touching the plane, the more that touches it, the more vibration you'll see through the viewfinder. If your shooting through an open window don't stick the camera out the window as you'll have the wind blowing you about - if your shooting through a window, wear all black to help cut out reflections of yourself and if the windows are plastic don't use a polarizer as it will show up stress marks in the plastic.

You can see a bit of a write up on mine here, might help, might not :)
 
Richard Peters said:
No idea about a Cesnna in terms of vibration etc but I've done a couple of shoot from a helicopter and with that I used auto ISO and set my shutter speed to 1/500 min. Although having said that once light levels dropped I used shutter speeds as low as 1/125 and got reasonable results, but then in a helicopter you can hover whereas in a plane your on the move so you need faster speeds to counter that movement too.

You can see a bit of a write up on mine here, might help, might not :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Richard what lens should we be using as we are going over the Humber bridge and would like to get it right, the long lenses or wides to capture it all
 
With a wide lens you'll get the wing strut in the shot and maybe the wheel in some. Most of my pictures shot in a Cessna on a full frame 5D with a 24-105 are in the 60 to 100 range to exclude aeroplane parts. I've been up too long to work out what that is on a smaller sensor. My shutter speed in bright conditions was 1600 and 800 ISO. You'll get a wider shot if you're in the front seat looking rearwards. The Cessna that I flew in had crappy tinted windows at the rear so those sat in the back could only get forward shots.

Put the lens close to the window but hold it off with your fingers, wrapping them round and using them to shield out reflections.

Keep the non-viewfinder eye open while shooting and use it to watch the horizon and general view. It will help stop you getting airsick - a big risk if you're looking just through a viewfinder.
 
on most Cessnas you can open the passenger window
it folds up and latches under the wing
it does increase the noise but removes the very iffy (plastic) window from the picture path
you'll almost certainly be wearing a headset so the noise won't be a problem

MAKE SURE THE CAMERA IS SECURELY FIXED TO YOUR FAVOURITE BODY PART

a) it's an expensive bit of kit to throw out the window
b) it's a heavy bit of kit if it lands on someone

you'll be sitting on the right as planes are flown from the left seat

Where you flying from?
 
mmcp42 said:
on most Cessnas you can open the passenger window
it folds up and latches under the wing
it does increase the noise but removes the very iffy (plastic) window from the picture path
you'll almost certainly be wearing a headset so the noise won't be a problem

MAKE SURE THE CAMERA IS SECURELY FIXED TO YOUR FAVOURITE BODY PART

a) it's an expensive bit of kit to throw out the window
b) it's a heavy bit of kit if it lands on someone

you'll be sitting on the right as planes are flown from the left seat

Where you flying from?
Click to expand...

We will be flying from sandtoft and along the east coast to spurn point and landing back at sandtoft
 
prob best to wait for the blizzards to clear
although aerial shots of snow scenes can be quite stunning!

look forward to seeing some pics!
 
Also if you're flying with the window open be wary of the fuel smell. I spent 30 minutes going round and round in circles over Liverpool to end up feeling very ill.
 
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