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Re: [OM] OT: To Ken? Fly and shoot exprience

Subject: Re: [OM] OT: To Ken? Fly and shoot exprience
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2018 09:02:07 -0800
Cc: Olympus Camera Discussion <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, hcummer@xxxxxxxxx
>From a camera gear perspective, I've been mostly shooting with zooms
in the normal wide to telephoto range. Full-frame focal-length
equivalents of 28mm to 85mm. Any wider and you're constantly getting
wings, landing gear, struts and other bits and bobbles in the picture.
Also, with wider lenses you get increased DoF and this means that
dirt, scratches and reflections on the windows will show up in the
pictures.When you get beyond short-telephoto, there are two problems
that come up. One is vibration and movement and the other is the close
quarters of a small airplane. Keep in mind that you are likely going
to be shooting through the plexiglass, so there will be image
degradation that will effect long focal lengths too. But having a long
zoom on a second camera for select shots is handy.

Several practical considerations:
1. Keep the camera/lens combination as small as possible. Don't plan
on changing lenses in flight as it is pretty cramped and you are
likely to miss things as you are distracted.

2. If you are sitting in the front seat, I do recommend removing the
camera strap. The last thing you want is to get tangled up in the
control wheel. If you only keep the strap around your neck and don't
get too creative with positioning, you can keep the strap on, but
otherwise, do everybody a favor and remove the strap. In the back
seat? Keep the strap on.

3. Rubber lens shades. BIG rubber lens shades. This is probably the
most valuable accessory you can have. Not only does it help protect
the plexiglass from scratches, but it blocks the reflections from
inside the airplane from showing up in the pictures. Depending on the
rubber lens shades, you can use them to loosely press against the
windows but still maintain some mechanical isolation. Which leads to
point 4.

4. Vibration. Airplanes and helicopters have a lot of vibration. Some
more than others. But even a very smooth running airplane will have
some vibration that you won't notice until you touch the camera
against the window frame and you feel it in the camera grip. Let your
body absorb the vibration. I find that I can stabilize myself against
the plane at the shoulder and if the airplane is smooth, there is
enough vibration absorption in my arm to take care of it. But in a
helicopter or a plane with even the slightest propeller misbalance and
even that won't be enough so you want to keep the shoulder isolated
from the aircraft too.

5. I haven't verified with current testing (yet, but may yet this
week), but I think a UV filter on the lens may help balance out the
blues.

6. For every picture you want, take several. As a general rule I
always take a "safety shot" or two extra and this definitely saved
more than a few pictures.

7. Don't bother shooting through the windshield unless there is
something specific you are trying to get. Those windows have a lot of
distortion (and bugs) and are anything but clear.

8. There are three flight options to consider: Fly with a friend. Fly
with a "Flightseeing" operator, or call up the local FBO and rent an
airplane and pilot for a couple of hours. Chances are that they have a
reasonably fresh Cessna 172 that will serve purpose well and they
always have instructor pilots who will gladly rack up a couple more
hours of flight time as they build towards a career in flying.

-- 
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
-- 
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