aerial photography, with or without Kenyon Gyro-Stabilizer

i am getting ready to do some aerials (from a helicopter) in the next month or so and wanted some feedback about the absolute need for a Kenyon Gyro Stabilizer, particularly with the Mamiya 7. I have used the Kenyon in the past so I am familiar with it. Thanks ...

The first question I have is why a Helicopter? Unless you need to

get very low level shot close to buildings, my personal preference is

a single engine light plane with a high wing, such as a Cessna.

 

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From your post, I don't know if you've shot areials previously, but

here's a few of my thoughts on the subject which may be helpful to

others reading this forum.

 

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Any aircraft has some vibration, and helicopters hac a lot. Make

sure that you never rest your arms or any part of the camera on any

part of the aircraft.

 

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Discuss the planned series of shots with the pilot before you take

off. He or she can often make some sugestions as to what may make

the job easier.

 

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All pilots must be able to execute a manuever known as "turns about a

point" where you maintains a constant distance from a point on the

ground. I was required to do this during my primary flight training.

 

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At the position where you are ready to take the picture(s), the pilot

and slip to the inside of the turn and this will minimize the

effective motion of the aircraft. This is possible with either fixed

wing or rotary wing (helicopter) aircraft.

 

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If shooting from a helicopter, make sure that the sun position with

respect to the shooting position doesn't cause refections or shadows

from the rotor blades which will degrade the photograph.

 

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Feel free to email me for more info.

 

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Gene

 

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eapallat@oriondata.com

 

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eapallat@forensicpix.com

Ellis, let me add another good rule to follow -- this one especially for helicopter photography, although it applies to fixed wing craft too. I was instructed by a good ex Air Force photographer to take some tape along to tape the focus down so that the vibrations don't alter the focus while flying along. I didn't take the guy seriously, and sure enough the vibrating craft altered my focus on one of the most important shots of the day. In fact, I ended up with a series of 3 or 4 that were out of focus because I didn't slap a bit of tape on the lens to anchor it on infinity. Since that time I have not made the same error. Others, sure, but not that one.

I do quite a few aerials and recently purchased a used (& then had Ken Lab rebuild it) Ken Lab KS-4 unit, which I love. I still loupe a sampling if my processed film to check for "smears" or other signs of movement, and rarely find any that are "klinkers". I use a Pentax 67 with a series of 6 focal length lenses (55 through 300mm) for aerials and I can say the most problematic is the longest lens (which I suspect may actually be taped at infinity that is PAST where my subject is), so if I use this one I use faster film and a higher f stop to "clean up" any focus problems, otherwise the gyro does a great job. I have had shorting problems on a job (where the gyro didn't work), and I felt quite vulnerable to movement, just by the "feel" of the camera without the stabilizer. I do however feel the KS-4 is probably a bit too small for the bulk of the camera and will probably switch to a KS-6 at some point. The KS-4 and camera combo is quite a heavy handful already and the larger gyro will be an even heavier handful.

 

Skot Weidemann, SWeidemann@aol.com

It's years later from the original post above, but I am still a believer in the gyro stabilizer and recently moved up to a new Ken Lab KS-6 kit. The unit is much heavier, bulkier, and the battery gets drained more quickly, it's a handful. I am however glad I moved up and don't worry much about any movement problems. I felt the move up was necessary since I'm now using longer lenses than before since I'm using a Canon full frame digital with long range zooms instead of the fixed focal lengths of the Pentax 6x7. Changing from horizontal to vertical format is quite awkward and I haven't got all the mounting situations worked out yet. (I have yet to try mounting the gyro on the dedicated tripod mounting plate of the Canon zoom lenses.) Carry on!

A followup on the KS6 gyro:

 

In using the KS6 gyro, I have put together a good system for using

Canon zooms (70-200mm L & 100-400mm L). Since the lens/camera combination is quite long and heavy, I mount the gyro on the tripod mount of the lens (by using a RRS plate on the t-pod mount), which allows rotating the body only for verticals while still keeping the heavyish gyro on the bottom of the handfull of equipment. Incidently, though the gyro adds much stability because of the gyroscopic effect, the sheer weight of the unit adds stability of it's own.

pl tell if Canon IS or Nikon VR are helpful? Particularly Nikon VR Active mode which is said for moving vehicles?