XTi & Helicopters

I'm going on a helicopter adventure.<br>One of the things I'll do during the

trip is shoot a photo or two of my company's mobile equipment & the equipment

operators who will be gathered together for a picnic.<br>

I'll shoot raw files @ I believe ISO 100 using my XTi. I'll probably use a 50

f1.4, a 17-40L or a 70-200 f4L IS -- depending on altitude.<br>

I'll try and position things with the sun behind me, bracketing all my shots +\-

1 stop.<br>

My question is should I worry about vibration?<br>

Does anyone have any other suggestions?<br>

Thanks in advance!

don't bother with bracketing....

since you don't know the light conditions... ajust the iso at the time

100-400 is fine (virtually noise free)

keep the shutter speed above 1/500 to avoid shakes and keep IS turned on.

 

:)

If you'll be shooting through glass (versus an open window or no-door helicopter [which sound terrifying to me]) be sure to bring along a polarizing filter to remove reflections.

Remember to take parachute, polarizing filter, lens hoods and spare memory cards ;)

Will you have the doors off? Highly recommended if you can.

 

Doors off: nothing loose in the cabin (in-flight tail-rotor damage can really ruin your day/life). There will be lots of wind. This means you won't want to change lenses, so I'd stick with the 70-200mm. If you change memory-cards, be *really* careful.

 

Doors on: I'd still stick with the 70-200mm unless you're going to have a multi-hour ride. Reflections will be you biggest enemy. Wear dark (black) clothes. Get the lens close to the window, but don't touch it (vibrations will be really bad); in fact, don't brace the camera or yourself against any part of the helicopter. If you have filters on your lenses, take them off. The serrated front rim will scratch the windows if you accidentally touch them (and make you *very* unpopular with the pilot/owner). Ask the pilot if you can clean the window you'll be sitting next to; the plastic is often very easy to scratch, so you want to get the right stuff to clean it from the pilot or someone associated with the craft (paper-towels are particularly bad).

 

If you're shooting air-to-ground, auto exposure will probably work pretty well. I would leave the LCD review in the histogram mode and occasionally check the histogram to make sure the exposure is working OK.

 

I'd probably use Av mode and start with the lens set to it's "optimum" aperture (probably around f/8). If you can't get a fast enough shutter speed there, play with ISO and opening the lens; 1/500s is OK, but I'd aim for 1/800, esp. above 135mm. Remember, you're balancing image quality due to motion-blur, wide aperture, and ISO noise. Any of the lenses you mention should work very nicely wide open, if you need to work there. Most of the time DOF won't be an issue, so wide open shouldn't be a problem in that respect.

 

Use IS, probably mode 1 (since you probably won't be moving that fast relative to your subject).

 

If you're shooting stationary subjects from a hovering or slowly moving helicopter, I'd use single-shot auto-focus and the center AF point. If either you or the subject is moving, I'd use AF-servo, use all points, and move the focus to the "*" button (C.Fn.4=1). If you use the "*" button and AF-servo, I just find my subject well before I want to shoot and put the center AF point on it, press "*" and hold it down until you're done shooting it. The IS will start, and the AF will lock on and track so all you have to do is frame and shoot. Sometimes the AF will shift away from your subject; if that happens just release the "*", re-center on your subject, and press "*" again.

 

Don't forget the basics (like shooting not shooting directly into the sun). Helicopters are very maneuverable, so if you have any sway with the pilot, he/she can position you almost anyplace you want.

And if you're shooting with the door(s) off - please make doubly-sure that your seatbelt/harness is secure :)

I took a helicopter ride in Kauai a couple of years ago (in the age of film). The doors were off and the belt was secure and as one poster has said, changing film/cards/lenses was pretty much impossible. I used a 28-85 lens and was fairly pleased with the results. I used Fuji MS100/1000 film (asa 800 or 1000 I can't remember) and tried to keep the shutter speeds as high as I could. Vibration is the enemy of good results. The high ISO and the daylight allowed my SLR to record very high shutter speeds with decent depth of field. Have a good time.

Hi Jim

 

I shoot a lot of aerial stuff from fixed wing (that I fly myself and have a safety pilot on board) and helicopters.

 

Here?s my 2 cents worth.

 

If you are shooting from something like a jet ranger helicopter and cant shoot with the doors off, there usually is a sliding DV (Direct Vision) window which you can open. Use this if you can, I usually sit cross legged in the rear, on the floor, of the helicopter on the right (pilot?s side) so he has a similar sideways view to me)

 

Don?t put your lens out the window! The down wash from the rotors will shake the camera. Brace your elbows on your body and this will remove most of the small vibrations. I also don?t use a lens hood as its larger diameter means I have more chance of contacting the frame around the DV window and the buffeting from the airflow passing the window has more of an effect.

 

Set the lens to manual focus, if you are flying above 500 feet, the auto focus just takes time to settle down and lock, I usually tape the manual focus ring on infinity. If you are not confident about manual focus, set to auto focus, single point. It will be fine and you will get good results.

 

Remember the angle you are shooting ? say 45 degrees down ? will cover a lot of ground from the closest point out towards the horizon, so depth of field is something to remember. I try for around f8 as a minimum and adjust the shutter speed/iso to compensate.

 

With an 70-300 IS lens, I can hand hold in a helicopter down to around 125th /s with out any problems. I would opt for your 70-200 f4L IS, this will be fine shooting from 500 to 1000 feet altitude

 

Don?t worry about shooting towards the sun, with the angle you are looking down, shooting in the direction of the sun is not a problem (unless you are shooting 20 story buildings near horizontal from 200 feet altitude)

 

Ask the pilot if he can orbit the target ( ?do a 360?) and shoot all the way round while he orbits, the shadows cast and the direction you capture them can make a huge difference in the final image.

 

Take a couple of wide shots to put the target in context with the surrounding area, then zoom in to the desired final shot sequence. I usually opt to shoot slightly wider than I finally need and fine tune on the computer.

 

If you are in a smaller helicopter and sit up front, make sure you keep your feet away from the rudder pedals ( I know of an incident where the photographer twisted in his seat to get a better shooting position and his right foot slowly put pressure on the left rudder pedal during the course of the flight) Also make sure your camera strap cannot get caught round the collective leaver or joystick. I usually twist the strap around my wrist a couple of times.

 

Also remember, that helicopter pilots like to keep moving forward for safety. There is a correlation between height and forward speed. Below a certain height and below a certain airspeed, autorotation and recovery to a safe landing is not possible. Helicopters require a minimum height and speed to achieve autorotation and pilots don?t like to go below these minimums normally. So don?t ask him to hover!

 

As a Pilot, (fixed wing not rotary) safety of the flight is paramount, and understanding the safety issues faced by the pilot means that you both will be able to get the shots you want.

 

Phil has written a good article in the learning section about aerial photography, have a read through that, it will help a lot.

 

Regards

 

Simon