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Ferrypilot From New Zealand, joined Sep 2006, 877 posts, RR: 2
Posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 875 times:

Can anyone tell me which Canon lens is best or most suitable for air to air photos???

8 replies: All unread, jump to last

JeffM From United States, joined May 2005, 3251 posts, RR: 58
Reply 1, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 837 times:

Quoting Ferrypilot (Thread starter):
Can anyone tell me which Canon lens is best or most suitable for air to air photos???

You would need to give more information such as what kind of plane you will be shooting and from what kind of plane? How far apart will you be? Will the camera/lens combo fit in the space you occupy? I've flown in aircraft less then 5 feet from the one on our wing, and also have shot planes alongside where 400mm isn't enough.

There are many types of air to air shots. There isn't a 'one size fits all' answer.

Jorge1812 From Germany, joined Apr 2004, 3070 posts, RR: 14
Reply 2, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 837 times:

With hardly any experience I would say it's a very wide question. Depends how far you'll get to the planes. If not so far I would suggest the 100-400L or a 300L or bigger. If you can be close to the action you need less zoom.

Georg

Eadster From Australia, joined Jan 2005, 2190 posts, RR: 23
Reply 3, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 811 times:

I've done a good amount of air2air. If the pilots of the aircraft have done formation flying before, then its a lot easier to get the shots. If not, then you'll need a good 400mm lens to get close to the action.

For instance, this was taken with only a 28-80 @ around 70mm!!

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Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Martin Eadie

The guys I fly with practice a lot of formation flying. If this is the case with you, then you won't have any issues.

F4wso From United States, joined Oct 2003, 945 posts, RR: 20
Reply 4, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 5 days ago) and read 695 times:

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Determine the formation spacing then pace it out on the ground to see which focal length is optimum. Don't use a polarizing filter if you will be photographing through the canopy or windscreen.

Hope to see the results uploaded,
Gary
Cottage Grove, MN, USA

Seeking an honest week's pay for an honest day's work

Raptors From United Kingdom (England), joined Mar 2005, 154 posts, RR: 0
Reply 5, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 675 times:

Hi,

Sorry to jump on this topic but I would be interested in asking a similar question. I am taking a flight over an airbase soon at fairly low level so I know my 100-400L IS will be the lens to use, but someone who has already done this advised me to increase the ISO to 400 or 800. I rarely change it from ISO 100 due to the qualtiy/grain issues and I think is was to get a higher shutter speed possibly due to vibrations etc. I am sure with a steady hand and the IS function plus many, many shost I should be ok, but I would like your thoughts on this issue.
Thanks,

Stuart

LOCsta From United States, joined Sep 2006, 270 posts, RR: 11
Reply 6, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 641 times:

Quoting F4wso (Reply 4):
Don't use a polarizing filter if you will be photographing through the canopy or windscreen.

You are talking about the rainbow effect?
like this?
http://myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00837742

Missed 4 chasing 1

Ferrypilot From New Zealand, joined Sep 2006, 877 posts, RR: 2
Reply 7, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 507 times:

Thanks for your responses, ...I have tried this once already about 18 months ago and with little knowledge of cameras. Basically I looked through an old style canon 350 with a fixed 200mm lense(using slide film) and then paced out the optimum range. Then gave camera to my son who flew with the company chief pilot and took photos of me whilst I flew the subject aircraft alongside them in formation. Biggest problem that effected almost all of 108 photo's was camera shake, ...but also some shots were in focus on the nearest wing and the fuselage. But the far most wing was frequently out of focus???
I can fly formation at the range you recommend for the optimum lense???

Ferrypilot From New Zealand, joined Sep 2006, 877 posts, RR: 2
Reply 8, posted (3 years 1 month 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 503 times:

By the way I am talking about light aircraft here with wingspans of less than 50feet.

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