Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Gary Todoroff wrote: > > > Gary: > > > > interesting reports on your experiences with aerial photography. > > Have you ever used an R8 with Vario-Apo-Elmarit 70-180/2.8 for such use, > > or do you know someone who has? > > Is it a practical thing to do? > > > > Thanks for an insight. > > > > Pascal > > > Thanks for the comment, Pascal. Actually I have only met two people who > have done *any* aerial photography and talked to one other on the phone > recently. Yeah, it will work fine. The biggest problems with the longer lenses in airplane is keeping them out of the wind. I've shot with the 300 and gotten tack sharp images with Velvia, but using a gyro helps enormously, both to minimize micro movements and also the bigger ones that affect framing. Eliminate the lens hood if possible to shorten lens. Just last month I shot lots of stuff from Chopper with an 80-200 doing tight closeups at 200 of people on boat from about 20-30 feet. Sure you miss a few, especially from focus. A push pull zoom is so much faster, though, with everything changing at once--your distance from subject, the framing, height. The two ring zoom without AF is really at a disadvantage here and at $500-700/hr for helicopter you don't want to waste much fooling around. But I do wish I could attach the gyro to the lens rather than the body for better control, though that would eliminate quick lens changes. Recently bought a second gyro, so now can have two cameras stabilized. And you thought Leica was a dangerous habit! donal - -- Donal Philby San Diego www.donalphilby.com