Lenses for flightseeing

[kochleffel]

Replies here were very helpful, a couple of years ago, when I asked about lenses for an Alaska trip. The trip is finally taking place, and I have a more specific question about lens selection for a sightseeing flight (Misty Fjords).

 

The flight operator recommended bringing a wide-angle lens. Would I also want a telephoto lens and, if so, moderately long or the longest that I have?

 

Also, what about shooting through a window? The DSLR I'm using doesn't have a through-glass mode. My only camera that has that is a waterproof compact camera with digital zoom equivalent to 25–100 mm. The DSLR wide-angle lens goes a little wider, to the equivalent of 18 mm.

[Gardyloo]

What do you plan to do with your pictures?  Enlargements for the wall, posting on social media, photo album...?  Assuming your camera offers a few million pixels (say 6m or more) you can probably crop most wide-angle shots to concentrate on some feature in the picture, without losing very much detail, at least to the naked eye.  Remember too that flights can be choppy, so a telephoto image runs the risk of being blurred by movement, while the wide angle shot will be less so.  

[Crew News]

FWIW you can have the most expensive lens but you will be shooting through an aircraft window with much less quality.  As the aircraft turns, the sun will be a real problem so hope for a cloudy day.  A strong polarizer will provide some help as long as you keep your lens perpendicular to the window.   Test your technique and accessories by shooting through your closed car window.

 

As stated above, a long telephoto will be hard to stabilize when you are twisted around in your seat to point the lens out the window beside you.  This translates to motion blur.  I would choose a medium zoom lens that offers wide angle with a zoom capability.  Take lots of photographs and hope you get a few decent ones.

[kochleffel]

3 hours ago, Gardyloo said:

What do you plan to do with your pictures?  Enlargements for the wall, posting on social media, photo album...?  Assuming your camera offers a few million pixels (say 6m or more) you can probably crop most wide-angle shots to concentrate on some feature in the picture, without losing very much detail, at least to the naked eye.  Remember too that flights can be choppy, so a telephoto image runs the risk of being blurred by movement, while the wide angle shot will be less so.  

 

2 hours ago, Crew News said:

I would choose a medium zoom lens that offers wide angle with a zoom capability.  Take lots of photographs and hope you get a few decent ones.

 

3 hours ago, Crew News said:

As the aircraft turns, the sun will be a real problem so hope for a cloudy day.  A strong polarizer will provide some help as long as you keep your lens perpendicular to the window.

Thanks for the replies! Mostly social media, possibly an enlargement or two but not to enormous size.

 

I'm thinking that I'll take just the wide-angle and the all-purpose zoom lenses. The latter zooms from mildly wide (28 mm equiv) to mildly telephoto (84 mm). Will try with a polarizing filter.

[zackiedawg]

Other small considerations - you'll want to get the lens as close as possible to the window glass (or plexiglass) - if you use a lens hood, you can press that against the glass which will help get rid of unwanted reflections - and also, the closer the glass is to the lens, the less the small imperfections, stains, etc will be picked up by the camera and affect the image quality.

 

Another good tip - wear a black shirt with no logos or prints.  When shooting through glass, you'll often get strong reflections of whatever's behind the camera - if you wear a light colored shirt or stripes, you'll often see them very clearly in your shot.  If you use a dark shirt, it won't be as reflective and won't create any color casts in the shot, and you can use the 'reflection' of your black shirt to shoot through - it makes almost a 'hole' in the glass with no reflection.

 

Keep your shutter speeds higher than normal, to cope with the vibrations, motion of the aircraft, etc.  The non-optical-quality aircraft windows will likely cost you an F-stop or two as well, so the shutter speeds may drop more than you'd expect in bright sunlight if you've set a lower ISO - you'd probably want to make sure you're using around 1/1000 shutter speed or so - you may get away with less, especially as the lens gets wider, but in general, the higher shutter speed should help counter any vibrations or motion.

 

[kochleffel]

Thanks. It's in Ketchikan, Alaska, so I'll almost certainly be wearing a rain jacket, no choice of color at this point, but the jacket is fairly dark.

 

Advice on the Intertubes is all over the place. Some articles advise using a polarizing filter and others warn against it because the effect of the window is unpredictable. I guess it's a matter of trying both ways. Some advise using a wide aperture to reduce the depth of field, which would also permit a faster shutter speed, along with manual focus to avoid auto-focusing on the glass; it took me a long time to find the manual-focus setting.

[Re-tired]

A flexible rubber lens hood is best because it will not pick up all of the vibrations if pressed against the window and it will reduce the possibility of reflections from your clothes..  Also, keep your upper body away from the aircraft, i.e. don't lean on the side or brace your arm against the aircraft.  Be prepared for a strange color cast with the pictures.  Tinted plastic windows play havoc with white balance.  And don't spend some much time taking pictures that you don't get to enjoy the ride and scenery...

[peety3]

When I did a bear watch out of Ketchikan, I had the freedom to take three cameras but had to stow my third camera and 600 in the luggage area while in transit. The telephoto was of minimal use. 24-70 was likely the perfect choice start to finish.

[framer]

FF equivalent 28mm prime is nice from the air.  1/1000 or better, where dark shirt/jacket.

 

A sml prime lets you move easier.  35mm is 2nd choice.  Wider lens makes mountain look too small not natural. 

 

Only if you want to take a picture of an object IE. boat, house, car do you need a teli. 

 

Many Cessna aircraft, high wing have windows that can be opened all the way.