Air to Air Formation Flying - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

04/04/2007 02:13:42 PM · #1

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has done any air to air formation shooting, particularly aerobatic flying. Going to do a test flight with just 2 planes probably on Sunday, then 4 planes later in the month, they have trained to fly 10 and 20 feet of each other, even inverted. I'll be in an RV4 (whatever happened to the Cessna 152 that was the original plan!! :-)) The RV4 is a pretty cramped place to shoot from my thought was to bring both 30 and 20D, 24-70 for most things, 70-200 from further away--the 70-200 has image stabilization. No room for lens hoods probably and if the doors are off fuggedaboudit. The others are in Pitts Specials and an S2C, should be very pretty in terms of color.

Will probably have to shoot from the S2C at some point, also.

Question: I didn't have any nausea flying in the RV4 doing aerobatics, did feel the Gs of course which is kinda tough on my old neck. Would you imagine with a camera plastered onto my face that it would be any different and if so, any remedy you'd recommend? I'm imagining that polarizers are gonna be necessary. Looks like mornig light for the first shoot. I think I'd rather have cheap polarizers over my spendy UV haze BWs or at least some kind of protection like clear glass.

If the 24-70 isn't wide enough, maybe I can hunt down somebody's 10-22 for the next time. But no IS in that one either.

They're expecting me to "direct" to some extent, two of the pilots are photographers, the one probably ferrying me on Sunday even has an aerial photo biz, so they at least have a clue about light.

It will be an adventure, in any case!

swankFoto

Fujifilm X-E1

04/04/2007 02:16:27 PM · #2

I have absolutely no advice for you :P
But... I am excited to see and hear of your experience.
Please post a follow-up.

Strikeslip

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

04/04/2007 02:50:20 PM · #3

THAT... is cool!
:-O

Mr_Pants

SiPix Blink

04/04/2007 02:54:18 PM · #4

Originally posted by rswank:

I have absolutely no advice for you :P
But... I am excited to see and hear of your experience.
Please post a follow-up.

No advice from me, either, but I can't wait to see some pics. This sounds just so cool.

You might just want something wider than 24mm if the 'planes are that close, though. If this is a 'test' flight, then you'll get a good idea of where you need to go.

I'm insanely jealous, of course.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

04/04/2007 03:34:58 PM · #5

What's even cooler is that the full shoot is a paid gig. They figure if I can shoot high action in horses, dogs, people that I can handle this. I even flew two loops in the RV4,and the second one was technically correct! The most fun is takeoffs and landings in that front seat with someone I trust flying the thing. The Pitts are single seat, Lamborghinis compared to the Miata/RV4.

It's a good thing there's no budget for buying a new fast wide IS lens, any excuse, eh? I guess the other thing would be to have a full frame camera so that the field with the 24 would be wider. Hmmm/thinkin' of friends with 5Ds. Or even a Mark II with 1.3 mag.

Mr_Pants

SiPix Blink

04/04/2007 03:40:12 PM · #6

All this and getting paid for it too.

Is there a level of jealousy above 'insane'?

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

04/04/2007 03:42:52 PM · #7

If you're able to shoot through an open window, definitely do it. I've shot from small planes before where the windows are curved enough to make part of the shot a bit funky.

If you're shooting through a window, just make yourself very aware of whether or not the window has a dramatic curve to it. This caused me some trouble last time I took a ride in a little Cessna.

I'd pick a medium-ish aperture -- one that allows you to shoot at a fast shutter speed, but small enough that your focusing will still be on the mark.

Definitely sounds like fun -- I'm jealous!

Message edited by author 2007-04-04 15:44:17.

weegi70

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital ED

04/05/2007 12:55:55 AM · #8

From what ive seen. light levels seem to be a little bit higher when your at altitude. (ive only done this once for a high school project. i was also trying to fly the plane and get a perfect shot with my schools supplied SLR camera(manual everything). so my hands were full, but i found i was shooting at about 1/640 or 1/800 and i think my apature was aprox f18 or higher. (this was quite some time ago.)) This was also above the clouds so i had a Bright blue sky and a white layer below me... but i suggest bringing along a wide lense, and just incase somthing with a bit of zoom. (sometime the perfect picture is close. but not close enough...)

Needless to say, my settings were much higher than i had initially anticipated. and i would be suprised if it was different for you.

PhantomEWO

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

04/05/2007 12:59:06 AM · #9

I think you really need to reconsider. I'm sure it will be very scary and you indeed may get deathly ill. I would hate that on anyone .... so give me a call, I'de be happy to sacrifice myself and sit in your place ... after all what are dpc friends for ;)

jdannels

Nikon D300s

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

04/05/2007 01:15:54 AM · #10

To help yourself, maybe not with nausea but with lightheadedness from tons of sharp turns forcing strong G forces, flex your legs. The lightheadedness is caused by the g-forces literally forcing the blood from the top of your body down. Flexing your legs as tight as you can will counteract the blood being forced down by the extra g's and help you keep blood and oxygen for your head. :)

04/05/2007 12:09:13 PM · #11

Thanks so much for the flexing advice. These planes aren't very big, and I'm wearing a parachute to take up even more space. There was only one manuever last time that made my vision go black for a couple of seconds, but for the next two days on the ground my equilibrium was a little "different". Of course we got out of the plane and trotted right off to breakfast at the airport, and I chose to eat a patty melt.

Thanks for the offers to help me out, hehehe--hey, maybe I'm too old for this! I used to be a complete idiot about having to have the window seat to shoot from the air on commercial planes, including float planes in Alaska, so I'm digging the curvature tips. Old stuff here and in another in that category, Alaskan shots.

Hopefully we'll get good light for this first trial sortie, to get me set with lenses, angles, etc. Sounds like our full shoot will be on the 29th. Nice of them to fly up here, we'll be doing it over our reservoir, such rulez about aerobatics not happening over a populated area.