Pleasure flight anyone?

[Hagar]

They're running helicopter pleasure trips from the beach about 5 minutes walk from where I live this weekend. I popped down there on my way back from the airport & took a few shots. I put this little montage together to show how organised the operation is. They're not in sequence as I took them over several trips from different locations. Even I can't run quite that fast.

Here she comes.










Hands up who wants to be a helicopter pilot.

[ozzy72]

I'm surprised you didn't go for a quick spin Doug

[Hagar]

You must be joking Ozzy old chap. They would have to pay ME considerably more than

[eno]

[Mr. Bones]

hey Hagar...nice photos man! i know that taking pictures of helicopters isn't easy, especially not at 480mm...but if you can get close to them like here, why don't you try a longer shutter speed? the blades will look more blurred and not freezed. if it's an prop plane you can go to 1/200sec but with helo's, i try to use something like 1/60 of 1/100

[Craig.]

Fantastic shots Doug.
Ken with helicopters i have found that you dont need more than 1/125th second for most 2 bladed choppers and 1/250 for 4 blades. However i believe Dougs camera like mine uses an automatic shutter speed and wont allow longer exposures (correct me if i am wrong there). Been a long time since i have had a chance to photograph helicopters, kind of miss it as they are so much more fun to experiment with

[Hagar]

[quote]

[Craig.]

Hi Doug
I was recently speaking to Ken(Rifleman) about this. And i have come to the conclusion that at night if i dont use the flash or when its dark the camera will have a longer exposure. But during the good light situations it will always use the quickest exposure time it thinks nessicary. I dont know if using the flash during the day will change that, is that what your on about?? i will have to experiment with it a little more.

[Hagar]

Hi Doug
I was recently speaking to Ken(Rifleman) about this. And i have come to the conclusion that at night if i dont use the flash or when its dark the camera will have a longer exposure. But during the good light situations it will always use the quickest exposure time it thinks nessicary. I dont know if using the flash during the day will change that, is that what your on about?? i will have to experiment with it a little more.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I'm still experimenting & switched the flash off for those close-up aerial shots I took at Shoreham recently. Not sure if it made any difference or not but I was pleased with the results. :-/

Ken knows a lot more about this than I do.