‘Best’ focal length for aerial photography

[Ricard0]

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Once again, I am looking for advice from the assembled years of experience here in LUF.   

Next week I will be taking a helicopter trip from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. I only have room for a single body / lens combination so I’m looking for recommendations on the best focal length lens to mount on my M11.  I MAY be able to bring one additional lens but probably not. Options are:

28 Elmarit

35 ‘lux

50 ‘lux

50 ‘cron

90 macro

I suspect the 35 would be the most flexible but since this is likely the only time I will have this opportunity i really want to maximize my chances of getting some great shots, both from in the air and on the ground.

Thanks,

Rich Cook

 

[spydrxx]

Given the expansive nature of the canyon I'd suggest the 28. On my first visit years ago all I had was a 35, and IMHO it wasn't wide enough to capture the grandeur I sought. I also reflect hiking some of Alaska's glaciers and flying over them in a helo with a 35....again I wish I had something wider to realistically portray the expansiveness. The 35 worked fine in the area around Sedona in their red rock countryside. IMHO 35 wasn't wide enough for Bryce canyon  either, but was fine for Zion. Enjoy your trip.

[wda]

I would take your 28 mm Elmarit, which can be cropped as needed later.

[RexGig0]

My photography experience*, from within helicopters, was in an environment completely different from the Grand Canyon, was at night, and was with DSLR equipment, but I will offer some thoughts:

When shooting informal, hand-held landscapes, when on foot, or inside a terrestrial vehicle, I often prefer to use a telephoto, to get an interesting piece of the landscape. If I am the one driving, however, I normally keep a 35mm lens in place, for the versatility.

A 21mm, 24mm, 25mm, 28mm, or 35mm lens allows me to quickly focus by using the distance and DOF scales, on the lens, rather than using the rangefinder. For getting images of subjects both inside and outside the helicopter, this may be useful.

The most interesting part of the trip may well be the people with whom you are flying. This means documentary images and informal environmental portraits may be a priority. For me, this means 35mm would be desirable. Others may prefer 28mm. Inside a relatively small MD 500 helicopter, any telephoto is going to be too long to get meaningful images of people. Larger helicopters may well be different, in that regard. 

If the helicopter is being flown with the doors closed, reflections may well be a significant factor. Modern coatings, and lens hoods, can help mitigate this. Perhaps a polarizing filter could be useful. 

I hope that others who have actually over-flown the Grand Canyon will soon provide more-specific information. Have a wonderful trip!

*My helicopter photography experience was in an urban setting, at night, in MD 500 helicopters, with the doors closed. A 50mm lens was a bit short, for what I was doing. I quickly bought a weather-sealed 100mm lens, with Image Stabilization, which I had already been wanting to buy, anyway. This turned out to be better, for images of people and vehicles on the ground, to help public officials plan for crowds and traffic, near venues that would be popular with sports fans during an upcoming college basketball championship tournament. Fortunately, I was not paying for the flight time, because these were police helicopters, and I was on special assignment, so the less-helpful 50mm images did not cost me anything. During uncommitted patrol time, the pilot would fly over areas I was to photograph, at 500 to 600 feet above the ground. 50mm and 100mm were both useful for general urban/cityscape images I captured, for myself, but flat Coastal Plain is far different from canyon country, in the southwestern USA. I do remember wishing that I had a 135mm, for my personal city-scape images.