hi im shooting from a helicopter for the first time and thinking of taking my mamiya 645 afd2 and P25. i will be shooting mid day with full sun...curious to know your experiences with needed AV/TV to stop movement and get some DOF. ISO 50 in full sun should give me 125 @F8, which should work for everything.... i will be shooting an exterior of a home, i will probably use my 80 or 150mm lenses. i really hate to take the back off iso 50. thanks

everything below 1/500 without gyro is probably unsharp. with 80mm you should go to - at least - 1/1000. dont know the mamiya lenses and how they perform full open. but thats the best way to go if the lens is sharp undr that condition.

i use the sinar m usually with e75 back, but i shoot always parallel with a canon 5d.
with image stabilized lenses you have a much easier job ...

also it depends on the type of heli. as more rotor blades he has as less fibrations.
with full sun you should be fine with 1/500 @ f4 ( with e.g, 50mm lens ) and with a 80mm with 1/1000 with f2,8,- @ iso80.
forget the 150mm lens.

why you dont rent a dsmk3? i dont see the sense to take a p25.

In my opinion, medium format digital is a non-starter for aerial work. I recently flew more than 8 hours in a helicopter over the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and on really sunny late afternoon sessions I would be at ISO 800, 1/1000 to 1/1500 at f/4.5 to about 5.6. I refuse to shoot during the middle of the day, so I am obviously going to get less light in the last few hours of direct sunlight. If there was even a hint of clouds, my ISO would be at 1000 or 1250, hoping for at least 1/500 speeds.

if you are serious about shooting aerials with a MFDB setup, you really really need a gyro from Kenyon Labs. You need to cap your ISO at 100 or 200 on your back, and see what you can get shooting wide open. My personal slowest shutter speed target is at least 1/1000, but I tend to fly low, meaning my subjects are moving faster relative to my camera position than if I were flying higher up.

Michael and I will be back in the delta doing aerial work with our workshop in September, and I am giving through to bringing my Mamiya outfit with a P30. I will only consider it if I also bring a stabilizer. I am not sure it is worth it, since my 1DsMk3 is much easier to handle, has better higher ISO characteristics and has more zoom lens options for better framing of my subjects.

i was probably thinking of taking my canon 1d mk2, 8MP will do and AI servo AF would be nice.

ohh...i found a way to get a P25, its my ferarri when a cheap toyota will do any job (my canon). not too big of a fan of the high MP DSLRs personally, renting a 1ds3 would be the way to go but i dont any budget for gear i believe if i do i would use if for the interior shots for a lens for my cambo WDS.

its a small 2 seater heli, pilot and me, that small! thats most likely, could also do 3 passenger+pilot heli but its more expensive, i think they are 2-4 blades on the mail rotor.

BTW, when do you want to use a small plane vs heli... range? windspeed is higher though...

thanks

BTW, when do you want to use a small plane vs heli... range? windspeed is higher though...

thanks

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The small plane is problematic- it will bounce around more in the wind and will be much harder to repeat shots once you have them lined up as the pilot will find it harder to circle to the same spot and it will take longer.

The small plane is cheaper (much cheaper) - I have used a microlight (really cheap) - 2 seater for personal work where I could not justfy the expense of a chopper. When it's for a client though I insist on a helicopter. Also over cities choppers can work much better in restricted airspaces...

Shutter speed - I have managed out of a chopper with 1/250 but that was not every frame sharp and remember not to lean on the edge of the cabin to minimize vibrations. 1/500 is really the minimum then go up iso or underexpose and pull it up later (all that extra shadow detail in the MFDB can be useful at the extremes).

Murray