Which lens for flying?

[buckster5]

Hi all

Im off flying with a friend tomorrow in a light aircraft and want to take my camera, but im unsure as to which lens will be best suited. I have an 18-55mm and 55-200mm. Im of the mindset that the 18-55 will probably best because I will be able to get more into the image (for want of a better expression), but i think the 55-200 would be good to photgraph things of interest on the ground. Any thoughts?

Also, would you advise having my cpl fitted to the lens in use or just a uv filter?

Ultimately i will have both lenses with me, but i wondered what the more experienced togs out there would consider the better of the two.

Thanks in advance for your replies

 

[simonkit]

I'm not exactly experienced when it comes to flight photography but recently took a trip over Anglesey here in North Wales - used my 55-300 to catch these shots. The potential problem I guess with a wide lens is that you may end up with aircraft structure in your shots

The polariser may be tricky to use (I didn't) as it's difficult to control your orientation to the sun, you'll also lose a couple of stops which may be a problem as depending on light conditions you may need a high iso.

Just a couple of thoughts based on my very limited experience

Simon

 

[WP-UK]

When I went flying I used a telephoto to get more detail on the ground, sometimes even using it at 70mm which from that height was enough to get a good shot without the aircraft in the shot. I was lucky and had a small open window, depends if you have that to save refelction

 

[buckster5]

Thanks for the advise guys. Simon, did u do any editing of your images or is that how they were straight out of the camera? Only reason I ask is because as of yet I do not have any software (or a computer for that matter). I usually have to pester my mrs to let me get on her laptop to review them, but thats about all I can do at the min.

Cheers

 

[simonkit]

Thanks for the advise guys. Simon, did u do any editing of your images or is that how they were straight out of the camera? Only reason I ask is because as of yet I do not have any software (or a computer for that matter). I usually have to pester my mrs to let me get on her laptop to review them, but thats about all I can do at the min.

Cheers

I always shoot in RAW format so the shots have had some editing but mainly because they were taken on a bright summer day so I've tweaked them slightly to remove some haze - that shouldn't be such a problem this time of year though so hopefully you should be able to get decent .jpgs which don't need editing