Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]You're all giving me withdrawal symptoms to get back up in those beautiful Dolphin helicopters again! The two flights last month were beauties - one down to Pt Arena (remember Mel Gibson in "Forever Young" landing his bomber there?) to shoot the light house; then over Humboldt Bay and Table Bluff to take shots of the 87' cutter Barracuda as it crashed thru heavy seas into the sunset, and we hovered about 25 feet over the water. Two more projects are being planned for sometime soon. For safety the Dolphin is great. With retractable gear, there are no wheels or skids in the way.So I sit strapped into the flight mechanic's seat and have an unobstructed view - just have to be careful not to get the rotors in the shot when using the 21mm. Regarding vibration, the helicopter is worse than the Cessna 182 that I sometimes shoot from. But the helicopter rotors smooth out the flight very nicely in choppy air, while the Cessna wings transfer all the bounces to the occupants. (I shot the length of the Mad River - 350 photos - while lying down and pointing the camera out the open Cessna baggage door, and was a foot off the floor a couple times in turbulence - ouch!) However, where I have had to attach a Hasselblad ELM to the aircraft for vertical photographs, the helicopter transfers more actual vibration to photo. (Also to my bladder, which seems to be perfectly synchronized to the resonant frequency!) With Hassey and Aerochrome, I am usually shooting at 1/500 (top speed) at f8 in sunshine. The outside Cessna camera mount is very well damped (and is sometimes *dampened* by a small cloud we pass thru - whoops, that was another thread!). At 2000 feet with the 80mm lens, I have been able to see the shadows on the ground cast by two inch wide fence stakes - probably the limit of film and lens. The resolution is less with the helicopter, mainly because the Coast Guard frowns on drilling holes, etc to make vibration proof mounts - touchy, touchy. However, most of the photos have been done as stereo pairs, with about 60% overlap on two shots of the same area. Looking thru a stereoscope eliminates a lot of the fuzziness. I came up with a term, "residual sharpness", for that equal part of the two photos which underlies the random vibration unsharpness. Somehow our brains sort out what doesn't belong to the images and a much sharper images emerges from two slightly unsharp images. Anybody understand how the eye and brain does this? On the way to various places, I'm always shooting the Leicas out open doors at the grandeur of our North Coast landscape. Then the byword is "seat and feet", which is all that should be touching the aircraft. I really dislike shooting below 1/500th and am thankful for Leica glass that I can shoot wide open as the light fades, still maintaining a fast shutter speed. I also tape the lenses down at infinity and am always double checking everything. It's amazing what a poor "hit ratio" I get in the air, and was really kicking myself for being so bad at it until I read an article by Galen Rowell. He was having all the same aerial photo problems as I was, so just took three times as many photos, which I had also begun to do. The amount of film increases as the shutter speed slows. Critical sharpness then becomes a statistical probability, with some shots totally bad, a couple "acceptable" and one that is right on the money. I also mostly ignore the M6 light meter in the air, which usually results in overexposure for me. I still use it along with a Gossen LunaPro, but they are only part of the figuring, which boils down to what feels right based on almost 200 hours in the air, a lot of bad photos and a few fine ones. Like Greg's shot of the oil rigs, when you get a good one, it really sings! The best part of a USCG helicopter by far is the crew. What an incredible, dedicated, talented, faithful bunch. Flying with them has been one of the greatest honors I've experienced. I am humbled to be included in their missions, awed by their skills in the air, and always looking forward to the next flight! Regards, Gary Todoroff Tree LUGger