Taking Pictures from an Airplane Window Question......

[Lonnie1212]

Hi Folks,

On Saturday I am planning on taking an airplane ride in a little Cessna airplane. It will be a flying instructor giving me a familiarization flight. Thinking about taking flying lessons. I could also take a Nikon D750 or D810 camera. If I have a chance, I would like to take pictures out of the window. I have never taken pictures out of an airplane window and I'm trying to figure out what lens and camera settings to use. Does anyone have any recommendations? I have the 24-120mm lens on my camera right now. I have a 50mm, 85mm, and a 35mm lens available. Any thoughts, suggestions or advice? If I don't hear from anyone, I will probably take the Nikon D750 with the 24-120mm lens.

Thank you,

Lonnie

 

[wfooshee]

It's really not any different from taking pictures out of a tall building window. You don't want a really long lens because you won't be able to hold it still enough to see what you're looking at. Normal-view to wide angle. If you want an impression of the setting from which the picture was taken, include part of the aircraft interior.

 

[480sparky]

Understand you'll be shooting through plexiglass. So it's quite possible you'll not get the best image quality, especially if it's all scratched up. There will likely be flaws in the plexi that will cause distortion in your image that wouldn't be visible

Any metal framework that supports the windows will also be something you'll need to 'shoot around'.

Personally, I'd rather enjoy the experience first, leaving taking photos as a low-priority activity.

 

[AlanKlein]

Set the camera focus manually on infinity to prevent the camera trying to focus on crap, scratches, etc. on the window. Also, shoot on the shady side of the plane so the sun isn't lighting up the cracks on the glass and causing glare.

If parts of the plane are going to be in the outside pictures and you want them to be in focus, just set the camera at let's say f11, a smaller aperture to increase the DOF. You could still keep the focus manually at infinity.

Finally, don't forget to return the focus to Auto for inside the plane shots and for before and after the ride shots.

Have fun. Tighten your seat belt. Don't open the door.

 

[smoke665]

Years ago did a lot of aerial shots of farm land with my father from his Cessna, now days drones do field mapping. As noted above plexiglass yellows and gets scratches/cracking as it ages. Shooting straight on close to the glass, and covering the lens to block external reflections will help, as will using a polarizing filter. Now days you seldom find a day that doesn't have haze in the air. The polarizing filter will help on that some, but you'll likely need adjustments post to clean them up, adjust contrast, color and vibrance.

If you're contemplating lessons, as some posted above, might be best to leave the camera at home and concentrate on what the instructor is telling/showing you.

 

[Jeff15]

It would be great if you could wind the window down...

 

[Lonnie1212]

It would be great if you could wind the window down...

Maybe I could try that

 

[Lonnie1212]

Thank you for the advice guys. The flying session was great. There was no time for pictures, because the instructor was very serious and kept talking etc.... The plane was a 1984 Cessna 172.

 

[phkc070408]

I've taken a number of photos out of plane windows. In all honesty, I never thought about the Focus, since my camera (5D Mark IV) have really good Zoom, but Zooming to close to infinity sounds about right. I use Shutter Priority with exposure compensation for 1.3 stops below to force a wider aperture (Brighten in post production). I use at minimum 1/4000 second while on the runway and until we're at least 500 feet in the air, and slowly reduce my shutter if I need to gain for DOF as I get higher and can see for farther.

IF you're shooting at night, Adobe Camera Raw's new Enhance/Grain Removal Tool enables me to raise my ISO up to 6400 or even 12800