Basic Help

We're heading on a trip and would like to get some photos. We have an old Polaroid point and shoot camera(Model i533). We took a lot of photos with it on a vacation to NZ and they were pretty good.

The main question, is do we leave the flash on to get a faster shutter speed and hope the reflection isn't a problem, or turn off flash and hope the speed isn't so slow that the photo blurrs?

We have the silicon rubber "waterproof" cover and will use that to help reduce reflection from the silver body.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Jim Butcher

Hi Jim,
Are you asking about shooting inflight pictures? If so, turn the flash off for shooting thru the canopy. If your camera has an "action" setting that will give priority to a faster shutter speed. Hold the camera as close to but not touching the canopy. Wear all black clothing, will help reduce reflection. Shoot out the side away from the sun whenever possible.
You can use the flash for shooting pics of each other inside the cockpit, don't blind the pilot in low light conditions though.

Taking Photos

Hi Jim and Heather,
I assume you are talking about taking photos of the outside world from inside your airplane. If so, flash is generally not your friend and you'll want a camera that will allow you to turn the flash off manually. When shooting through any window / canopy (glass, plastic ,etc.) at a distant object, you want the flash off. First of all, the flash accomplishes absolutely nothing, it can't possibly illuminate that distant object. Second, the reflection of the flash in the glass will be undesirable. So, the rule when shooting through a window is flash off.

Now, there is an important exception to the rule. If you want the foreground illuminated you can use the flash to accomplish that objective. Let's say you want a photo with the instrument panel in the foreground and the distant mountain vista in the background. The best way to get that photo is to use flash to illuminate the foreground and set the exposure for the mountains in the distance. There are a lot of other factors that come into play - exposure, depth of field, shutter speed, etc. but that's the basic idea.

Flash is also very helpful when taking a photo of a person in bright sunlight. You are using the flash to fill-in the shadows in this case. It also works well for cockpit selfies! The flash won't come on automatically in most of these situations so you'll need to set it to ON manually. Just the opposite of what you'd do the the shooting THROUGH the canopy case.

Finally, you should get a better camera. Your Polaroid i533 is an antique. It's a 5MP camera with very limited manual / program modes. The effective film speed of your camera is also sub-par when compared to modern cameras. That means your camera is far less capable in low light and high dynamic range situations than the current crop of point and shoots. Your i533 is worth about $15 on eBay today. A modest investment in a more capable point and shoot will greatly improve the quality of your photos, especially in difficult shooting situations like from / in an airplane. If you really want to improve your photos, invest in a camera with interchangeable lenses. A nice stabilized zoom lens works wonders for those aerial photos!

Have a great trip!
Randy

Thanks. That's what I thought, flash off. We'll see how it does.

Jim