This morning at sunrise I had Alex DeDominicis? RV-10 in the viewfinder 1,800? above Lake Lewisville - a person in every seat. If Van?s passes on them for the 2007 calendar I?ll display them on the site at a later time (sorry). I shot nearly 500MB of images in the 2nd ?all up? test of the new camera equipment:
- Canon EOS 1D Mark II N camera body
- Canon 2.8 70-200mm IS lens
- Ken-Labs KS-6 gyro stabilizer mount
I?ve found that in absolute STILL air I can pretty easily turn around in the back seat of a RV-8 if I?ve done the following:
1. taken the stick out (before takeoff)
2. taken my shoes off before getting in the plane (stowed in baggage area - clean socks a big plus)
3. loosened my pants belt one notch
4. taken everything out of my pockets (kept in upside down baseball cap stuffed down beside the seat).
5. place the battery pack for the gyro in the left foot well before takeoff (it?s about 3"x4"x9"). Rest foot on top of it during t/o and climb.
6. done some stretching before getting in.
Room for improvement:
1. a thin pillow (to set the camera on while I?m moving around) would be nice
2. a small foam ?deck? to place on the shelf behind the passenger seat (where the RV-8 canopy tapers down to a point) with cutouts for additional CF memory cards, a slot to place the lens cover, a slot cut for tissues and lens cleaner, extra lens, etc.
I?m shooting in ?TV? mode (time value) with the shutter set at 1/60th of a second. The gyro, coupled with the image stabilization circuitry in the lens, keeps the plane in sharp focus (with proper technique) in about 50% of the images - a much higher percentage than without the gyro. AI SERVO is enabled on the auto-focus and the image stabilization of the 2.8 70-200mm IS lens is in ?mode 2? position. After about 15 minutes the back starts to complain...need to do some strength exercises to improve that.
I?m still working out the bugs, but the results are so much better than anything I?ve ever done before I?m pretty jazzed - certainly raising my personal bar.
I can?t give enough credit to Danny King for letting me experiment in the back of ?Beautiful Doll? (and to Ed Hicks and Sam Buchanan for getting me ?really? into photography).
Developing (pun)...
- Canon EOS 1D Mark II N camera body
- Canon 2.8 70-200mm IS lens
- Ken-Labs KS-6 gyro stabilizer mount
I?ve found that in absolute STILL air I can pretty easily turn around in the back seat of a RV-8 if I?ve done the following:
1. taken the stick out (before takeoff)
2. taken my shoes off before getting in the plane (stowed in baggage area - clean socks a big plus)
3. loosened my pants belt one notch
4. taken everything out of my pockets (kept in upside down baseball cap stuffed down beside the seat).
5. place the battery pack for the gyro in the left foot well before takeoff (it?s about 3"x4"x9"). Rest foot on top of it during t/o and climb.
6. done some stretching before getting in.
Room for improvement:
1. a thin pillow (to set the camera on while I?m moving around) would be nice
2. a small foam ?deck? to place on the shelf behind the passenger seat (where the RV-8 canopy tapers down to a point) with cutouts for additional CF memory cards, a slot to place the lens cover, a slot cut for tissues and lens cleaner, extra lens, etc.
I?m shooting in ?TV? mode (time value) with the shutter set at 1/60th of a second. The gyro, coupled with the image stabilization circuitry in the lens, keeps the plane in sharp focus (with proper technique) in about 50% of the images - a much higher percentage than without the gyro. AI SERVO is enabled on the auto-focus and the image stabilization of the 2.8 70-200mm IS lens is in ?mode 2? position. After about 15 minutes the back starts to complain...need to do some strength exercises to improve that.
I?m still working out the bugs, but the results are so much better than anything I?ve ever done before I?m pretty jazzed - certainly raising my personal bar.
I can?t give enough credit to Danny King for letting me experiment in the back of ?Beautiful Doll? (and to Ed Hicks and Sam Buchanan for getting me ?really? into photography).
Developing (pun)...
. I'm certainly no expert at this and am still learning!
