NYC helicopter shoot lens choice?

[dfinkels]

I have an open doors helicopter ride over Manhattan coming up.  I will have a Canon 70D with 70-200mm f/2.8 and a Sony a7r with me. I cannot change lenses during flight for obvious reasons.

 

Does anyone have thoughts on the widest lens for my a7r?  I've heard that too wide and you get the copter rotors at the top of the frame.  Some of my options are:

 

Canon 17-40mm f/4 (with Ommlite E-Mount adapter, thus no auto focus)

Sony FE 28mm prime f/2.0 (autofocus)

other?

 

[Golem]

Optical IS seems desirable ....

 

There's good reason such aircraft

are commonly called "choppers". 

  

Even in a fixed wing craft with the

engine feathered, the buffeting of

air from the open door begs for IS. 

 

Air temperature falls about 5deg-f

per 1000ft altitude. Add wind chill

to that and your hands may not be

as steady as you'd prefer. Wearing

gloves against the cold produces a

different reason to still want IS.

[Golem]

 

I have an open doors helicopter ride over Manhattan coming up.  .......

 

Canon 17-40mm f/4 (with Ommlite E-Mount adapter, thus no auto focus)

..........

  

If autofocus might be a concern you must flying verrrrry low ! 

 

Assuming a safer more reasonable altitude is demanded over

the metro NYC area, a lens with a reliable hard stop at infinity

focus might be useful .... acoarst there's always duct tape.

[maximum]

i would go for the Sony Zeiss 16-35f4. It is sharp, has built in image stabilisation and has the benefits of a native lens (AF, EXIF, no adapter etc.).

Yes, it's expensive, but maybe renting is an option? The canon doesn't have IS.

[danaldson]

I used the Sony 28mm f2 on a helicopter ride in Hawaii. Was a great focal length for the ride, wide enough to capture the view, but didn't catch blades of the chopper

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Golem]

If you get the blades in the

frame, there is a tool in all

image editing programs to

crop out unwanted areas.