Shooting with a telephoto lens.

[LilJon 0]

I want to try for some unique shots with a really small depth of field (kicking the background out of focus) and make the ground look really close.

Does anyone here have any experience using a telephoto lens in freefall?

_________________________________________

You look like a well fed robin. -monkey1031

[jimoke 0]

its hard enough on the ground without a tripod or monopod to get great telephoto shots 300mm +
I have never tried it, sounds interesting, post some pics when you get them.
stay safe,
jimoke

The ground always, remembers where you are!

[dragon2 2]

I know one guy who shot a few jumps with an 80mm lens (using film not digital). Looked great, with the city looking really close. I doubt you'd get good shots using too long a lens, but a 50mm lens (on a DX-size digital) should get some nice results already. Too long a lens would be too hard to get framed. Also the longer lenses are bigger, not so good for skydiving. I'm thinking of picking up a 50mm f2.8 since they're real cheap (and small and very good quality too), was thinking of jumping it sometime.

Love to see some results if you try it!

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Deuce 1]

I enjoy shooting with a fixed 100mm lens. Hardest part is just getting your site squared away.

I had a tele picture of Gravity girl that had the two page center spread in Parachutist.

[iamsam 0]

What about opening the lens by using a smaller f stop for shallower depth of field? You might miss the focus on more shots but maybe easier than a heavier bulkier lens?

but what do I know

[cj1150gs 0]

Quote

I'm thinking of picking up a 50mm f2.8 since they're real cheap (and small and very good quality too)!

Canon's 50mm 1.8 costs around 100 Euro. It'll work as an 80 mm ona 1.6 crop factored digital. I have one and like it. Been wanting to jump it for a while but have never tried it..

Carlos Martins
Portugal www.cj.smugmug.com

[wonko 0]

I've tried 35mm lense (effectively 56mm on EOS350D) once and liked the results: http://tinyurl.com/ypzxws. The ground haze was a contributing factor, too

I don't believe, that lenses longer than 50mm would do much good with head-mounts, in most cases.

However, there is a man - Jussi Laine - out there: http://tinyurl.com/2ey4jw. I've seen him jumping with Canon EF 70-200 tele, holding camera in hands. There are few who can do this.

villem
life is what you make it to be
http://www.youtube.com/villu357
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skybound

[dorbie 0]

Quote

What about opening the lens by using a smaller f stop for shallower depth of field? You might miss the focus on more shots but maybe easier than a heavier bulkier lens?

Yup, larger aperture and slower film (*lower iso) if shutter speed is an issue.

[AndreVideo 0]

I jumped with a 100 mm lens (film 35 mm) and adjusted video accordingly. The idea was to capture another cameraman over the center of about 30 way formation. Worked like a champ on photos - video was still acceptable to my surprise but had no depth we are used to with a wide angle lenses. In other trial I followed a formation with a 200/4 mm lens - hand holding the camera. Had no problem flying :-) In spite that the focus was at infinity, photos were crappy. Framing was OK - had a one formation over the round airport building in Quincy but the photo was out of focus. Had no AF camera then. Today with self stabilizing AF lenses it would have more sense.
Andre

[velocityphoto 0]

Andre you are the man .The only guy i know that would try something like that in freefall.
Lonnie

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[avenfoto 0]

the longer the lens the more pronounced the compression

and a smaller aperature would actually be closing the lens

for which you would need a slower shutter speed

and a higher iso.

[LilJon 0]

I want to go for more compression.

Aperture would be wide open (really small number) allowing more light in. You’d actually be able to use a much faster shutter speed and lower ISO.

_________________________________________

You look like a well fed robin. -monkey1031

[Miami 0]

A wide open aperture would give you the short dof like you want, but you would lose the effect of compression you get with a long lens if you blur the background like that.

Also another thing to keep in mind, if you are shooting with your aperture wide open and a low iso on a bright day your camera may not be able to keep up...depending on your camera you may not be able to achieve a high enough shutter speed to get proper exposure.

Miami

[champu 1]

Quote

I want to try for some unique shots with a really small depth of field (kicking the background out of focus) and make the ground look really close.

I'm confused. A small depth of field around the subject does not make the background "look really close." In fact, the opposite is usually true. There are a few tricks to get the look I think you're going for:

1a) Longer focal length and get further from your subject
1b) Smaller aperture

These both give you a longer depth of field. You can either slow down the shutter speed (at the expense of motion blur) or speed up the sensor/film (at the expense of image noise) to allow you to squeeze the aperture and get as much depth compression as possible out of a given focal length, and still get a good exposure.

2) Get right over the top of your subject

This literally makes the ground closer to your subject in the image frame and, as one might guess, makes the ground look closer to the subject in the photo.

Convenient Recent Example taken with a Canon 350D and 28mm f/1.8 lens. (ISO100; f/7.1; 1/500sec) In this instance I wasn't specifically trying to compress the formation onto the background. Had I been, I could have gone with ISO200 and a 1/250sec exposure and turned the f-stop "up to eleven."

[Miami 0]

The small dof won't affect the ground as far as looking close or far, it will just affect how blurred it is. The compression would come from a long focal length lens, but to get a sharp (and compressed...looking like the subject is about to go in) background you would want a high aperture (high number) with the appropriate shutter speed.

Miami