Aviation Police Helicopter over London

[evacguy]

G-POLH is one of the METs EC 135T2 helipcopters. It was hovering low over Blackheath a couple of days ago.
EXIF: ISO100, f14, 1/80s, @400mm. Rotor blades are smeared at this exposure. The image is not quite as sharp at this exposure compared to the one at 1/500s.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 2X Teleconverter
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/14
• 1/80 sec
• ISO 100

EXIF: ISO250, f11, 1/500s, @400mm. Rotor blades are almost frozen at this exposure.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 2X Teleconverter
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/11
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 250

 

[Brownie]

Shooting helicopters can be tough. As with any propeller you want the blade motion, the trick is to catch it and have a sharp image. It's more difficult than a propeller airplane because you need slower speeds. Where an airplane can show decent prop blur at 1/160 or even 1/200 depending on the airplane, you need closer to 1/60 or even 1/30 for a helicopter to show a full circle.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Helicopter rotor speeds vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and the shutter speed correspondingly needs to be
adjusted to sync with the rotor speed to find appropriate rotor blur........the aperture size at such low shutter speeds
which has also to be adjusted, dependant upon the ambient lighting conditions, to achieve the required exposure level.

The helicopter motion which also needs to be accomodated (unless hovering motionless) For helicopter forward motion, camera
panning speed needs to be in sync with the helicopter motion to achieve a sharp helicopter body image.

 

[evacguy]

Two at longer exposures.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 2X Teleconverter
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/22
• 1/40 sec
• ISO 100

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II + 2X Teleconverter
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/25
• 1/30 sec
• ISO 100

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Nice Evac.......