My new flying rule - bring camera

Judah writes:

What is the resolution of the human eye, anyway?

About 30 seconds of arc at best, under good viewing conditions and in
the zone of maximum visual acuity. To put that in aviation terms,
it's an ability to distinguish an object the size of a pie plate (nine
inches) from an altitude of 5000 feet, looking straight down.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Bob Noel wrote:
yep - I've been kind of dumb these past few fall flights. Today
was yet another absolutely perfect flying day (today's flight is
the reason I own an airplane). I'm still kicking myself for
not having my camera.

There were some really beautiful high clouds that I
just can't describe. And the full moon rising over
the Atlantic was a sight!

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

I've taken a lot of pictures over the years and find that I
seldom refer to them. They don't capture the "spirit" of the moment, as
C.S. Lewis put it. The few times I wished I had my camera was when I
encountered an airplane like the one I was buiolding, as a few shots of
airframe details that don't get properly covered in the pans are a big
help.

Dan

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:16:48 GMT, B A R R Y
wrote:

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 19:50:25 -0400, Bob Noel
wrote:

There were some really beautiful high clouds that I
just can't describe.

Yesterday morning , there was a 100 ft thick layer of ground fog over
the CT River valley, with unlimited ceilings to either side. Buildings
and towers were poking through a smooth, white blanket!

http://www.wanttaja.com/sunrise.JPG

That sort of thing is even nicer at night...

http://www.wanttaja.com/nighttime1.jpg

Ron Wanttaja

"B A R R Y" wrote in message
...
With digital, you simply upload the photos to a printer convenient to
the recipient. They pick up and pay ~ $0.13/ea. for their prints. You
keep the originals.

That, or you just email them or put them on a server where they can download
them (which is what I do). It's as fast as any photo processing center,
costs nothing (beyond what I already spend for the online facilities used,
that is), and is WAY more convenient.

The other nice thing about digital is that they can be copied as many times
as you like, again without any cost at all. The copies are identical so the
concept of "originals" is somewhat archaic.

I've never had a passenger express an interest in me NOT having copies of
the pictures (in fact, the implicit understanding is that by using my
camera, they are promising to share) but if someone did ask me to not save
any of the pictures they took, I would certainly comply.

Film, who needs steekin' film? G

Exactly.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've taken a lot of pictures over the years and find that I
seldom refer to them. They don't capture the "spirit" of the moment, as
C.S. Lewis put it.

IMHO, that's missing the point. Please, bear with me.

I've taken thousands of pictures. Maybe even over ten thousand at this
point (but probably not twenty thousand...I'm not a professional, nor even
an avid hobbyist), now that digital photography came along (got my first
digital camera ten years ago).

Do I refer to most of those pictures after taking them? Nope. The vast
majority, I could delete forever and never notice. For the few that I do
refer to, do I do so to "capture the 'spirit' of the moment"? Nope...as you
and Lewis note, the picture rarely can perfectly put you back in the frame
of mind of the moment.

Though that said, the picture *can* at least remind you of a precious
moment. Your own memory is what recaptures the spirit, and the photo may be
meaningless to anyone else. But it's still a pleasurable experience to view
again for yourself.

More importantly (at least to me) is that the photo has artistic value in
and of itself. Most of the photos you take probably won't fall into this
category (unless you're an excellent and experienced photographer), but
that's not the point. All it takes is one photo every now and then for it
to be all worthwhile. And this is especially true with digital photography,
where a relatively small camera is capable of taking remarkably high-quality
photos, with no incremental cost associated with each photo, and with very
little inconvenience in having the camera with you.

This is why the "bring a camera" rule is such a good one. Today, it
requires very little trouble, and can produce great rewards. Most of the
time it won't, but it's easy insurance to cover those few moments when it
will.


And (just 'cause this post isn't long enough already ), here's my
thoughts on the digital-versus-film aspect of this issue:

Even when I was only shooting film, I did try to follow the philosophy that
"film is cheap". And relatively speaking it was. But it still cost
*something*, as did the processing. In addition, not doing my own
processing I was subject to the vagaries of the person who was doing it. I
tried nearly a dozen local processors before settling on one that could
consistently turn out photos that were of high quality, and even with them I
still occasionally got a print with a bit of lint on the negative. They'll
reprint the photo for free when that happens, but it's still a hassle to
have to go back and have them do it.

With a small digital camera, I get instant results, good-quality pictures,
no processing hassles or costs, and best of all it's easy to have the camera
with me at all times. I would never think of dragging my film camera around
with me all the time. It's more capable than the digital camera I use, but
it also is quite a bit larger, and I don't like carrying it without the
accessories (extra lens, flash, extra batteries, film, filters, etc) which
results in a pretty big load. With my digital camera, I put a fresh
rechargeable battery in it, drop it in my pocket or flight bag, and I don't
even notice it unless I need it.

So, even more so than used to be the case, digital photography has made it
even easier and convenient to always have a camera along.

(And yes, even before digital you could get 35mm "point-and-shoot" cameras,
but I never got the kind of results from those that I get with similar-sized
digital cameras today)

The few times I wished I had my camera was when I
encountered an airplane like the one I was buiolding, as a few shots of
airframe details that don't get properly covered in the pans are a big
help.

That's yet another great reason to have a camera along! If it's not a lot
of trouble to bring one, why not keep one with you at all times, just in
case?

Pete

This was taken last month on a breakfast flight to Leadville CO. No
camera...no pics.

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/...Sep06Small.jpg

Ron Lee

Having my camera with me the day I landed on 4R at EWR in the Archer nearly
caused a bad day. On short final approaching the numbers, I couldn't resist
snapping a pic of that runway disappearing into the perspective. I grabbed
the camera off the right seat, flipped off the lens cap and got a great shot
through the prop: http://www.geocities.com/viewptmd/EWR4RShortFinal.JPG.
Unfortunately, the camera strap got tangled up in the yoke. I had approval
to land long, which was a good thing because after finally getting the strap
free, I realized I had ballooned up 100 feet or so. Fly the airplane! The
tower didn't say anything, and I set it down right where I had originally
wanted to, but it could have been bad, and/or embarrassing.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Mxsmanic wrote:

How? By handing them the memory cards?

Another clueless post from a person who doesn't even know what a REAL
PLANE is. Are you sure you don't leave your room and get away from
your MSFS game?

Just download the picture to a computer and email it to them. If
wireless is available on the camera, you may even be able to transfer
the image via bluetooth technology or infrared to another digital PDA.

Use a cell phone camera and you can send it via cell service.

Film??? What is that, that's 19th century stuff.

Allen

About 1 minute of angle if there is good light and contrast.



"Judah" wrote in message
. ..
| "new_CFI" wrote in
| :
|
| I didn't have my camera the day I saw the 747 converted
to water tanker
| do a test drop...a waterfall from one end of the runway
to the
| other....it was awesome...all I have now is a memory of
what it looked
| like..can't show people a memory.
|
| Now THERE's an idea!
|
| Someone needs to invent a device that you can plug into
your ear or nose and
| it downloads your memory onto a stick that can be plugged
into a hard drive
| or printer for making 4x5's for $0.13!
|
| What is the resolution of the human eye, anyway?

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
yep - I've been kind of dumb these past few fall flights. Today
was yet another absolutely perfect flying day (today's flight is
the reason I own an airplane). I'm still kicking myself for
not having my camera.

There were some really beautiful high clouds that I
just can't describe. And the full moon rising over
the Atlantic was a sight!

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate


I always try to bring mine along for the ride (even on commerical
flights...):

http://www.pbase.com/flyingphotog/aerials

(Feel free to dig around the other galleries too.)

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ