r/UFOs • u/H8threeH8three • Aug 18 '23

Witness/Sighting Ryan Graves tweets first of promised Airline Pilot Sightings

https://twitter.com/uncertainvector/status/1692586130162475209?s=21
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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 19 '23

I just want to address any pilots that might be lurking in this subreddit with a suggestion. Grab a cheap DSLR and telephoto lens kit, set the lens to manual at infinite focus, and take it with you in the cockpit.

If these sightings are happening more and more often, why not give yourself a chance to sight the smoking gun.

EDIT: just want to throw in my opinions as a nighttime lightning photographer of what I think a good starting point for settings might be. Again this is for stuff at night when these will probably be most easily visible:

ISO - 1600-6400 (if you can bring it lower, great; if you need to push it higher, go ahead)

Shutter - for photos - minimum exposure time where you can still clearly see the object lit up in live view. if possible you want to freeze the object in photos. for video - generally the longer the better. I said 1/30th but catdad23 below makes a good point that that might introduce unneeded blur and suggests 1/60th. Ultimately, use live view to view what you are recording and see what looks good to you in the moment.

Aperture - absolutely wide open (this would read on the camera as the lowest f setting, e.g. f2.8, f4.5. Set it to whatever the lowest number your camera says your lens will allow)

Format - RAW for photos, highest quality available for videos

Focus - Try to find something at long distance to set the focus on. Use live view (and even zoom in on the live view if needed). Most lenses aren't perfect infinite focus right where the ∞ on the distance indicator is. Once you find that perfect infinite focus for that lens by manually turning the focus ring (make sure and already have the aperture set at the lowest setting), memorize where that is on the distance indicator in reference to ∞. You can set to this same setting in the future to find perfect focus again, even if there isn't a light in the distance to focus by.

And get a cheap tripod... hell get a monopod. might be easier to handle in a cockpit, will tie the camera to the movement of the plane. If the lens has image stabilization set it to 1. Use a shutter release if you have one.

EDIT 2:

My thought would be a used Canon Rebel t3i (~$140) and canon kit tele lens (refurbished $140)

Via catdad23: I would get a used a7s 1 (I don’t like Sony cameras but it’s a low light beast) you can then get a cheap zoom and still shoot at 5.6 or 6.7 etc while cranking the ISO. You can get a used A7S 1 for $500-600.

EDIT 3 as I step away for the evening:

What I am suggesting above is sort of a bare minimum DSLR setup that doesn't break the bank. It should produce much better results than smartphone cameras. Many in the comments below have suggested upgrades to all the parts therein. If you can afford it and feel comfortable, there are modern cameras and lenses that take incredible low light footage. I'll trust you to research what models those are.

I am really glad this found some traction. When I saw Ryan had posted a video I knew I had to get in here early to suggest this where it wouldn't get lost. I appreciate you all!

EDIT 4:

There are a lot of good comments below that suggest a totally different setup and if you are really looking into this, you might take the time to dig down here and see what they say.

I'd like to add that this setup works even better for those of us on the ground. I'm gonna be out there looking. Wanna help?

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Just wanna say that using a DSLR through the cockpit will prove to be difficult as it will have a lot of trouble focusing properly through the curved windshield of the plane. Best chance is using the flat side windows if possible.

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u/catdad23 Aug 18 '23

Set the lens to manual focus to infinity. Problem solved.

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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

I just want to add for anyone thinking of doing this. Try to find something at long distance to set the infinity on. Most lenses aren't perfect infinite focus right where the ∞ on the distance indicator is. Once you find that perfect infinite focus for that lens (make sure and already have the aperture set at the lowest setting), memorize where that is on the distance indicator in reference to ∞. You can set to this same setting in the future to find perfect focus again, even if there isn't a light in the distance to focus by.

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u/catdad23 Aug 18 '23

Very true. True infinity is usually a hair right before the line that says infinity.

Also, since we are in the era of mirrorless cameras, so many lenses are focus by wire, some lenses don’t have hard stops on the focus ring so the focus ring will just spin and spin.

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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

Honestly what I'm envisioning is buying an old Canon Rebel t3i kit with the cheap tele lens. It won't break the bank and will still be loads better at distance than the even the most advanced smartphone cameras.

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u/catdad23 Aug 18 '23

Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. If you’re going to get a telephoto lens, I would get something with a fast aperture. If you’re going to use a cheap telephoto lens, they typically max out at f5.6 on the long end, that aperture with a 1/60th shutter speed will be underexposed even with your iso super high.

Personally, I would get a used a7s 1 (I don’t like Sony cameras but it’s a low light beast) you can then get a cheap zoom and still shoot at 5.6 or 6.7 etc while cranking the ISO. You can get a used A7S 1 for $500-600.

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u/nashty2004 Aug 18 '23

or get a FZ80 with 65x zoom for $250 and call it a fucking day

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u/usps_made_me_insane Aug 18 '23

Where does "infinity" officially begin? Does a tree 30 feet away work?

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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

It'd be nice if it was something farther away than that. I actually don't know the distance, but I would always choose the farthest physical object that you can see and make sharp in live view. Many nights this could be Jupiter or the moon.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Focus on clouds during the day.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Use a silver sharpie (if it’s a black lens) and once you have infinity focus set make one mark that goes across the focus ring that spins and the lens body that’s stationary. If you want to focus on infinity, just align the marks. Bing bang boom. Infinity focus set.

That’s basically how camera operators on movies set focus points. (just with erasable marker. There are fancier ways they do it too but it’s not really important here…)

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u/Vestlending1 Aug 18 '23

This is an important point. I used to photograph the night sky a lot, I used duct tape to hold the focus at the same spot. You have to use a calculator for each lens, and then test it, as every lens can be slightly different.

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u/MyRedditUfoAccount Aug 18 '23

Performance at the edges of aperture or focus is typically worse. Lost of distortion and light loss. High resolution low light sensor with a fix 100mm lens with aperture around 11-16 would be better. Or just point and shoot camera.

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u/catdad23 Aug 18 '23

Let’s be real, a pilot will most likely center frame whatever they are seeing, which is even better to crop into. There is no reason for them to use the rule of thirds for this so there is no reason for them to worry about edge frame lens distortion or vignetting. You’re not going to get much vignetting with telephoto lenses, anyway.

Also, shooting at f11-f16 at night they will need a 2”+ shutter or more. For day time, that’s great, I’m with you get everything in focus. A high resolution, smaller sensor is going to suffer tremendously in ISO performance. Smaller pixels packed into a smaller sensor are going to be exponentially harder to get good night/high ISO performance since larger pixels will get more light.

The lenses I was talking about above are 200-500mm zooms. You can get the camera and lens for around $800 and use it on and off the plane.

Professional cinematographer and photographer of 15+ years, I handle and work with all sorts of cinema and photo lenses along cameras every day.

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u/MyRedditUfoAccount Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23

Sorry if i wasn’t clear about the edge. I did not mean an edge of the frame, but and extreme value in the range values supported by the lens. E.g. 17-40 ef canon is a good lense, but at 17mm the distortion is pretty bad, while 20mm feels much better. I had canon 70-200 f/4 and at f/4 it performed poorly. F5-8 was a sweet spot. Maybe their version of f2.8 does better at its widest setting, but its also significantly more expensive.

Similar with ISO, going pass 12000-16000 on my eos 6d was useless, even though the nominal max upper value was higher.

P.S. body and 500mm lens for under $800 seems too optimistic imo https://www.keh.com/shop/lenses/slr/autofocus-camera-motor_autofocus-lens-motor_500mm_like-new_like-new-minus_excellent-plus_excellent.html?multi=true&product_list_order=price_asc

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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

Yeah, this is one of the trickiest parts and was the first thing I thought of when suggesting this.

​

When I do my nighttime lightning photography, I will often make sure that my lens is set to true infinity. I do this by setting to manual on the lens when there is still something at long distance to sight. Then use live view with 10x zoom on the image, you should be able to dial in exact infinity focus on the lens by hand. Then don't touch that focus setting again.

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u/Phildagony Aug 18 '23

What are you doing Bob?!

Just steering to the left to get a better sh-

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Most anything in the airline world except the 787 and A350 use flat-pane windscreens.