Find a place where to fix the camera
A fixed camera is the best way to get steady images, but also to get a better rendering of the aircraft’s attitude changes. The top of the dash in the DA40s or Pipers is a good place. Make sure to check the framing is good BEFORE the flight. Even if you’re not the pilot, putting your head to look through the viewfinder can be disturbing.

Check that while on ground, and also make sure that the camera’s autofocus is not fooled by the windshield. If possible, try to fix the camera with velcro tape or any other mean, to make sure it won’t fall down and go in the rudder pedaly. The vibrations induced by the engine are rather small, except at startup, and any bump (particularly on grass runways) will anyway lead to a bouncy movie.

Do not abuse of the zoom
This is particularly true in flight direction. Using the zoom while filming will give rather unpleasant feeling, especially when zooming out. If you really want to zoom, make it between sequences. Zooming when filming on the side of the plane is fine.

Film the outside view, or the cockpit
But don’t try to film both at the same time. Because the outside is much brigther than the inside, it’s nearly impossible to capture both at the same time. If you focus the camera on the dashboard, all windows will simply look white, and if you film through a window, all the dashboard will look black.

If you decide to alternate inside and outside sequences, use the classical seven seconds rules from cinema. Once the camera is oriented towards something, don’t move to something else before at least seven seconds. If you make shorter sequences, the result will look unstable, shaky, and will not leave enough time to the spectator to focus on anything.

Camera on the outside
The temptation to attach the camera somewhere outside the plane is great. Beside the fuselage, close to the rudder, on the footstool, or anywhere else. I never did it myself, but I saw many splendid movies made that way.

I never did it for two reasons. I have no idea of the possible aerodynamical impacts (probably negligible, but I never said that officially). Secondly, I don’t know how to make it without damaging the plane and / or the camera, so I don’t want to take the risk of loosing my camera.

Even worse, if the camera falls down, it could hurt someone, or damage something on the ground. And if someone finds the movie, it’s more than probable that the last images will show the plane flying away, tail number included.

Keep flying
If you’re filming and flying, don’t forget what are your priorities. Got it ?

You can now have a look at my own videos if you don’t already saw them. You’ll see that my flying passengers did not always respected these tips… and this is where I learned some from. Click here to see my in-flight video.