Another day, another adventure; I went up in a Robinson R44 Raven 1 yesterday over Miami to photograph the Miami/Bimini Offshore race.  To say this was fun would be to miss the point entirely - it was a total blast.  Our pilot, who’s also an instructor, flew the machine very well, and at times pushed it pretty hard to keep up with the faster boats.

:: My ride for the shoot - a Robinson R44 Raven 1 - click to enlarge ::

My standard workhorse lens for most action shoots is the Nikon 70-200 AFS VR 2.8.  Originally I thought I would just use this lens and bring along my Nikon 16-85 AF-S VR for wide shots.  When I realized we would be in the air for only an hour, I knew the shooting pace would be frantic, and I would not have time to change lenses during the flight.  Looking carefully at Nikon’s lineup, I figured the 24-120 was a possibility, but its reputation isn’t so great.  The Nikon 18-200 AF-S VR is a lens I told myself I would never buy, but I soon found myself ordering the $700 lens for this shoot.

:: On our way to the race location at Sunny Isles Beach, Miami - click to enlarge ::

I was worried about shooting with a new Nikon 18-200 VR lens - I actually never use prosumer “superzoom” lenses, but in the copter I would not have been able to swap lenses and my Nikon 70-200 would probably have restricted us a bit.  As it turns out, the 18-200 performed impressively - it focuses fast and the resolution was pretty good.  One complaint I do have though, is that when facing forward, the wind would immediately compress the lens, and I had to grip the focus ring tightly to prevent this from happening.  This is another reason I do not like telescoping lenses, and the mechanism doesn’t look very robust either.  As usual, my Nikon D300 performed flawlessly, and after 1285 shots (using VR), the battery meter indicated a full charge.  Incredible.

:: Yes, the water was this deep shade of blue about 32 miles offshore - click to enlarge ::

Image quality with the 18-200 was very good, but not excellent.  It’s good enough to handle professional assignments, but compared to the 70-200, its optical limitations become clearly obvious.  But remember that the 18-200 is a multipurpose, ‘one-lens’ solution, not a professional-grade constant-aperture lens.  I’m not sure I’ll keep this lens though, since I would rarely need it specifically, but I had a good time using it.

:: A view of Miami Beach as we return from the shoot - click to enlarge ::

For the shoot, the right side door was removed which made shooting from the side of the copter very easy.  I also had a great view, but I would not recommend this type of activity if you’re scared of heights.  Miami is a beautiful city, and it’s even better as seen from the air.  The water went from beautiful bright green to a deep rich blue as we headed 30 miles out.  While we were shooting the boats, we spotted a few whales just hanging out at the surface since it was a very calm day.  It was a perfect day - life does not get any better than this.