SF to Paris in 2 Minutes

http://boltron.com/sf-to-paris-in-two-minutes/

by nimz • 13 years ago

97 42 13 years ago

boltron.com

mmanfrin• 13 years ago

That was pretty incredible, I've never seen the northern lights from a plane.

Also, thank you for choosing music that was not some airy/indie ambient song.

ghayes• 13 years ago

I was wondering if that's something common to see, or if the camera might be picking up light in a less visible spectrum.

objclxt2• 13 years ago

It's not uncommon - I see them occasionally on the SFO to LHR night flights. The photos here are very good, better than I've ever seen with the naked eye, but that might be because you can adjust the exposure with a camera.

petercooper4• 13 years ago

I hope this gets clarified by someone with more experience, but I believe one issue is planes are frequently diverted to more southerly routes during solar eruptions and times when the northern lights are particularly strong/vivid due to the increased levels of radiation exposure for those at high altitude. So you don't lose all observations but the best ones probably get missed.

clicks• 13 years ago

It's funny you say that about the music... (in fact, I seriously can't tell at this point if that was sarcasm) -- because the music was produced apparently by Air France, and 'airy/indie ambient' is precisely the genre one could describe Air France's music being.

(I personally love 'airy/indie ambient' music myself. :) Especially Air France's, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ADxybVy5Ls and so on)

edit: Oops, yes, apparently I confused things here (as explained below). Sorry.

jvzr2• 13 years ago

Aren't you confusing things here?

The music on the YouTube video is described as:

   a modified template of "Gain" used with permission from DETUNE ltd. denkitribe http://soundcloud.com/denkitribe/gain - I created this arrangement on the Korg iMS20 iPad App, and it's my first custom score.

"Air France" is the flight company here, not the swedish band. I thought at first you were talking about the usually ambient music that plays in Air France's TV ads, but apparently there are two "Air France" the Earth can bear. :P

StavrosK2• 13 years ago

I like how you mistook the music as produced by Air France, and then basically went "Air France's music is ambient, therefore this piece is also", when it's very clearly not :P

netrus• 13 years ago

Site is down, YT mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j36Erxd5rc

cwb712• 13 years ago

And Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/21822029

cwb712• 13 years ago

“The photos during take-off and landing are all computer models and totally rendered because I would never use an electronic device during times when the FAA prohibits them.”

Lulz.

suyash• 13 years ago

Generally you can't have the window open when people are sleeping at night time in the plane. Anyone's guess how he manage to do that?

k-mcgrady• 13 years ago

I usually keep the window open at night and have never had anyone say anything. I thought the only rule around that was they had to be shut during take-off/landing if the cabin lights were on.

jibbirish• 13 years ago

They actually have to be open during take-off/landing, in case of a crash the rescue crew has to be able to look inside the plane from the outside.

dan1234• 13 years ago

Sounds like he just got a really cooperative flight crew & fellow passengers. Maybe everyone bought into the idea.

"…I did get lucky and have a whole row to myself to setup the tripod and gear. Thanks to my neighbors for not minding an SLR click every 2 to 30 seconds for 11 hours, and thanks to the whole Air France flight crew for being insanely friendly and allowing me to shoot…"

petercooper4• 13 years ago

Now I need to Google why that is, it drives me nuts when they make you shut your window at night... It's dark!

panacea3• 13 years ago

'Sleeping time' on a plane is fairly independent of actual time outside. It's when the crew want a subdued, calm and restful (and hopefully asleep) cargo of passengers.

It's akin to hanging black curtains in a babies room to ensure the best chance they'll sleep for as long as possible before crying for mother's milk (or another scotch and dry).

OJKoukaz• 13 years ago

How and what was the hardware setup?

nXqd• 13 years ago

+1 I want to know as well. Normally, we will get some trouble of setting up and capturing photos on flight :)

Samuel_Michon• 13 years ago

It was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II + battery grip [1], Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II lens [2], a TC-80N3 shutter release timer [3], on a Slik travel tripod [4].

As for how it was shot: “I shoot these on Av (Aperture Priority) with an ISO ranging from 200 during the day to 6400 at night. That way the 5d2 will automatically go up to 30 seconds at night to as quick as 1/8000th when dawn comes. [On timing:] 2 seconds during the day, and up to 30 second exposures and intervals at night. [On battery life:] I have the grip with two batteries and I disable photo review so the LCD screen never lights up. That way I can shoot about 3k - 4k photos off two batteries fully charged.”

[1] http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/590457-REG/Canon_3353B...

[2] http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/16-35mm-ii.htm

[3] http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_...

[4] http://www.adorama.com/alc/0011522/news/Compact-Travel-Tripo...

m_mueller• 13 years ago

Just wondering: The flight attendants didn't give you any troubles on your setup?

StavrosK2• 13 years ago

Naw, it wasn't an american airline :P

DanBC• 13 years ago

That glimpse of the tripod and camera is surprising.

droithomme2• 13 years ago

Very cool.

Here is the flight path, for those interested: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=SFO-CDG&DU=mi

mischanix• 13 years ago

Actually, the flight path can vary depending on weather conditions between a lower-latitude route[1] and a more direct great-circle one[2].

1. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFR83/history/20130401/22...

2. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFR83/history/20130331/22...

dschep• 13 years ago

Given the Northern Lights are visible in the video, I think it's safe to assume it's the Great Circle route.

qnk• 13 years ago

I'm curious: how is it possible that the lower-latitude route is almost one thousand miles longer than the great-circle one, and still, one plane took just 11 minutes more to get to Paris than the other at almost exactly the same speed? Or maybe I'm miscalculating and the extra 2 knots of average speed make that much difference in 7000+ miles trip.

What other factors not shown by FlightAware should be taken into account in this case?

Gravityloss• 13 years ago

It would be great if there was an alternative visualization with a polar view or at least a projection where the cylinder is angled so the midpoint of the flight touches the cylinder. Long east-west flights are much easier to understand that way.

droithomme2• 13 years ago

True but from the video it's obvious they took the great circle route that I posted and not the route over the plains. Not just the lights either, the landscapes at the beginning.

smcl• 13 years ago

This looks fantastic but hearing the shutter release every few minutes would've irritated the hell out of me if I was sitting anywhere near him on that flight.

megablast• 13 years ago

Yup, that looks like Paris alright, overcast and grey!

Except for today.

panacea3• 13 years ago

Why does this video need to be captured by a lucky passenger who found amicable crew to let it be recorded? Why don't we have videos like this published by airlines?

jvzr2• 13 years ago

True. I didn't even realized we could see the northern lights on such a common flight route (and I realize now that it was pretty obvious).

jgreen10• 13 years ago

This seems to be what most of us are thinking :), call off that Alaska trip.

SF to Paris in 2 Minutes

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