Unusable images

[Donaldo]

Hi! I've been going spotting recently, and when I've come home, many of my photos will be unusable as the fuselage seems warped at times. Is this heat haze, or something else? I doubt this is an equipment issue, as I use a Sony A7RIV and a Sigma 100-400mm DN DG OS lens. I've only noticed this at higher focal lengths. Any advice or suggestions of what it might be or what I can do to get rid of it?

https://ibb.co/GdbKM45

https://ibb.co/J28dHK4

Thanks!

[Owen Garcia]

Are you using the electronic shutter?

[Chevelle]

Hi! I've been going spotting recently, and when I've come home, many of my photos will be unusable as the fuselage seems warped at times. Is this heat haze, or something else? I doubt this is an equipment issue, as I use a Sony A7RIV and a Sigma 100-400mm DN DG OS lens. I've only noticed this at higher focal lengths. Any advice or suggestions of what it might be or what I can do to get rid of it?

https://ibb.co/GdbKM45

https://ibb.co/J28dHK4

Thanks!

Yes, it's heat haze and you can't do anything to get rid of it but you can try to avoid it. Heat haze is usually at lower levels during the early morning/late afternoon, and will have less of an impact the higher a plane is in the air. Getting closer to planes will also help...if you can't get closer, shoot a different scene/plane that is closer (maybe a taxiway or something). I always chimp my photos at 100% when I'm shooting anything on/near the ground to see if there's any heat haze. If there's any hint of heat haze at 100%, I move to a different location, because those photos are unusable to me.

[Blueris Aviation]

Hello. I can’t really agree with previous reply about heat haze because i don’t see it. What i actually see is that pictures are underexposed(maybe vignette is too visible) and image looks supersoft. If you were shooting with biggest aperture possible, i would recommend you to use f/9 to get sharpest result without vignetting. If you really see heat haze I would recommend you to take a pic when aircraft is not so close to ground. Hope you fix these issues.

Regards,
Blueris.

[Donaldo]

Yes, it's heat haze and you can't do anything to get rid of it but you can try to avoid it. Heat haze is usually at lower levels during the early morning/late afternoon, and will have less of an impact the higher a plane is in the air. Getting closer to planes will also help...if you can't get closer, shoot a different scene/plane that is closer (maybe a taxiway or something). I always chimp my photos at 100% when I'm shooting anything on/near the ground to see if there's any heat haze. If there's any hint of heat haze at 100%, I move to a different location, because those photos are unusable to me.

Thanks for the reply. I thought it was heat haze, but even when the aircraft are high in the air, the distortion is still visible. But, I don’t think it’s heat haze as some images from the continuous shooting don’t have the distortion, only a few of them, so I’m wondering if it’s due to me not following the aircraft at the right speed.

[Chevelle]

Thanks for the reply. I thought it was heat haze, but even when the aircraft are high in the air, the distortion is still visible. But, I don’t think it’s heat haze as some images from the continuous shooting don’t have the distortion, only a few of them, so I’m wondering if it’s due to me not following the aircraft at the right speed.

You may have additional issues going on, but if you're refering to the details/lines being wavy and lettering having a double edge (like in the crop I posted below), that's definitely heat haze. Heat haze can be present at any altitude and there are often pockets of heat haze, causing some parts of an airplane to be distorted and other parts to be fine (or like you said, some frames are heat hazed and others may be unaffected). Panning issues wouldn't make lines wavy...only blurred.