Any advice on a lens for dawn helicopter shots?

hi, I'm quite excited that in a few weeks I'll be doing a helicopter ride pre-dawn as the sun rises around Ayers Rock, a huge monolithic iconic rock in the middle of Australia surrounded by desert.

i did a photo chopper ride once before, but in the middle of the day, and most of my shots then were at 18mm using a Nikkor 18-105 zoom with a D7000.

this time it'll be much darker and I have a few more lenses, plus now two Fuji cameras because one us an old XE-1 the other an X-T1.

so I was wondering if perhaps someone might have some experience of helicopter shoots and suggest a couple of suitable lenses. I now have an 18-55 f2.8-4 Fuji zoom, plus a 14mm f2.8, 18mm f2, 35mm f1.4 and 56mm f1.2.

so first off I was thinking that although the zoom is slower than my 18mm prime, it offers image stabilisation of about three stops and probably is a better choice for 18mm.

then I thought maybe I should put the 35mm f1.4 on the other camera for something faster than the zoom. Or I could go faster still but with a much more limited angle of view with the 56 f1.2. The thing is i think I'll need to have myself set up before I leave and not fiddle changing lenses when up there.

last time I was told to keep the shutter at 1/3200 and that worked well. Now with the limited light it's a puzzle for me. Any suggestions would be great.

From the lenses you mentioned, I think the 18-55 should serve you well. I used the 10-24 when I took a helicopter tour and had no issues with sharpness at 1/500. I think the OIS helps in these conditions. If you have access to the 10-24 I'd highly recommend it.

10-24 at 1/500 with OIS on

I was lucky enough to experience a similar helicopter flight over Ayers Rock 9 years ago, but at sunset rather than sunrise.

At the time I was using a Minolta Dynax 5D (6MP!) camera together with a Sigma DC 17-70mm 2.8-4.5 lens.  Based on that experience, I think the 18-55mm should serve you well for your trip.  Many of my shots were taken towards the wider end of my lens, with a few at the longer end.  I think the OIS in the 18-55mm  will be useful to you (the Dynax 5D had in-body stabilisation).  You'll also be able to take advantage of the great high ISO in the Fujis to keep your shutter speeds up.

I agree that it would be best to have yourself set up before you leave.  Space for extra gear or fiddling with lens changes can be very limited on these types of flights.  In New Zealand two years ago, I was only able to take one camera/one lens, anything else had to be left behind.

It's truly a spectacular place, I really hope you enjoy your experience.

Thanks for your helpful comments. I'll use the 18-55mm, and take my 14mm for when we land in Kings Canyon. Should be light and fairly flexible.

Thanks for your helpful comments. I can see the good sense in what you say. I'm certainly looking forward to it.