Suppressing reflections on the canopy
Reflections on the canopy becomes an issue when you fly under direct sunlight and have bright materials inside cockpit such as light color shirts and maps. Though sometimes it has an interesting effect, in general it's better not to have it. A polarizing filter (PL filter) can help this. Update: It turned out that PL filter does not help. It creates dark lines on the canopy no matter how you rotate the filter. See this album.
Better dynamic range
Since FX35's dynamic range isn't too great (which is typical for point-and-shoot cameras), photos sometimes have "blown-out highlights" on white parts such as top of clouds or wings, or "crushed blacks" on dark part such as shade under clouds.
Even-wider-angle lens
FX35's 24mm lens (35mm equivalent) is very useful, but I wanted to try something even wider in places like Grand Canyon.
My first candidate was Panasonic Lumix G1. It's an interchangeable-lens camera in micro four thirds category. It solves all three problems mentioned above, but a bit too bulky to fly with, and lacks video shooting capability (its enhanced version GH1 can shoot videos).
So, my pick was Panasonic Lumix LX3. This is one of the top-of-the-line cameras in this category. If this doesn't work, I really have to start thinking about bigger and heavier DSLRs.
Along with the camera, I also bought a Hoya Multi-Coat circular polarizing filter and a wide angle conversion lens DMW-LW46. This conversion lens gives me 18mm view angle at the widest.
I also bought a couple of extra batteries and a charger that doubles as AC charger and car charger on Ebay, and a remote lease adapter from this site.
I also considered Canon PowerShot G10, but Lumix won my bid because of its smaller size, wider lens (24mm v.s. 28mm), and because Lumix comes in gray. G10 has nice remote release options including wireless one, though.
Olympus's new micro four thirds camera may be a good choice. It's said to be announced on June 15, 2009, and be on the market by July, 2009.
Panasonic Lumix ZS3 may be a good candidate if I didn't care filters and other lens accessories. Someone posted a good quality video shot from glider on YouTube. This looks much better than what I shot with FX35.
Update: Sample photos and videos
I brought LX3 with me for the 80-day long gliding trip this summer. Here are some photos and videos I took with LX3 during the trip.
1. LX3 + DMW-LW46 at 18mm. This is the widest angle possible with this combination of camera and lens. This photo was taken over Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.
Click here to download the original JPEG file (4.4MB).
Click here to view more photos of this flight.
Click here to read my notes about this flight.
Click here to view the GPS log of this flight on OLC.
2. LX3 at 60mm. This is the longest zoom angle possible with this camera. This photo was taken at the same place as above.
Click here to download the original JPEG file (4.5MB).
3. A HD (720p) video shot by LX3 + DMW-LW46 at 18mm. This shot was taken over Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
Click here to download the original video (coming soon).
Click here to view photos of this flight.
Click here to read my notes about this flight.
Click here to view the GPS log of this flight on OLC.
4. A non-HD (480p) video shot by LX3 + DMW-LW46 at 18mm. This shot was taken at King Mountain glider park in Idaho.
Click here to download the original video (coming soon).
Click here to view more photos of King Mountain.
Click here to read my notes about this flight.
Click here to view the GPS log of this flight on OLC.
Useful links about LX3
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