Taking photos from a plane?

I need to know what kind of lens would be reccomended to take pictures from a plane of agricultural farms and buildings from teh air. I dont really know which altitude but I'm assuming that there would be some sort of zoom lens like 100mm to 350mm or something like that. I dont actually know which lenses would be good but I'm hoping I can get some imput. I would like to take pictures of agriculture like this so that I can make money over the summer. I hope I get some good reccomendations. P.s I have an olympus evolt e300 so lenses are kind of expensive. but I dont think it should be too bad if I get a good idea of what I'm taking on. thanx.

I think most small single engine planes fly around 2000' so I don't think you'll need a lens as long as you think. The Olympus DSLR's have a 2x crop factor so more of a normal lens should be fine. Obviously you'll be shooting hand held so you'd need a really fast shutter speed to use a long lens especially with a plane moving around a lot.

I'd probably use my 28-80 mostly but an 80-200 might come in handy too - but my sensor has a crop factor of 1.5x.

I shoot with a Canon 1D, which has a crop factor of 1.3 and have used a Canon 28-135 several times very successfully. I've also got a friend that does aerial photography professionally using Nikon equipment and I believe the only lense he uses is a 28-80. It really depends on whether or not you want to zoom in on a particular building or get a wider shot of a farmstead or field.

Unfortunately I can't suggest anything for your camera since I'm not familiar with what Olympus offers. But something in the range of 28-80 should work.

I hung out of a plane without a parachute using a 80mm to 200mm zoom with a polarizing filter. Haze is a difficult problem to overcome. Early morning or late afternoon is best for lighting as long as mist is not there to complicate the shots.

Ronnoco

thanx guys that really helped me get a feel for the concept