I'm planning a trip which will include a 1 hour hot air balloon ride. Any suggestion for getting images and tech priority, such as lens and shutter speed.
If I had to guess right off the top of my head, I'd say a 1/250th or faster (generally) and a 200mm minimum?
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1) Absolutely positively try and get a balloon ride near dawn or dusk. The low raking light will make everything on the ground "pop" into relief, contrast will be reasonable, and you might get the bonus of some fog. Shoot at mid-day, and it'll be dullsville.
2) One camera body with a longish lens (like a 70-200) and another with a wide zoom, like a 24-70 or 16-35, both secured to your person. You can actually get some cool shots with the horizon and sun in the frame with the wide end. You really don't want to be changing lenses or juggling equipment very much, and you absolutely don't want a camera bag in the balloon with you getting in everyone's way. And God help you if you drop 6 pounds of lens & camera from 200 feet over an inhabited neighborhood.
3) Balloons aren't like light planes; there's basically no vibration whatsoever, and they drift along at a pretty modest pace, so a super fast shutter speed is less of an issue. Whatever shutter speed you usually need for "sharp enough" at a given focal length will generally do the trick.
