Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs. It is one of the longest-running, best-known, and most comprehensive home flight simulator programs on the market. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and differed significantly from Microsoft's other software. At 37 years old, it is the longest-running software product line for Microsoft, predating Windows by three years. Microsoft Flight Simulator may be the longest-running PC game series of all time.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is discussed as one of the best-looking video games to ever be released, and it contains a photo mode, which in Microsoft Flight Simulator is referred to as a Drone Camera.
Slew Mode
Slew is simply a useful shortcut way of quickly re-positioning your plane if you don't want to fly the normal way.
You can start the plane by enabling all the AI- Modes. If you have reached a stable flight position you can hit pause. Use key 'Y' to enter and exit Slew mode. Then you can move the plane in Slew to where you want it.
F1 to F4 are the slew altitude keys. If you want to Slew for many miles for whatever reason, push your joystick in the direction you want to go, and if it's not fast enough for you, hold down a keyboard arrow key at the same time to go to warp speed.
Drone Camera
- Entered into the Active Pause state (Pause)
- Press the Insert key on your keyboard
- This is how you toggle the Drone Camera on and off.
- You can also activate the Drone Camera by moving your mouse to the top of your screen and activating the top menu, then choosing Camera.
| Drone Control | Keyboard | Controller |
| Toggle Drone Depth of Field | F1 | B + Y |
| Toggle Foreground | F5 | B + left on d-pad |
| Drone Top Down View | Ctrl + Space | X + Y |
| Attach Drone to Next Target | Ctrl + Page Up | None |
| Attach Drone to Previous Target | Ctrl + Page Down | None |
| Toggle Drone Auto Exposure | Ctrl + F4 | Y + LS |
| Toggle Drone Auto Focus | F4 | B + LS |
| Decrease Drone Rotation Speed | F3 | X + RB |
| Decrease Drone Translation Speed | F1 | X + RT |
| Decrease Drone Depth of Field | F2 | B + LT |
| Increase Drone Depth of Field | F3 | B + RT |
| Decrease Drone Exposure | Ctrl + F2 | Y + LB |
| Increase Drone Exposure | Ctrl + F3 | Y + RB |
| Increase Drone Rotation Speed | F4 | X + LB |
| Increase Drone Translation Speed | F2 | X + LT |
| Lock Drone to Next Target | t | None |
| Lock Drone to Previous Target | Shift + t | None |
| Translate Drone Backward | s | Left Stick Down |
| Reset Drone Roll | Space | RB + LB |
| Translate Drone Up | r | RT |
| Translate Drone Right | d | Left Stick Right |
| Translate Drone Left | a | Left Stick Left |
| Translate Drone Forward | w | Left Stick Up |
| Translate Drone Down | f | LT |
| Reset Drone Target Offset | Num 5 | X + A |
| Pitch Drone Down | Num 2 | Right Stick Down |
| Roll Drone Right | Num 9 | RB |
| Pitch Drone Up | Num 8 | Right Stick Up |
| Yaw Drone Left | Num 4 | Right Stick Left |
| Yaw Drone Right | Num 6 | Right Stick Right |
| Roll Drone Left | Num7 | LB |
| Toggle Drone Follow Mode | Tab | Right Stick |
| Toggle Drone Lock Mode | Ctrl + Tab | Left Stick |
| Increase Drone Zoom | Num + | Y + RT |
| Decrease Drone Zoom | Num – | Y + LT |
| Toggle Plane Controls | c | None |
Free Camera Mode
You need to enable the Developer mode from the general settings. Start your normal flight, once you are loaded, in the top down menu, there is a Camera menu, press that and then choose Developer Camera. You can control the camera either from your keyboard or from your mouse by holding Alt + (left, middle or right) mouse button to control the camera. The mouse controls can be summarised like this:
- Alt + Left mouse button controls the orbit's camera.
- Alt + Center mouse button controls the pan camera.
- Alt + Right mouse button controls the camera zoom, height.
Weblinks
Eric Adams is a professional photographer and writer. He is impressed by the possibilities of the flight simulator: "Thanks to its fast "slew mode" and clever drone functionality, it allows users to move through the earth precisely, and to set up scenes with their preferred time, date, and weather conditions, giving photographers the ability to scout locations remotely in ways that Google Earth can’t even touch. You can experiment with lighting and weather to find out when you want to be there, how much time you’ll have to do your shooting before the light disappears, and what your optimal compositions might be as you slew around the environment exploring different angles and elevations and viewpoints. You can move with spooky ease to find your absolute best compositions." [1]