Air-Show Lens

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feenej

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Does anybody here photograph air-shows? I need a Minolta lens for the EAA Fly-In in OshKosh, Wisconsin this summer. I don't know if I should get a 200 or a 300 mm lens. I was thinking of getting pictures of the stunt airplanes in the sky. Canon Camera provides platforms at the flight line for photographers to use. I assume I can bring Minolta gear on the platforms, haha.
 
Oshkosh

Oshkosh

If you're shooting film, a 400. Digital-a 300mm works well. Most of the guys I know use the Canon 100-400L zoom or the 300IS for shooting planes in the air from the ground.

There's a bunch of stuff on my site from Oshkosh.

Go ahead and bring your Minolta-they'll just toss you off :eek:
 
feenej: I would suggest you consider abandoning the ubiquitous shots of planes flying by with a blue sky background. Instead, use a normal or wide angle to capture some of the unique aspects of the planes while they are static. Maybe even work some macro shots of the details.

Don Parsons has some good shots of planes in flight but most of his were shot from another plane flying above or nearby. You won't have that perspective.
 
sometimes, ubiquitous blue sky shots can be pretty cool too. :D

This was with my D100 and Nikon 500mm f8 reflex, handheld.

Bring as long a lens as you can find, and shoot asa 400 or faster. And don't forget your normal or wide lens to shoot the static shots, or to include the crowd or scenery with your fly-by shots.

--Warren
 

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feenej said:
Does anybody here photograph air-shows? I need a Minolta lens for the EAA Fly-In in OshKosh, Wisconsin this summer. I don't know if I should get a 200 or a 300 mm lens. I was thinking of getting pictures of the stunt airplanes in the sky. Canon Camera provides platforms at the flight line for photographers to use. I assume I can bring Minolta gear on the platforms, haha.
Click to expand...

I went to my first air show last year, and I learned a lot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigwam/sets/72157600948952895/

I had a 70~200 zoom on my Pentax *ist DS, and I believe it was not long enough. I will be returning this year - I'm taking a 300mm lens. I'm currently testing an old M42 300mm prime and an old used Tamron 90~300 AF zoom. I'll take whichever one works best at the longer focal lengths.

What I also learned - some guys bring tripods - and don't use them. Most everyone shoots hand-held. A few will use monopods.

Being near the flightline is great for takeoffs, landings, and touch-and-goes, but a lot of great shots happen more or less straight up - so wherever you are, if you can look up, you're good.

Change ends of the runway to match the sun's position so you don't shoot contre jour and get silhouettes (unless that's what you want).

Bring water - the day gets long and the stuff they sell at the air shows costs a bunch.

Bring a folding chair. There are never enough seats, sitting on the ground kind of sucks, and the day gets long.

Polarizing filter.

Lots o' batteries and memory cards if you're shooting digital. Hard to review shots for sharpness while things are going on. I reverted to 'pray and spray' and in this case, it seemed to be a fairly good idea. I routinely filled up my memory buffer, so I loved my fast cards and cursed my slow ones.

I am not entirely sure if I prefer AF or MF for these events. I may try both this year and see which works better. My lens did hunt from time to time, and refused to lock on, or focused on the wrong point - but some newer dSLRs have better AF than mine. Very frustrating when you miss a shot due to the stupid camera refusing to take the photo when you press the button. An argument for MF, I guess.

If you can do it - and some people can - keep both eyes open while you peer at the sky, especially when there are more than two planes that cross paths. You need to anticipate where they will cross each other - if you see them both in your viewfinder, you will not be getting that shot - too late. You have to lead them like shooting ducks.

Also practice your panning techniques. It helps.

Look for crowd reaction shots if you like that kind of thing. Zooms are good if you can rack in and get more wide-angle kinds of things in between the exciting stuff in the air.

I guess there are some other things, but that's all that leaps to mind at the moment. I'm no expert - last time was the first time for me - but I made mental notes about what I did wrong, what equipment I needed and didn't have, and how I'd do it differently next time.

Good luck - have fun - airshows are great!
 
I used to live near Manston, the Battle of Britain aerodrome, where they had air days with all kinds of good stuff. I found a 300 too short for most sky shots and a 600 too long.

Cheers,

Roger
 
Roger Hicks said:
I used to live near Manston, the Battle of Britain aerodrome, where they had air days with all kinds of good stuff. I found a 300 too short for most sky shots and a 600 too long.

Cheers,

Roger
Click to expand...

Digital or film? I was thinking a 300mm was about right with a crop factor of 1.5 or 1.6 as in most dSLR cameras (Four Thirds users would have it a bit better). If I was shooting film, then yes, a 400 or longer, I would think.
 
Don Parsons said:
Here's some ground-to-air.

http://www.fairchild24.com/fighters.htm

At Osh, you won't have to worry about the sun being behind you.

He had some good hints, esp. bringing a hat and water.

I shoulda said "They'll just throw you off" Sorry.

Hope to see you there.
Click to expand...

Nice shots, Don! That brings to mind another tip I read somewhere about shooting air shows - use a 1/125 or slower shutter speed for propeller-driven planes, or you could end up with propellers 'frozen' in place, which looks odd on a plane in motion. The slight blur yours have on the propeller tips are perfect!

NOTE: And I did not think to mention a hat - but you're right. In my case, I'm egg-bald, so a hat is a requirement out of doors at any time - it is just a given for me - I'd no more think of going out without a hat than I would without my spectacles.
 
Even at a small local show, I found my Minolta MD 70-210 too short.

Got much better stuff shooting the crowds & static planes with a IIIf + Canon 50/1.8

I did get a really cool shot of a B17 fly-by with the IIIf - just followed it in 'til it filled up the SBOOI finder.
 
A 500mm lens is good for a film camera. I would go with a 300mm lens for a digital with a 1.3~1.5x crop.
 
I think everyone pretty much agrees on a 300+ for digital. I have a lot of shots here from my first airshow. I used a 70-200 F2.8 and 2x TC which gave me the 400 I was looking for. And a 20D.

http://johnmcd.zenfolio.com/p724341585

If you have a look at my shots the info will show the focal length used. I think on average it was over 300. And yes I should have lowered my shutter speed for more prop blur but I was to worried about shake at the long end.

I also took a few with my R3A and 40 1.4 Nokton.


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My mate holds my 'puny' setup on the left while my other mate shows off his 300 F2.8 monster. Note also the monopod head...

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Cheers - John
 
bean_counter said:
Even at a small local show, I found my Minolta MD 70-210 too short.

Got much better stuff shooting the crowds & static planes with a IIIf + Canon 50/1.8

I did get a really cool shot of a B17 fly-by with the IIIf - just followed it in 'til it filled up the SBOOI finder.
Click to expand...

Boy, would I like to see a B17 rumbling in!!! No such luck in Australia.

John
 
John

That monopod head looks suspiciously like one Bogen/Manfrotto made, is it? I used a Manfrotto one with a 300/2.8 on a tripod at an airshow and found it very good. It was easy to follow the action.

Bob
 
I live in Biggin Hill , and have just bought a Digital SLR - roll on this year ! I have been buzzed by Spitfires and Hurricanes and the Red Arrows !

The best years are those with dramatic skies - I have a lovely shot of a seaplane seemingly entering a storm , wait 'till late - a lone Spitfire flown by the late great Ray Hanna against a sunset ... i have an old manual Pentax K 80 / 200 - zoom - 120 / 300 on the K 1O D - can't wait !

dee
 
bmattock said:
Digital or film? I was thinking a 300mm was about right with a crop factor of 1.5 or 1.6 as in most dSLR cameras (Four Thirds users would have it a bit better). If I was shooting film, then yes, a 400 or longer, I would think.
Click to expand...
Dear Bill,

Film; sorry for not saying so. A classic case of "I knew what I meant, so you should have too."

Point fully taken.

Cheers,

R.
 
The extra weight of an 300 F2.8 lens at an air-show- did he really use F2.8? I would go with a 300/4. Even with a Polarizer, my 300/4.5 let me shoot some high shutter speeds to use hand-held.
 
On air shows I tend to use two cameras (well, sometimes 3 with the Nikon RF).
Right now the base set is a D200 with 1 18-200 and a D2H with a 80-400 VR with or without 1.4x TC.
A portable storage drive (JoboOne), Monopod (helps for resting), a walkstool chair, water and sunscreen (avoid sun burn) and the one here is ready.
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RedBull Air Race in Oporto here...
 
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