National Air & Space Museum: How's the light?

Rob-F

Rob-F

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National Air & Space Museum: How's the light?

Sue and I will be in Washington DC near the end of this month. I'd like to take the M8.2 and my M7 to keep down the size of my outfit for travel. But I wonder if I should bring the Nikon D700 instead, for its superior low-light performance. When I photographed the Air Force Museum in Ohio, I used Tri-X to 800, and shot some Delta 3200 at 1600. The extra speed was not wasted on those marginal lighting conditions. So I'm wondering if ISO 650, the highest setting on the M8.2 that gives really good results, will be enough, or if I should take the D700 instead. We will be traveling by car, so the D700 would not be terribly inconvenient from that point of view; but I'd much rather carry the Leica if I could get away with it under those lighting conditions.
 
Rob, the large displays in the main museum on the Mall are lit by pointed spots, but mostly by natural light from glass ceilings. Off the main "hall" there are various rooms which are all lit differently. My opinion is that the points of interest of each display is well lit and has been in the range for exposure for the cameras I had, rangefinders and digi p&s cams. Keep in mind that this museum does get very crowded so taking wide shots of large displays is hard. I found I was taking shots of specific parts of the displays due to the crowds.

The larger and most impressive displays are at Dullis Airport in the Udvar-Hazy hanger. If you have a vehicle during your visit I highly recommend a trip to this facility.
 
Hi Rob,

When I visited the NASM at Dulles it was a bright but hazy day and the light was, how can I say it... mediocre at best. The downtown NASM was actually worse with some extreme contrast shooting exhibits against the big windows.

I would recommend you take your D700. If you have a lens with VR that will make things a lot easier.

Here is a link to my gallery of NASM pics shot with a D300:

http://www.pbase.com/smcleod965/air_and_space_museum&page=all

If you click on any of the pics they show the ISO, aperture and shutter speeds so depending what lens/es you're planning to use you can extrapolate for your D700.

The D300 is not a great high-ISO cam (about 2 stops worse than my D700) but the 16-85 VR lens is a winner, and having a zoom in those cramped conditions made all the difference between getting the shots I was after, and not. While I was often "up against it" in terms of hand-holdable shutter speeds due to the slow lens, it also meant that I had a lot more DOF to play with than if I'd been using a fast prime wide open. Horses for courses...

Enjoy your trip - they are awesome museums!

Regards,
Scott
 
ISO 640 will be no issue at the Downtown or Udvar Hazy.

I have used the 35/2.8 Summaron on the M3 loaded with Kodacolor 400 without issue. On the M8 and M9, I will use ISO 160 for many shots.
 
Depends on how bright the day is. Using ISO 640 or 400 will probably be OK, but I would anticipate a fair number of shots at 1/30 or 1/15. I can hand-hold a rangefinder with a 35mm or 50mm at these speeds, but not with longer lenses. A 35mm or 50mm lens would work well for both of these settings because you actually get to the opportunity to get quite close the most of the planes, 5-15 yards or so.
 
Bright day last February, all CV15mm on Tri-X @ 400 and they were braced up @ 1/15-1/30 as Dex mentions. It's easier to go wide to reduce speeds, but background distractions are the biggest issue (I'd do some burning on these, if I were printing them). A short, fast tele would be helpful there.

DC007.jpg


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DC011.jpg


If you are plane-crazy, I would plan a day at Dulles (Udvar-Hazy), too.
 
Thanks for the advice so far. I have the 15mm and 18mm for the D700, though I would not bother with the heavy and bulky 15. I could use 18 or 20; 24; 28; 35 and 50; or a couple of (slow) zooms over this range. The weight and bulk adds up though.

Or I could carry the M8.2 and the 21/2.8; 28/2; 35/1.4/50/1.4 and maybe 75/2. Plus the M7 with some fast film. Probably Tri-X, some Delta 400, and what's left of my Neopan 400. Seems like a more fun way to spend the day if the light will allow it. I could always try a few at ISO 1250 if need be. I don't know if I would risk 2500! The results can be quite variable!
 
It looks like the larger aircraft and the military ones are at Udvar-Hazy, is that right? Makes sense. Easier to bring an airplane to the airport.

Love the shots of the SR-71 Blackbird and the Shuttle! Is that Enterprise? I think I might like Udvar-Hazy the best!
 
The SR-71, Enterprise, Concorde, Enola Gay, and some other "Big Ones" are at the Udvar Hazy.

Downtown has more setups for Kids- basically a kids Science room. Udvar Hazy has "stay in place" rides for kids. Nikki likes the Space Shuttle Simulator in "Three-Dimensions".

This is with the C-Sonnar on my M8, ISO 160, Wide-open at F1.5. Hand Held.

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100% crop:

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no tripods or bipods are allowed. Monopods are Okay. I just shoot hand-held, plenty of light.
 
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The restoration and overflow storage of NASM planes used to be at Silver Hill (which used to be open to the public). Most of the completed planes were moved to Udvar-Hazy (Dulles airport) over the past 10 yrs. I'm not sure how much restoration goes on at Garber anymore - it seems most has moved to Dulles.

NASM generally holds the planes of greatest historic significance, unless they can't fit. I haven't flown any planes in NASM, but at least 6 in U-H.
(I'd probably swap Post's Lockheed above back into NASM in exchange for Lindbergh's Lockeed on the 'significance' basis, but Lindbergh's "Tingmissartoq" is just a wonderful machine.)

- Charlie
.
 
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I wasn't allowed off of work for that, must've been quite the sight. I've read they may be getting one of the 'real' ones to replace it, definitely have to get there to see it arrive if that comes to pass.

Brian Sweeney said:
I saw this one fly in:
Nikkor 24/2.8 on the M8, via adapter.

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Click to expand...
 
Best way to Dulles is to drive. The Smithsonian doesn't have a shuttle service out to the airport and from my inquiries public transportation is not a reasonable option.
 
Agree that public transport out to Dulles is slow, and would not be preferred option is you had a car at your disposal
 
I had just landed on a grass strip at sunset, visiting a friend near Dulles on a still, warm summer evening when the 307 broke the quiet, circling low, on her last flight.

She had just come out of restoration (2nd time...quite a story there), sounding like distant thunder and glowing like a orange mirror. It was sublime.

.
 
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I was at the Udvar-Hazy center a few weeks ago, on a rainy day. The light is a bit challenging but ISO 400-800 is doable. The bigger challenge as mentioned above is the density of the exhibits, meaning lots of obstructions and limited working space. Also, many of the cool artifacts (even some of the engines) are in glass display cases so reflections make shooting those nearly impossible. I mainly used my E-P2 with Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake.


Wings by cjcam, on Flickr


Bristol Jupiter XIIIF by cjcam, on Flickr


Nemesis by cjcam, on Flickr


Boeing FB-5 by cjcam, on Flickr
 
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