Airshow camer settings

[cruisinbeatz]

Im going to an airshow hopefully this weekend and I was wondering does anyone know what kind of settings would be the best for this situation, my lens is limited so unfortunatly I cant be that adventurouus (sorry about spelling).

Nikon D80, 18-135mm Lens, 50-200mm VR lens.

 

[redbaron]

Have a look at

http://airfoto.photosite.pl/index.en.html

 

[jr1104]

Really wish I had the opportunity to go to an airshow. Are there any websites that show all the ones in Britain, or do you just have to keep an eye out for posters and ads?

 

[-RV-]

This ones got a good calendar http://www.militaryairshows.co.uk/listing.htm

 

[jr1104]

Great, thanks

 

[Tysonator]

Duxford this weekend !

 

[Bluelion]

You might even be able to see the planes there through the rain This year, like last has been terrible for weather. Roll on 2009

 

[BUFF]

Major UK aviation photo forum http://forums.airshows.co.uk/

 

[DJ_Switch]

Looking forward to this as well. I'm flying down from here tomorrow for Duxford at the weekend. I'm in the same position with the 50 - 200 on a D70s. Hopefully I'll be able to catch something but it's going to be a bit of trial and error. Hope you enjoy the show.

 

[^^Gord^^]

There is a lot to know but I will try to condense it down to a few major points.....

Pick your position well, you don't want to end up shooting into the sun as the day goes on.
Unless you are panning a take off or landing use between 1/500 and 1/1000 for fast jets; 1/125 to 1/250 for props / helos.
Use AI Servo (not sure what Nikon's name for it is).
Use centre point focus.
Shoot in bursts but try not to fill the buffer.
Don't use image stabilisation unless you are shooting props / helos.

And the most important, get the exposure right! You will be shooting usually a light coloured object against a strong light source. It's very easy to under expose the aircraft and you end up with a very dark underside. Use exposure compensation and check the histogram.

 

[BUFF]

Don't use image stabilisation unless you are shooting props / helos.

I'm interested why you recommend this?
Most of the people that I know (with different systems) use it most of the time & lens like Canon's 100-400mm L IS have a separate panning mode in IS.
Fair enough it won't help with subject movement but it should possibly help with shake due to using a large & heavy lens (let's face it we can't always get 1/500-1/1000 in this country with grey skies, long lens & middling apertures).

 

[King_Boru]

(let's face it we can't always get 1/500-1/1000 in this country with grey skies, long lens & middling apertures).

You'd be surprised.

Good advise from ^^Gord^^. He is a very good aviation photographer. As mentioned stay clear of IS/VR for fast moving objects. Helicopters would be fine though. Personally I would recommend using Manual exposure mode, all day, every day, every show. You have complete control and the end results can be far better. Though metering systems have come a long way they still struggle with aviation (airborne). Every aircraft has different light reflecting properties and every day presents a new challenge for getting the right exposure. Scattered cloud coverage is the worst and having your settings pre configured for both sunny and overcast is very rewarding. Completely overcast days are great along with completely blue skies as you will usually only need to adjust your settings as light increases toward mid day and as it decreases toward the afternoon.

Semi automatic modes, for me are far too unpredictable, like I mentioned, every aircraft is read differently by the camera and exposure varies too much for my liking.

It takes a while to master airshow photography as there is a lot more to it than taking a well exposed photograph. Positioning, composition, timing, framing, action and many other factors come into consideration.

Best of luck for Duxford. I would recommend walking up past the tank museum as you get the best flypasts from way up that way.

 

[^^Gord^^]

Cheers King Boru!

The reason I say to switch IS off is for two reasons....

1) It slows down auto-focus. Give it a test, pick two objects, one far away and one closer. Focus on the closer one, get a focus lock and then change to the far away one and see how long it takes to get a lock on that. Compare with IS on and off.

2) This one is a more debatable point. IS in mode 2 works by detecting movement in either the horizontal or vertical path. Which ever axis is moving it will damp (or try to) out movement in the other path. If the movement is diagonal it will not damp in either direction (effectively it switches off). It also re-evaluates which axis is moving so it can change from one to the other. With something like an air display you are going to have movement in all the axis, including a lot in the diagonal axis and I don't believe IS can keep up with these rapid changes.

 

[BUFF]

You'd be surprised.

I've only been doing it for 30 years so yes, I would be (at least up here in the frozen North) ...

At least up here if you are shooting aviation Oct- Mar (admittedly not too many airshows then but there have been more than a few grey & wet airshows this summer) with a 400mm (effective 600mm + in 35mm terms) f5.6 max lens on a grey day you are going to end up at ISO1600 & probably still not get 1/500.

"Completely overcast days are great "
I'm going to disagree with this one as often the cloud (again at least up here) becomes like a giant diffuser/reflector & imo shooting objects against it is far worse than against a blue sky.
The possibility exists that this is due to a difference in metering systems/use though.
& of course grey aircraft (most military these days) against grey skies rarely looks good.

The reason I say to switch IS off is for two reasons....

1) It slows down auto-focus. Give it a test, pick two objects, one far away and one closer. Focus on the closer one, get a focus lock and then change to the far away one and see how long it takes to get a lock on that. Compare with IS on and off.

2) etc. etc.

OK, this is going to be a system dependent thing then, in-lens (so Canon & probably Nikon too) IS/VR may be affected but in-body IS systems (Olympus, Pentax, Samsung & Sony) won't be as they don't have the second or so initial lag & any subsequent element movement.
Still, plenty of Canon shooters still use IS so it's obviously a personal choice.

 

[King_Boru]

probably still not get 1/500.

You don't need to be shooting at 1/500, even for fast jets. a lot of the time 1/250 and even lower works just fine and I am sure your panning technique after 30 years of aviation photography is good enough to cope with using slower shutter speeds.

Not going to argue with you but I suppose it is all down to varying technique.

For the record I worked as a full time freelance aviation photographer and had a very successful client base including Air Canada - Jazz, Coastal Pacific and Great Northern (floatplanes). If I hadn't of been offered sponsorship to obtain my commercial pilots license I would still be doing it.

 

[^^Gord^^]

OK, this is going to be a system dependent thing then, in-lens (so Canon & probably Nikon too) IS/VR may be affected but in-body IS systems (Olympus, Pentax, Samsung & Sony) won't be as they don't have the second or so initial lag & any subsequent element movement.
Still, plenty of Canon shooters still use IS so it's obviously a personal choice.

I'm a Canon user so I can only really comment on their system but I'm willing to bet Nikon will have the same limitation.

I can't see how the in-camera systems will be better. Any lag will be down to the processing of the movement not the location of the IS system. You would also still be limited by not having it working in the diagonal axis.

 

[Tysonator]

If the weather is permitting I will make my way to Duxford tomorrow.
Any one wish to meet up ?

 

[Troop]

Fast AF and high shutter speed, thats all I use to take my Aircraft shots,

 

[Tysonator]

I like that shot, the heat haze from the exhurst is great !

 

[BUFF]

You don't need to be shooting at 1/500, even for fast jets. a lot of the time 1/250 and even lower works just fine

I agree with you but I took as the starting point for the discussion Gord's recommendation for fast jets of between 1/500-1/1000 (which again I have no argument against if you can get it) & IS off.
However, a slower shutter speed should add to the argument for using IS/VR which obviously he acknowledges by saying that it's useful for props/helos (presumably due to lower subject speed & wish for prop/rotor blur).

Not going to argue with you but I suppose it is all down to varying technique.

well, it's not meant to be an argument but a discussion - I'm sure that technique, systems, personal preferences & local weather conditions all contribute.

I can't see how the in-camera systems will be better. Any lag will be down to the processing of the movement not the location of the IS system. You would also still be limited by not having it working in the diagonal axis.

In-lens IS/VR systems have an initial lag (usually around 1 sec) as they move the elements of the IS system & it settles. In-body sensor moving systems don't have this as they only move the sensor at the moment of shutter release*.
Then again at release I would imagine that the speed of movement of the sensor is of an order of magnitude faster than that of the elements of an IS lens as the moving mass is far lower.
So it's not a case of location of the IS but speed of response of the moving parts of the IS system.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about using IS in a diagonal axis situation on different systems (I'll take your word for Canon but they aren't the only ones with panning support) but I would imagine that it's possible for a system to process both axis (presumably 2 accelerometers) at once given enough processing power.



* there is at least 1 exception to this which is 1 of the 4/3 system cameras when used in LiveView mode - it's also an exception to the general rule that in-body IS doesn't show the effect of stabilisation on the image pre shutter release.