Advice on shooting an Airshow

Bend The Light

I am going to RAF Waddington Airshow in July and I am thinking of renting a lens to use while I am there.
I have a Canon 1d MkIIn.

I have looked at one of the big Sigma lenses, and also at the 100-400mm Canon L.

What I would like is twofold:

1. What lens would I be best getting? For the planes in the sky we will be sat in an enclosure alongside the runway, so the lens won't be carries on the camera very much. On the second day we will be doing the ground displays, so may use a different lens for that anyway (I have a 28-80 Tamron, and a 50mm f1.8).

2. What settings might I use for shots of planes in flight? I know there are several settings for the use of various focus points, auto-expansion of the focus points used etc. Shoot AV, TV Manual? And then also compensation on or off? Any advice specific to the 1dMKIIn or indeed, general advice, would be appreciated.

ian408

For consistent exposure, shoot manual mode with a min shutter speed of 1/500. Definitely meter off of a gray card with the sun to your back. Darker colored aircraft may require some compensation. As for lens selection, without knowing your other choices, I'd pick the 100-400 for flight and 24-80 for the static displays. I might consider both for the display day.

Probably not on your list is hearing protection. Whether ear plugs or over-ear, make sure you take something as the constant loud can damage your hearing.

pathfinder

Sounds like a great opportunity.

What lens to purchase depends a great deal on your budget, of course. I own a 100-400 and rarely use it. I tend to prefer my Tamron 200-500 for airplanes, since IS really doesn't help that much when panning rapidly for planes in flight. Using a Wimberly head on a tripod is best, but rarely allowed unless you are an officially sanctioned photographer, and I was not. If you shoot Nikon, their 200-400 would be ideal, but Canon's is still just a fantasy for most of us yet, although there have been some videos of it in use.

I also carry a second body with a wide angle, like a 16-35mm for close ups of planes on the flight line on the ground. I keep a speedlite handy for fill flash for shooting on the flight line as well, puts some pop in those nice old radial engines.

For spinning propellers, keep your shutter speed below 1/250th or even 1/125th so the blades are nicely blurred. For jets, the fastest shutter speed for a given ISD will be fine.

Shoot in Manual mode if you are comfortable with that, as that will keep your exposures more consistent from frame to frame, but remember to change your exposure if the plane goes from sunlit to shade. Or if that is frustrating at times, then shoot Tv, or Av and watch your shutter speed. Some sportshooters, and some wildlife shooters, like to shoot Tv with Auto ISO, and that can work pretty nicely too. Shoot in Servo mode for planes in flight, with an enlarged central AF point. Focus-recompose errors do not matter at the distances you will be shooting at for planes in the air. On the ground, use single AF point selected to match the image focus point, not AF Servo.

The new Sigma 120-300 f2.8 EX DG OS looks like a lens that might work well for airshows on an APS-H body like the 1DMkIIn. I just like my Tamron 200-500 because it is so light, and can reach still out. It is not fast, but then airshows are not shot near sunrise or sunset, like wildlife.

I don't shoot a lot of planes, but some of my images can be found here and you can read the exif data to see what they were shot with - http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Airplanes

A brief teaser about the Canon 200-400 - we will all have to rent it I am afraid.

http://vimeo.com/58774795

A couple threads of mine about an airshow - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1430428 and here - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=670508

Bend The Light

ian408 wrote: »

For consistent exposure, shoot manual mode with a min shutter speed of 1/500. Definitely meter off of a gray card with the sun to your back. Darker colored aircraft may require some compensation. As for lens selection, without knowing your other choices, I'd pick the 100-400 for flight and 24-80 for the static displays. I might consider both for the display day.

Probably not on your list is hearing protection. Whether ear plugs or over-ear, make sure you take something as the constant loud can damage your hearing.

Thank you. Hearing is not an issue, I am already 70% loss on the right and 40% loss on the left.

pathfinder wrote: »

Sounds like a great opportunity.

What lens to purchase depends a great deal on your budget, of course. I own a 100-400 and rarely use it. I tend to prefer my Tamron 200-500 for airplanes, since IS really doesn't help that much when panning rapidly for planes in flight. Using a Wimberly head on a tripod is best, but rarely allowed unless you are an officially sanctioned photographer, and I was not. If you shoot Nikon, their 200-400 would be ideal, but Canon's is still just a fantasy for most of us yet, although there have been some videos of it in use.

I also carry a second body with a wide angle, like a 16-35mm for close ups of planes on the flight line on the ground. I keep a speedlite handy for fill flash for shooting on the flight line as well, puts some pop in those nice old radial engines.

For spinning propellers, keep your shutter speed below 1/250th or even 1/125th so the blades are nicely blurred. For jets, the fastest shutter speed for a given ISD will be fine.

Shoot in Manual mode if you are comfortable with that, as that will keep your exposures more consistent from frame to frame, but remember to change your exposure if the plane goes from sunlit to shade. Or if that is frustrating at times, then shoot Tv, or Av and watch your shutter speed. Some sportshooters, and some wildlife shooters, like to shoot Tv with Auto ISO, and that can work pretty nicely too. Shoot in Servo mode for planes in flight, with an enlarged central AF point. Focus-recompose errors do not matter at the distances you will be shooting at for planes in the air. On the ground, use single AF point selected to match the image focus point, not AF Servo.

The new Sigma 120-300 f2.8 EX DG OS looks like a lens that might work well for airshows on an APS-H body like the 1DMkIIn. I just like my Tamron 200-500 because it is so light, and can reach still out. It is not fast, but then airshows are not shot near sunrise or sunset, like wildlife.

I don't shoot a lot of planes, but some of my images can be fund here and you can read the exif data to see what they were shot with - http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Airplanes

A brief teaser about the Canon 200-400 - we will all have to rent it I am afraid.

http://vimeo.com/58774795

A thread of mine about an airshow - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1430428 and here - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=670508

Good stuff. Reading and digesting. Thanks.

Bend The Light

So, I have a large Sigma on order for this (best sort my monopod, eh?). But I have also been advised to get a WA for the static displays as getting shots from further way will be tough, I'll need to go close and wider.
Any advice on a decent WA (zoom?) to go with the 1DIIn (1.3x crop)?

Thanks

pathfinder

EOS 16-35 f2.8 II is my preference. Sigma makes a 12-24 f4.4-5.6' and Tokina makes a super wide zoom as well.
My Canon 16-35 just seems like a great one.

Or an EOS 24-105 f4 IS L can work well too

Bend The Light

Yeah, looking at the 16-35...top of my list now.

AFBlue

Great advice from Pathfinder. Especially his warning about shutter speeds on propeller-driven aircraft. I suggest you go more for 1/125 (or less). At 1/500th, you are going to have frozen props (no blur on the blades, just clear, crisp, completely stopped blades). And that is a BIG no-no in aviation photography. Even 1/125th can be too fast for some big props and helicopters.
Whether hand-held or using some sort of panning head, practice your panning before shooting the show. If your panning speed is out of sync with your subject, you've just wasted a bunch of pixels.

Bend The Light

AFBlue wrote: »

Great advice from Pathfinder. Especially his warning about shutter speeds on propeller-driven aircraft. I suggest you go more for 1/125 (or less). At 1/500th, you are going to have frozen props (no blur on the blades, just clear, crisp, completely stopped blades). And that is a BIG no-no in aviation photography. Even 1/125th can be too fast for some big props and helicopters.
Whether hand-held or using some sort of panning head, practice your panning before shooting the show. If your panning speed is out of sync with your subject, you've just wasted a bunch of pixels.

Yes, thank you. Good advice. I will go out and practice the panning. Only issue will be not being able to practise with the Bigma beforehand...well, not for long anyway. That may disappoint unless I can get on a big learning curve!

But I'm willing to gie it a go, and I should be fine with the ground displays so won't come away empty handed.

Cheers