Official Aviation Thread...

[FLYNAVY]

If any of you PNW guys are going to the Hillsboro show this weekend, I'll be the legacy Hornet/ F/A-18C static display……come say hi if you are around!

[flyboyx]

i just googled it.

i have to say the schedule looks pretty exciting.


Frontier Friday Night, August 5th

6:00 PM Gates open
7:30 PM Show starts 10:30 PM Gates Close


Oregonian/Oregonlive Saturday August 6th & Sunday, August 7th

9:00 AM Gates open
11:00 AM Show starts 5:00 PM Gates Close

this is pretty much the entire web site for the airshow. wtf? can't they come up with anything better than this?

anyway, if i were closer, i would stop in.

[BlackbirdM3]

Who got media credentials for the Reno Air races? This guy! I'll be shooting from the pylons in two weeks. Time to put the Nikon 200-500mm lens to work. I think I might attempt 3 days of shooting.

Instead of shooting this...

I'll be shooting this...

(Ken Burkhalter photo)

I can't believe I got media credentials. It was such a long shot, but I'm going to take the opportunity and run.

Will

[flyboyx]

we are expecting great things out of you! don't disappoint us.

[BlackbirdM3]

we are expecting great things out of you! don't disappoint us.

Hahahah, oh boy... I did just get a 500mm lens so I have the reach. I haven't yet had a chance to shoot airplanes with it. I'm getting pretty good results with it at the racetrack, but this is going to be a learning experience. With a lens this size, its a bit like shooting a rifle with a very long barrel. Its heavy and as you pan, it needs lots of space to you don't smack the lens into things. It also takes some strenght to lift and hold the thing. That said, check out the detail it captures...


The lens is crazy sharp. I'm just having trouble shooting really slow shutter speeds with it. I'm getting better however

Will

[flyboyx]

Im to the point now that i wont buy an slr lens unless it has optical image stabilization. It helps a good bit with the monopod. Especially if you need to pan.

[BlackbirdM3]

The new lens has normal image stabilization and panning specific stabilization. What kinda bugs me is that I can't feel if its working or not. My old 70-300 lens I can hear and feel it ticking and twitching as it does its thing. This one is totally silent. As I've been processing my shots from the Monterey Historics, I keep wondering if its working as shots that should be tack sharp are not, yet others are. Its hard to tell.

I can't pan with a monopod, the damn thing gets in the way. Its hand held or bust here. It really only becomes an issue if I'm trying to shoot insanely slow speeds (like 1/125 or less) with a fast moving target. If I shoot 1/160+ the large majority of my shots are sharp and clear, even at 500mm.

Will

[mrsleeve]

With my 150-600 I can shoot down to 1/100th on non moving targets and get pretty good number of keepers with the V/C, I/S, or what ever Tamron calls it out past 450mm so long as I can get into a good steady position... If its moving that drops to about 50/50 and if its moving fast, there is a better chance of hell freezing over than getting something usable. Now if I bump up to 1/160th or 1/200th I can get moving critters at about a 80% hit ratio and the I/S is working hard at those slower speeds at the far end of the focal length

All this said sounds like your I/S is working to add about 2-3 stops of shutter speed on the bottom end which is about par for the course, IIRC canons new state of the art white 70-200 IS II claims 3-4 stops of slower shutter. I think you will be fine shooting 1/200th or 250th on airplanes in the Reno desert with all that bright sunshine. How slow do you have to be to get some prop blur on a race plane 1/400th ought to do hadnt it?? I was getting Heli blades to stop at a 640th but they spin much slower.

[bradmer]

I can't believe I got media credentials.

Take something for audio to catch the fastest piston driven anything fly by that close. Went to Stead during the 80's often and that event is amazing. Static display is top notch including Bud and Miller girls...

[BlackbirdM3]

With my 150-600 I can shoot down to 1/100th on non moving targets and get pretty good number of keepers with the V/C, I/S, or what ever Tamron calls it out past 450mm so long as I can get into a good steady position... If its moving that drops to about 50/50 and if its moving fast, there is a better chance of hell freezing over than getting something usable. Now if I bump up to 1/160th or 1/200th I can get moving critters at about a 80% hit ratio and the I/S is working hard at those slower speeds at the far end of the focal length

All this said sounds like your I/S is working to add about 2-3 stops of shutter speed on the bottom end which is about par for the course, IIRC canons new state of the art white 70-200 IS II claims 3-4 stops of slower shutter. I think you will be fine shooting 1/200th or 250th on airplanes in the Reno desert with all that bright sunshine. How slow do you have to be to get some prop blur on a race plane 1/400th ought to do hadnt it?? I was getting Heli blades to stop at a 640th but they spin much slower.

To get a full prop circle on a P-51 at race power, 1/125. maybe 1/80

This is 1/200

1/160

1/125

1/125 (at about 490 mph...)


The prop reduction gears are pretty large on the unlimiteds.

The lens I'm shooting supposedly has a 4.5 stop reduction with the VR working. I still have to wonder if mine actually is. I think I should have a far higher success rate on slow shutter speed shots.

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/camera-lenses/af-s-nikkor-200-500mm-f%252f5.6e-ed-vr.html

I have no way of shooting audio, or video.

Will

[flyboyx]

I think your Nikon should have a video mode? You can buy(if you wanted) a decent microphone on Amazon that plugs into your camera for around 25 bucks or less. That said, you may not have any interest in shooting vids and that's all well and good too. It would be really hard to shoot non jittery movies with that lens toward its longest focal length.

You might try experimenting with offsetting your subject(the airplane) slightly to the side of your frame so to appears to be moving into the photo. If you don't like the result, you can always crop it down a little.

[BlackbirdM3]

I think your Nikon should have a video mode? You can buy(if you wanted) a decent microphone on Amazon that plugs into your camera for around 25 bucks or less. That said, you may not have any interest in shooting vids and that's all well and good too. It would be really hard to shoot non jittery movies with that lens toward its longest focal length.

You might try experimenting with offsetting your subject(the airplane) slightly to the side of your frame so to appears to be moving into the photo. If you don't like the result, you can always crop it down a little.

I think a D600 can shoot video, but that isn't what its designed to do. Cannon went after the DSLR video niche, Nikon stayed true to the still frame crowd. Personally, if I wanted to shoot video, I'd use a real video camera, not a any sort of DSLR.

Offsetting the subject in the frame is easier done with post processing, I just crop it offset. To shoot with the focus point offset first is too damn hard. (Auto tracking focus doesn't seem to work for shooting the way I do. I get lots of crap, random things focused on, random spots on things focused on, rarely a good shot however. I just use a single focus point in the center, and try and hold the spot I focus on still as I pan. That seems to be the way I get the most clear shots.)

How much motion blur do you want to show speed? haha.





I have to be honest, I'm really looking forward to shooting these guys this year. I'll finally be close enough to see them.




The T6 class should be great as well.


Will

[flyboyx]

snapping good closeups of objects moving 400+ mph isn't easy. i was curious as to how old your camera is? not that i'm suggesting buying the latest and greatest. i just wonder if new autofocus technology would help?

last year i used my 15 year old sigma 300 2.8(non ultrasonic motor) on my cheap canon sl1(basically current technology) at a nascar race in michigan. we had pit passes so i took a lot of shots from just behind the pit wall. in some cases, less than 100 feet away. they are a lot slower than airplanes, but i had relatively good results with the auto focus. i would say from that aspect, only about 1(perhaps 2) out of 5 were blurry. considering how old and clunky the lens is, i thought it did pretty well.

edit: also, i had the camera set to predictive autofocus mode. i think canon calls it ai servo. that made a big difference. if i remember, i started shooting in "one shot" mode and it definitely had more misses.

[BlackbirdM3]

I shoot a D600, pretty much a D610 with a different shutter, except that mine has been upgraded to a d610 shutter. I also tried it with my D7000, predictive autofocus flat out is useless. Its not the lens's fault, its the camera trying to figure out what you are focusing on. I've tried getting it to work for car races, birds, you name it. If its moving, the thing focuses on something other than what I want. Other people tell me it works really well, but I have yet to get good shots with it turned on. I run a center focus point, with constant focusing, hold the target on the center point and shoot.

Will

[flyboyx]

wow. thats really odd. i don't have any experience with autofocus nikon. i wish i had some useful advice for you.


maybe a solution would be to turn off the auto focus, set the focus manually just inside of infinity and select f8 or so in aperture priority. that should make everything sharp from about say 300 feet to infinity. when an airplane flies into your zone of focus, snap away.