Can I get some tips for shooting an airshow?

[TMR Design]

Hello all,

I am going to Atlantic City next week to see an Air Force Thunderbirds airshow and I am trying to get some tips and pointers for shooting sometihng like this.
I have an A620 and the converter tube with both UV and a circular polarizing filter.
I am assuming these jets will be moving at high rates of speed and doing maneuvers. I don't know how high up they are when doing these things.

Are there settings you can suggest and do I use the polarizing filter? Do I use shutter priority? If so, what shutter speeds? I want some pictures that stop time and also have some with a degree of motion blur for effect.

Thanks.

[TMR Design]

I hope someone sees this post and gives me some pointers. It would really help me alot to know what to expect in terms of camera settings for this type of thing.

[Jon]

Meter the ground and shoot in M mode. For that matter, you can probably also set the camera to manual focus and infinity - if they get within 150 ft of you (which would be passing directly overhead) you'll be holding your ears instead of taking photos. MF and M exposure will reduce shutter lag a lot, so when you take the picture you won't press the button and wait as the plane(s) zip by. Polarizer - depends on the light conditions - if it's sunny and you're lucky enough to be facing north it may well help; if you're looking into the sun most of the time it'll just drop your shutter speed a couple of stops to no particular end.

[TMR Design]

The show was great and I got some amazing pictures. One thing I am wondering is ........ The jets were going incredibly fast so I was using a high shutter speeds between 1/1000 and 1/2000 and it captured them very well. When the prop planes were going by I did not change the shutter speed and I ended up getting 'frozen' propellers. How much should I have slowed down the shutter to get the blades spinning?

[Jon]

Props - around 1/250 or slower. Helicopter rotors are typically around 300 RPM, so they can be a little faster, but not much.

[TMR Design]

Thanks. Yes, I just looked and the helicoptor blades are frozen as well. I kept thinking everything was moving so fast so I never used slower shutter speeds.