Airshow Tips Needed

Hi All,

I am off to the Royal International Air Tattoo this weekend (if it stops raining in the UK!) Normally I photograph wildlife but as the air show is only 5 miles from where I live is seems rude not to go!

I will be giving my new Canon 300mm f4 L a go, I need some advice on shutter speeds for the day. What should I be looking at for the old propeller planes?

Also what AF points do you aviation photographers use? For my wildlife I stick to centre point unless I am deliberately trying to frame something off centre. How does this work for something moving as fast as a jet?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

1/320 will get you "acceptable" prop blur but if you're comfortable hand holding even slower, give 1/250 and down a go...
I always recommend Tv Mode so that all you have to worry about is changing shutter speeds with an eye toward maintaining an acceptable f/stop.
Your UK "summers" may require a bump in ISO though.

Using center point AF is fine. You're dealing with fairly large subjects that will be a goodly distance out so DOF should not be an issue (even at f/4)

If you peruse the "Show Us Your Best Three" thread in Transportation sharing, you'll see lots of good stuff with either the EXIF intact or laid out under the images.

For the old prop planes I generally aim at around 1/160th (with a 400mm) and drop a bit slower for some shots of each plane, so I typically have a sharp 1/160th "in the bag", then play with slower speeds for the "wow" shot with even more prop blur. If my panning isn't perfect at the slower speeds, it's not a big issue as I have a "safe" shot of each aircraft. With helicopters I go to 1/80th or 1/60th to catch some rotor blur, as rotors turn relatively slowly. At 300mm you should be able to go a bit slower with the shorter focal length.

Centre point works fine for aircraft, I generally try and plant it on the cockpit and hold it as steady as I can, on that one point of the aircraft for the whole pan.

Jets are easier, you can use a fast shutter speed and it's just a question of doing a half decent pan and getting your timing right.

Thanks for the advice, let's hope for some weather worthy of July!

More: Shooting airshows in Manual

This area of the forum is for image sharing, so I'm moving this to "T. Talk".

TheMightyDaff wrote in post #14661277
Hi All,I need some advice on shutter speeds for the day. What should I be looking at for the old propeller planes?
Dave

Prop blur examples:

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TheMightyDaff wrote in post #14661277
Hi All,

I am off to the Royal International Air Tattoo this weekend (if it stops raining in the UK!) Normally I photograph wildlife but as the air show is only 5 miles from where I live is seems rude not to go!

I will be giving my new Canon 300mm f4 L a go, I need some advice on shutter speeds for the day. What should I be looking at for the old propeller planes?

Also what AF points do you aviation photographers use? For my wildlife I stick to centre point unless I am deliberately trying to frame something off centre. How does this work for something moving as fast as a jet?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

Thanks for starting this thread, was going to ask exactly the same thing myself as I'll also be attending the Royal International Air Tattoo with an umbrella and waterproofs!

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14661306
Using center point AF is fine. You're dealing with fairly large subjects that will be a goodly distance out so DOF should not be an issue (even at f/4)

Thanks Jay. Center point AF is great for single aircraft demos but I'd like to know what you (and others) would recommend for formations? I don't think the 19pt is going to be able to handle that...it seems to easily distracted. Speaking from behind a 7D.

Glad I searched before starting a new thread

Good question, Mike. I'd like to hear how others handle formations too.

For myself, I normally track the leader or the wingman nearest me. At times I will switch to different aircraft in the formation as they make their pass. I use a single focus point and use the joystick on the back of the 7D to adjust where the focus point is, to adjust my composition, as the formation flies by. As long as you have an aircraft within the formation in focus, the rest of the formation should be acceptably focused too.

jwol wrote in post #14741520
...As long as you have an aircraft within the formation in focus, the rest of the formation should be acceptably focused too.

Work it out: DOFMaster Depth of Field Calculator with apps for iphone, ipod, palm, android, windoze...

You can still get away with center point. You just need to slide your center mass slightly. I think I picked off the slot's nose here. A slight crop in post (for centering) and you're good to go. Again, you're at distances where DOF really shouldn't be an issue....

According to DOF Master, 500mm @ f/4 1500' away gives a near limit of 1280' with 580' worth of DOF...

Thanks Jay. Wx permitting I should get a chance to try this out tomorrow.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14742386
According to DOF Master, 500mm @ f/4 1500' away gives a near limit of 1280' with 580' worth of DOF...

Thanks for the clarification, Jay. I figured at the distances we're shooting at, that DOF wasn't an issue, but I was too lazy to look it up.

TheMightyDaff wrote in post #14661277
Also what AF points do you aviation photographers use? For my wildlife I stick to centre point unless I am deliberately trying to frame something off centre. How does this work for something moving as fast as a jet?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

I've always used center point AF and it worked fine for jets and props