Best lens for photographing airplanes at Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten?

Looking for a fairly budget lens that will be able to some good pictures of planes coming in for landing at one of the world's most famous airports. My guess is that I'd need range up to 300mm even with a 1.6x crop factor. What do you all think about the Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM? I'll probably be taking photos during the day, so I'm not overly concerned about having a very wide aperture for low light shots.

Suggestions welcome.

FlipsidE wrote in post #17414931
Looking for a fairly budget lens that will be able to some good pictures of planes coming in for landing at one of the world's most famous airports. My guess is that I'd need range up to 300mm even with a 1.6x crop factor. What do you all think about the Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM? I'll probably be taking photos during the day, so I'm not overly concerned about having a very wide aperture for low light shots.

Suggestions welcome.

Heya,

What is your top budget?
And do you want the ability to go low on the shutter, do extreme pans (low shutter, blurry backgrounds from the motion of panning), and do you need IS that supports this?
Or are you ok with no-IS options?

Really, if you're on a super budget, I would look at the 55-250 STM.

If your budget is more open, then I'd look to things like a Tamron 300mm with VC (used) or Canon's 300 IS (used). Or maybe even an older 70-200 non-IS (they're just so sharp).

I find you don't need really long lenses to shoot planes that are coming in for a landing, especially from APS-C.

If budget gets anywhere near $1k, consider a Tamron 150-600 maybe.

Very best,

For St. Maarten...

10-22 from the fence line + climbing harness and super clamps!

70mm on the wide end is going to be too long for the typical "over the fence shots" and something more like an 18-135 from the budget end should do fine......even Mal's suggestion of a 55-250 is going to be very limiting.

There's a range on shots on this page (with the focal length used) that'll give you some idea based on what you're trying to achieve.
http://www.photovation​.net/Spotting/SXMFSet.​htm

Bob

Got this one with 16-35 f4, but next time i would shoot it from a hotel with a longggg lens

IMAGE LINK: http://img.photobucket​.com …/IMG_5362_zpsac​cfcb80.jpg

mooshu wrote in post #17415093
Got this one with 16-35 f4, but next time i would shoot it from a hotel with a longggg lens

I hope to be shooting from the bar not far behind where you're standing

Edit: Great shot, btw!

Thanks flipside! thats a great place to shoot too! it's crowded alot of the times, i'll try next time over there

FlipsidE wrote in post #17415231
I hope to be shooting from the bar not far behind where you're standing

Edit: Great shot, btw!

Ahh,

Ignore my previous post then, you need a shorter lens. 18-135 STM comes to mind. Sharp. Fast enough. Wide enough for the fun stuff.

Very best,

seall wrote in post #17415049
For St. Maarten...

10-22 from the fence line + climbing harness and super clamps!

Already have the climbing harness. Need to pick up the lens and the clamps

mooshu wrote in post #17415290
Thanks flipside! thats a great place to shoot too! it's crowded alot of the times, i'll try next time over there

Is that an Air Transat 737-700?

Hi all, did a search and found this thread so I figured I'd post my question here... I would like to know what you all would suggest is the best lens to photograph the planes from Sunset Bar & Grill and from the beach itself looking south to north. My main goal is to capture the KLM 747 and AFR A340 from the side as they're coming in and perhaps get some shots while they're overflying the beach & fence in somewhat of a panning motion from west to east. When they line up to take off, I'd like to get a view from the water. I am open to other, better positions for capturing these particular planes.

I am taking the 40mm Pancake for duty all around St. Maarten so as to keep the camera inconspicuous and easy to carry. For Maho Beach specifically, I'm currently torn between my 16-35mm or 24-70mm. Again, don't really want to carry more than that.