Blurred Images Airshow

This last weekend I was at the Planes of Fame Airshow. I was shooting with the Tamron 150-600mm lens. I also use a Canon 1DX. I noticed a lot of my pics from the warbirds were blurred. I use backfocus when shooting. I am wondering if this caused the images to be blurred. I did get a bunch of keepers or is it the lens is to slow focusing. Would love to hear other peoples feedback.

Can we see some image examples and know what camera settings you used.

agreed, would need to know more & see some to have any chance at guessing correctly. 600mm sounds like a recipe for camera shake, but really we don't know if it's shutterspeed too low for the steadiness, or focussing problems. Are you able to post something with all the exif info intact?

I will try and post some later.

Tamron lenses are not always the best, surprised to see you using one on a 1DX.. more than likely it's a case of either slow focus or slow shutter speed.....when shooting moving automotive I tend to use the AI servo mode which helps...
That being said, unless the planes were reasonably close to you, it's likely the lens was focused to infinity, so may not be the issue...

Here is one of the blurred images.

Even though I have a 1DX I rented the lens to get the reach of the 600mm. Maybe next year I will just rent the 200-400.

seaninsa wrote in post #17547994
... I use backfocus when shooting. I am wondering if this caused the images to be blurred. ...

No, the button used to activate AF would not in itself make a difference.

Looking at your image, it is a crop 1500 x 616, we can not tell how extreme the crop was, etc..

Your shutter speed was 1/200 of a second,. this is very low for shooting with a 600mm lens. Much to slow.

Your mistake here was shooting at base ISO 100, and stopping down as far as you did (f/10 in this image)

The 1Dx is a phenomenal camera with great image quality and noise handling. In bright sunlight like this you could have been shooting at ISO 800 and gotten your shutter speeds up into the thousands of a second.

Don't let anyone convince you to blame this on your choice of lens.
This thread is full of fantastic images taken with that lens;
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1348082

Your lens is very good wide open @ f/6.3 @ 600mm, so no need to shoot f/10, however stopping down some helps keep things sharp. By setting to f/7 or f/8 would also have brought shutter speeds up. Next time try ISO 800 f/7 and see how that works.

Sorry still need more information would like to see the exif data.

You said you use back button focussing this would not cause the images to be blurred. What appears to be wrong is your shutter speed.

For Air shows I always use BBF using the centre focus point, AF set to AI Servo. Also Evaluative exposure setting selected. But most importantly in TV (Shutter mode) or occasionally AV (aperture) with a setting of 1/1000-1/2000s for a prop plane such as the plane in your image. I try to use the lowest ISO setting I can get away with Keeping the aperture between f/5.6 & f/8. The setting I use depends on the light conditions at the time.

IS always on.

PCousins wrote in post #17550195
Sorry still need more information would like to see the exif data.

.....

IPTC

Coded Character Set = 27, 37, 71
Record Version = 32
Date Created = 2015/05/03
Time Created = 15:02:36+00:00

EXIF IFD0

Camera Make = Canon
Camera Model = Canon EOS-1D X
Picture Orientation = normal (1)
X-Resolution = 72/1 ===> 72
Y-Resolution = 72/1 ===> 72
X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
Software / Firmware Version = Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 (Windows)
Last Modified Date/Time = 2015:05:09 21:51:46

EXIF Sub IFD

Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/200 second ===> 0.005 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 10/1 ===> ƒ/10
Exposure Program = shutter priority (4)
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Sensitivity Type = recommended exposure index (REI) (2)
Recommended Exposure Index = 100
EXIF Version = 0230
Original Date/Time = 2015:05:03 15:02:36
Digitization Date/Time = 2015:05:03 15:02:36
Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 7643856/1000000
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/200 second
Aperture Value (APEX) = 6643856/1000000
Aperture = ƒ/10
Exposure Bias (EV) = 0/1 ===> 0
Max Aperture Value (APEX) = 525/100 ===> 5.25
Max Aperture = ƒ/6.17
Metering Mode = center weighted average (2)
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 600/1 mm ===> 600 mm
Last Modified Subsecond Time = 99
Original Subsecond Time = 99
Digitized Subsecond Time = 99
Colour Space = uncalibrated (65535)
Image Width = 1500 pixels
Image Height = 616 pixels
Focal Plane X-Resolution = 47185920/32768 ===> 1440
Focal Plane Y-Resolution = 47185920/32768 ===> 1440
Focal Plane X/Y-Resolution Unit = centimeter (3)
Custom Rendered = normal process (0)
Exposure Mode = auto exposure (0)
White Balance = auto (0)
Scene Capture Type = standard (0)
Body Serial Number = 082014000674
Lens Specification = 150-600mm FNaN-NaN
Lens Model = TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011
Lens Serial Number = 0000000000

EXIF IFD1

Compression = JPEG compression (6)
X-Resolution = 72/1 ===> 72
Y-Resolution = 72/1 ===> 72
X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
Embedded thumbnail image:

Why would i shoot a prop plane so fast? When shooting props if you shoot that fast you are going to have still props and looks horrible. With props you want to be anywhere between 1/160th to maybe 1/250th of a second. Thousands of a sec I am going to have "Frozen" props and the pics are going to be horrible.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17550176
Your shutter speed was 1/200 of a second,. this is very low for shooting with a 600mm lens. Much to slow.

Your mistake here was shooting at base ISO 100, and stopping down as far as you did (f/10 in this image)

Thank You,.............Yes I agree,......

But they would be sharp, and we could rule out equipment failure.

The people that are getting good prop blur are usually closer to the subject, and are very good at panning.

I agree that getting prop blur is a goal, but shooting at 1/200 @ 600mm at a subject so far off it needs to be cropped extremely = a lot of blurry images. As you have found out. I don't mean to question your skills, not at all, but that sort of panning shot takes a lot of practice

True. I know the basic rule of thumb you would want your shutter speed at or higher than your the lens but with props very difficult to do. The planes fly in pretty close but you want a nice prop blur. The worse to see in an airshow pic from a prop shoot is "Frozen" props. It makes it look like the plane is going to fall out of the sky.

I prefer my aviation images to show the propeller as "stopped" Using a fast shutter speed will ensure that a moving aircraft is crisp and sharp, I have a very high keeper rate by doing this. I understand where your coming from, Yes it does appear I am robbing my images of any sense of movement but I much prefer a tact sharp image.