Aircraft.

Hello.

I bought a 1Dx mk2 yesterday.
Tomorrow I'm going to the mach loop to try and photograph military aircraft training through the Welsh valleys.

I do not have the funds this month to get the 600mm f4 so I'm packing my 100-400 plus 1.4 mk3 converter.

I have had so little time to practice with the camera I could use some advice on the following.

Number of af points/zone to use?
Focus limiter on or off?
Drive mode?
AI servo/single shot/other?
Max acceptable iso setting?
Stabilizer mode?
AF case 1,2,3...............?
Tweaks to the AF case?

I am hoping to be above or level with the aircraft.
The weather will most likely be bright with patchy cloud.
My huge thanks in advance.

I can't answer 1Dx mk2 questions, but you might try this Forum with a lot of mach Loop info: http://www.fox2.co.uk/

Other links are in post #25: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=771418

Number of af points/zone to use? - All points - put point on aircraft and let AF track it as it moves around in frame
Focus limiter on or off? - 3m +
Drive mode? - high speed continuous
AI servo/single shot/other? - AI servo
Max acceptable iso setting? - as high as it takes to get the shutter speed you need
Stabilizer mode? - mode 2

If you have jets coming though then I would use whatever ISO you need to get to 1/2000s at f/8. For the prop driven types like the C130's and helicopters then ISO 100, and you might even want Lo, although I think I would rather have a 2 or 3 stop ND filter. Since I would be looking for at most 1/160s for the props, and 1/100 for helicopters. AI Servo, fast burst, since you only get one pass. Focus limiter on. I would also have AF drive off if focus not possible. That way if you lose the aircraft for a moment, and the AF can't find anything to focus on it doesn't rack the focus in and out. That is actually more important if the aircraft is against the sky. I've not used a modern high AF point count body, but I would also have it setup so that it didn't try to jump quickly if something passes in front of the subject.

I really would like to get over to the loop, but I don't think my power wheelchair would make it up the hill, and I don't foresee any volunteers to drag me up in my manual chair.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #18379220
I would also have AF drive off if focus not possible. That way if you lose the aircraft for a moment, and the AF can't find anything to focus on it doesn't rack the focus in and out. That is actually more important if the aircraft is against the sky.

This is some thing I have not given any thought to. But it makes sense. If the focus racks in & out it will be harder to re-establish focus once the focus point is back on the subject. Thanks for sharing.

Usually if the focus racks I have to give up the pass. Even my old Sigma 28-300 would defocus enough that once it was doing the rack drive it was effectively impossible to reacquire the aircraft, since the blur would become too big to see/track. I usually stop the pan, and then just point the camera in the general direction of the horizon until the focus was in a useful location for beginning the next pass.

With my Sigma 150-600 C, with it's programmable focus limiter I am considering setting that up for 250m to infinity, which should also help a lot with this issue.

Alan