Airshow Photography

At B&H Camera it is $579.99

If your primary purpose is air shows for your long lens, I think in the very short term you'll find that a maximum of 200mm will be too short to get spectacular shots. I've had my 100-400L since June 2001 on a D30 and now a 10D, and I go to 4 to 7 air shows a year. There is no way in my experience that you can get keeper air show shots with anything less than 300-400mm even on a 1.6 crop factor DSLR. Especially when you factor in the unknown and variable distance between you and the flight line from show to show.

Of course, I also understand that not everyone can afford the 100-400. If all you can get now is the 70-200 you can add a TC later, or trade up. Or if you plan to be made of money like some people here, simply add the lens to your collection later.

100-400 hands down, I used it all last year. I also used the 70-200 but most of the time this is for taxi shots and walking around the pits at Reno.
Some pics are here:
http://www.photo.net …b/folder?folder​_id=408679

Andrew,

I've shot s few airshows around Berlin and in my experience, 200mm is a bit short for such work - even with the 1.6x of your digital rebel.

I understand your budget limited, but what about hiring a lens for the weekend or seeing if you can borrow one?

Try to get something that goes to at least 300mm - I think you'll be closer to filling the frame in more shots then. Obviously the 100-400 is a great choice, but it should be for the price.

Other general advice is to use a monopod or a closed tripod if you have one - you need faster shutter speeds with long lenses and some support will help you a great deal in getting some sharp shots. And/or up your ISO - I find up to 400 shows an acceptable level of noise.

Have fun,

Steve

Forget the monopod, except for taxi shots. I find it useless trying to use a monopod and follow a plane. I only use a monopod on taxi shots, and ground run ups when I want full prop blur. Tripods stay home to, they just get in the way at shows and are imptractical to carry around.

As for shutter speeds, the faster the better for jets. For prop planes though 1/250 would be the highest I would go. 1/320 is ok, 1/500 just about stops the prop, something you definitely don't want to do. It makes the plane look like it is falling out of the sky. For taxi shots I never go higher than 1/125, engine run ups with full prop blur as low as 1/15.

As for ISO, 100 all the time, unless it's pitch black from storm clouds.

For airshow photography, the crop factor shouldn't matter. Remeber that your magnification is ALWAYS THE SAME. 200mm is always 200mm - the 1.6x of your DRebel will NOT get you closer to the aircraft you're shooting - all it does it cut down your angle of view so that you have less space to frame the aircraft than you would on a 35mm camera. It may seem like its being magnified - but you're just seeing less than you would on a 35mm.

Don't want to beat a dead horse, but also don't want have someone make a huge purchase with this popular misconception.

Correct me if im wrong.

Andrew, Look into the sigma 135-400 is cheap and it got good reviews for sharpness. When you can you can upgrade to the CAnon L.

X-Factor alert! Warning, warning! Women and children first! :P

When a biplane is up high doing a hammerhead and I'm zoomed to 400mm (on my 10D/D30), the plane takes up maybe 5 to 10% of the frame (depending on how far up he is and how far the flight line is of course). That's not getting very close.

So, as most of us have already said, 200mm is generally too short for air shows -- at least if you want to be able to adequately shoot the wide range of maneuvers. 200mm will get you a lot of great shots, but not all of them, at an air show.

X-factor or not.

400mm will get you a lot of great shots... but not all of them.


I have done real well with my 70-200 4.0L and 70-200 2.8L IS. Yes, I got a lot of other shots with the 100-400 that were better because I could zoom in to 400mm but there were still a lot of times I was zoomed out to about 200mm because I needed the space or the planes were too close.

If money is an issue, I would say that the 70-200 4.0L will do about 75% of the job and get outstanding pictures... with some qualifacations. One being you are going to need decent light to keep the shutter speed up there with the 4.0. Two, if the airshow is the type where you can get up near the runway where the planes do most of the runs and stunts. If it's like they had in Seattle out over Puget Sound or along the beaches where they do the show out over the ocean, then the 100-400 would be better and even that might be a bit short for many of the shots. I have been lucky that the airshows they have here in the Portland area they allow you to get on the airfield and not far from the runway itself. Then they do their flybys and stunts along the runway in front of the crowds. This works very well for a 70-200.

This was taken with a D30 and 70-200 4.0L lens:

http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/airshow/f14_0​649.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/airshow/f18_0​883.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/airshow/f14_0​673.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/airshow/tb021​.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/display/wing0​792w.jpg

These were taken with a 10D and 100-400 lens:

http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/display/blue2​704.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/display/blue2​665.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/display/blue2​627.jpg
http://www.sitnprettyp​hoto.com/display/blue2​593.jpg

I wish I had had the 10D for the first airshow as the extra pixels would have been nice.

Both of these shows were at the same airport. I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to get a spot this close.

Mike

Another Lens Approach

Hi Andrew,

The pictures I have posted in the Airshow section here were taken back in 2000 with a D30 and a Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM. This is Canon's least expensive zoom in this range and was a good place to start for me. I have since replaced this lens with a 70-200 f2.8L IS.

Hope this helps.
Brian

Nice shots folks!

Here are a few of mine.

With D30:
http://www.deaddogpart​y.com/airshows/lemoore​/lem_0219.JPG (biplane in his own smoke)
http://www.deaddogpart​y.com/airshows/lemoore​/lem_0442.JPG (Blue Angels)
http://www.deaddogpart​y.com …/moffett2001/mo​ff0419.JPG (F/A-18 with transonic cloud)
http://www.deaddogpart​y.com …/moffett2002/mo​ff0221.JPG (Warthog & Mustang)

With 10D:
http://www.deaddogpart​y.com …tt2004/moffett2​004-01.jpg (Thunderbirds)
http://www.deaddogpart​y.com …as2004/salinas2​004-02.jpg (P-38)

All shot with 100-400 with most lengths over 300mm (sorry, EXIFs got stripped out).

Hi Andrew!

For the Money, the 70-200mm f4.0L is Awesome!! Tack Sharp, Superb Color, Awesome Contrast and Fast AF!! New for $550(after $25 Rebate)! Add the 1.4 TCII and you will have a 280mm f5.6 setup that is very versitle!

However, If you can scrap up the funds, it will be hard to beat the Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS for Airshow Work! I had my Drebel + 100-400L for a week and went and shot for 6hrs-600 pics at the Sertoma Air Festival and Captured These Portfolios:

http://community.websh​ots.com/album/20973471​0gAUxtn

http://community.websh​ots.com/album/21058756​2CuOtts

Awesome Combination for the Show! Used the IS II for Panning and Handheld All these shots!

Good Luck with Your Decision!
Happy Holidays!

Ted

Re: photo enlargement. I have used an awesome product called Imagener. You can find this product at http://www.imagener.co​m. Hope this helps. -dh

I can understand "wanting" one, but are you really "needing" one? If you're on a "student budget", Maybe you just need a Canon extender for it?
See my link below. The "in the air" shots were taken with a cheap 30 year old lens & tele-extender. Some lack of contrast can be made up for in Photo$hop. No, they won't look like Kenny's "Ls", but if you're trying to save some money, maybe what you have is good enough for this year & you can save up for the "L-of-your-dreams"?