Grumman Avenger

I was at a large scale remote control meeting on the weekend and they had this lovely avenger do a fly over at lunch time. I had never seen one until this point, and I must say, the sound it made is still music in my ears!

I did shoot these at 250th , but I just don't see enough of these old warbirds to risk losing the shot altogether. I did do his next run at 125th but there is too much blur to post them here......but I am trying! they were all at 400mm and I still had to crop a bit off them.

Good shots of it.

Good plan... first get a usable shot, then try for a "better" one. Profile shots won't show much/any prop blur so you can get away with a faster shutter speed.
I find that keeping a focus point on the nose helps reduce the blur from panning & ups my keeper rate.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #9886061
I find that keeping a focus point on the nose helps reduce the blur from panning & ups my keeper rate.

ooh, that's a tip I'll certainly have to remember. Thanks for that.

First shot is very nice. Nice catch.

so was that a rc or real one doing a flyover?

Nice shots,I like #2. Photosguy, thanks for the tip.

Very nice shot. I didn't know we had one here in Aus.
I think you got just enough prop blur here. Looks nice and sharp

#1 is awesome!

Perfect lighting... you can actually see the prop markings...

Awesome shots!

sweet shots and a good sky ...very nice!!!

Both are wall worthy.

Glad you like them everyone, I was quite happy when I saw them on the screen I must admit! I might actually print one and get him to sign it. Actually I might get two done and hand him one.

jacktompson wrote in post #9886308
so was that a rc or real one doing a flyover?

she's ridgy didge full scale!

Desertraptor wrote in post #9887783
Very nice shot. I didn't know we had one here in Aus.
I think you got just enough prop blur here. Looks nice and sharp

cheers raptor, apparently there is two, this one at least is based at Rutherford, and I think the other one is as well, but not sure.
The pilot is Paul Bennet a brilliant aerobatic pilot, and after he flew this, he returned about 30 minutes later in his Pitts for some crazy aerobatics. I have some shots of that as well, not as nice as these (those pitts get bloody small bloody fast!) but I'll post some up when I sort through and edit them.

Oh! That is so pretty. What lovely captures of an old warhorse. This is one of my childhood favorites.

Very nicely captured!

It boggles the mind to think of 50 or more of these with the wings up and engines running on the old WWII straight-deck carriers! What a sight that must have been!!

Thanks Jay, yes it would have been an amazing sight to see!

OK, I went through my bunch of 1/125th shots I took on his second pass, this was really the only one I would consider a keeper. I decided to crop the tail off as it got progressivly more blurred as it goes toward the rear, so I tried to save it with this crop. You can see how the nose is farily sharp, yet from the turret back it goes askew.
I'm in two minds if this sort of crop works or not? opinions? It does show off some detail I guess of the pilot etc, but I don't know?

Either way, I think my level for panning is no slower than 125th at the moment......I'll keep working on it!

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