What's the ideal shutter speed for shooting airplanes

I'll be in San Diego for the 100-years of aviation air parade. 200 airplanes flying in a parade across San Diego Bay from South to North, and then military jets flying from west to east.

What should the ideal shutter speed be to get prop blur? Last time I shot airplanes I used really fast shutter speed to stop motion, but the props froze too.

Live and learn.

Any advice?

Thanks

I would start around 1/250 but not any faster than that.

It depends on the angle you're shooting them at and how close they are to you. Start at 1/250 and play with it.

Thanks

You will have to shoot at small aperture as well, when shooting at such slow shutter speed.

I try to shoot 'prop' planes at 1/125 for decent prop blur; 1/250 will keep the props from looking like the plane's standing still but is usually not slow enough to give you 'good' prop blur.

It does take some practicing to shoot at such a low shutter speed and get sharp pics, but that's what makes air shows fun to shoot

One last thing...you might want to shoot in manual mode, so you can set the shutter speed where you want it then adjust your aperture accordingly.
And, if it's a really bright/sunny day without clouds, I often use a polarizer filter/lens which cuts down on the bright light and allows for slower shutter speed and not having to shoot at higher than f/13 or so.

FWIW...

Jim K.

Shooting airshows in Manual

I need to move this to "T. Talk".

Here's an example shot at 1/160.

good information, I've also had problems shooting flying aircraft, thanks to all