airshows d7000

[dennis_brabender]

<p>I recently went to an airshow and was not exactly thrilled with the quality of the images that I captured<br />Major case of operator error<br />I use a D7000 and rented the 80-400 afs just wondering what settings I should of used<br />I am thinking the settings should of been AFC, matrix mode 21 point and a reasonably high ISO<br />Probably not 3D tracking<br />I heard some people say that you have to manual focus<br>

not really sure how you can do that with planes flying in hundreds of knots per hour with max zoom at 600mm on a crop sensor<br />I was using shutter priority with a F8<br />Also would these settings also apply to bird photography</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Used to shoot air shows all the time back in the film days and did it with manual focus. The key is that you need to shoot planes that are moving left to right (or right to left) rather than coming at you/going away. That way the distance isn't constantly changing, or at least not enough to matter. Simply set the lens at infinity and close down a couple of stops -- f/8 is good, f/11 or f/16 is better -- set the shutter to 1/500 or higher and crank the ISO up to whatever you need.</p>

[nathansanborn]

The problem I had when I shot an air show was using too fast of a shutter on prop planes (looked frozen and unnatural),

and too slow on jets (motion blur, even if slight, lack of sharpness). Did you get any that worked? What settings were

used on those?

 

Sadly for me, I submitted a photo to the air shows photo contest that was exactly the same composition as a shot that

won. Same photo, theirs was just sharper and better. Even though they may have had better gear than me, I know the

D7000 with 300mm f/4 afD is capable of quality equal to the winner.... The winner has definitely had more practice than

me.

 

I'll be curious to see what people with more practice than me have in the way of advice (other than change your shutter

speed when going from props to jets).

 

My one other air show tip... Shoot wide also. I brought along my D50 with an 18-70 and took some great shots of jets in

formation (looked beautiful in black and white against the clouds) and also some shots including twisting trails of smoke

taken wide showing where the plane had been flying for a good bit before the shutter was pressed.

[tsappas]

<p>First,you need to attend several airshows for practice,you need to know in advance what the airplanes are doing in the sky and catch the action at the right moment.Settings for the D7000...6fps,AF-S ,single point in the middle,ISO..as low as possible if the day is cloudy,make sure you are getting shutter speeds above 1/1500th of a second,on brighter days up the ISO.Lens...the best airshow lens is the Sigma 150-500mm OS,is decent wide open and has the advantage of stabilization.MANUAL focus ...most people will have a problem finding a fast jet in the viewfinder let alone trying to manually focus,forget manual focus.Planes at airshows always perform the same routine,UTUBE has videos of jets and aerobatic teams which you must study before attending an airshow ,I have lots of photos shot with a D7000 from last year in the FAIRFORD AIRSHOW folder in my portfolio,have a look and tell me what you think,good lack</p>

[bruce_brown]

<p>Dennis: In addition to the other good advice ... got a monopod?</p>

[dennis_brabender]

<p>when I said not to use 3D tracking it was a matter of experience for some reason I thought that was where I was supposed to be at least that is what I think my major problem was camera seemed to hunt for focus I do have a monopod with a ballhead don't know how much it would be required at fast shutter speeds in the range of 1/1000 t0 1/2500 with vr no longer length than 600mm<br />I will try to attach a sample still can't figure out the 3 pic thing</p><div></div>

[dennis_brabender]

<p>another</p><div></div>

[dennis_brabender]

<p>one more the problems isn't just resizing to 700 pixels on long size<br>

I think my major problem was being in 3D I realize now just wondering where I should have been</p><div></div>

[bruce_brown]

<p>Dennis: The monopod can be very helpful in panning ... lots more even than open-hand (IMO) ... also re-reading your original post ... 'rented lens' ... have you tested it out on a tripod to make sure its sharp on your camera from the 'get-go'.</p>

[rick_m.]

<p>Harry. Without a doubt your shots are the very best airshow pictures I have ever seen. Nothing short of spectacular. </p>

<p>I like your advice about studying in advance. I would only add that I find standing near a speaker so I can hear what the announcer says is coming up is sometimes helpful for me. </p>

<p> </p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>I recommend stopping down to f/8 and using autofocus with AF-C and a single (manually selected) point active. Compose so that you leave a bit of space around the planes so that you don't clip anything important accidentally. Try to get the shutter speed as high as possible for jets (e.g. 1/2000s). If you are in the shutter speed from 1/125s to 1/320s (for slower moving aircraft where you may want some movement blur for the propeller) I would experiment using VR but at faster speeds, I would turn it off. VR can interfere with image quality at high shutter speeds, especially if you're following a fast-moving subject. Prior to the event you may want to test the AF at the required distance range and see if you have a systematic bias in your camera+lens combination; AF fine tune can be used to adjust this.</p>

<p>I shot an airshow with the D7000 using the 70-200/2.8 II two years ago, in Turku. I felt the combination worked very well though I had to crop some shots a bit. I used an aperture of f/4, fairly low ISO and very high shutter speeds. I've experimented with multipoint AF for planes but feel I get the best results using a single, manually selected point. Using multipoint AF in this application results in unpredictable results, mostly out of focus in my experience ;-)</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>I recommend stopping down to f/8 and using autofocus with AF-C and a single (manually selected) point active. I've experimented with multipoint AF for planes but feel I get the best results using a single, manually selected point. Using multipoint AF in this application results in unpredictable results, mostly out of focus in my experience ;-) Compose so that you leave a bit of space around the planes so that you don't clip anything important accidentally. Try to get the shutter speed as high as possible for jets (e.g. 1/2000s). If you are in the shutter speed from 1/125s to 1/320s (for slower moving aircraft where you may want some movement blur for the propeller) I would experiment using VR but at faster speeds, definitely turn it off. VR can interfere with image quality at high shutter speeds, especially if you're following a fast-moving subject and have to turn the lens quickly. Prior to the event you may want to test the AF at the required distance range and see if you have a systematic bias in your camera+lens combination; AF fine tune can be used to adjust this though the procedure is far from trivial.</p>

<p>I shot an airshow with the D7000 using the 70-200/2.8 II two years ago, in Turku. I felt the combination worked well though I had to crop some shots. I used an aperture of f/4, fairly low ISO and very high shutter speeds. </p>

 

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>Sorry somehow I managed to double post. The second post is the one I intended to send, please delete the first.</p>

[Member69643]

<p>I've only been to 1 airshow, but the key thing in getting great airshow pictures is the location of the sun. At my airshow, the sun was directly behind the airplanes, relative to the spectators. Makes it darn hard to get great shots, IMO. If you expose for the sky you get very dark planes. If you expose for the planes you get very bright sky that can blow away details like canopies.</p>

<p>But I shoot film, mostly. There's more you can do, and salvage, with digital. Sometimes.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[Member69643]

<p>Err, that's an F-15. Darn.</p>