Settings advice (Aircraft)

Hi guys

Very new to the DSLR camera scene, been attempting to take some photos of low flying aircraft, I have tried various settings and got some ok results, My question is are the photos below the best this camera can do or can I tweak some settings in order to get some sharper shots? Like I said am very new so I am hoping I have not found the correct combination of settings, any advice would be welcome

Thanks John



Cropped




Cropped

Cant help with your settings but would think you need a lot longer lens than 55mm,when you start to crop you start to lose detail

Cheers Mike, I have a Tamron 70-300 on order just to get me going, will see how that fairs, nice to see a fellow Lincolnshire person here :nevreness:

Welcome to the website.

The D3200 is very capable of taking good pictures, are you using the 18-55 kit lens (as the focal length on the info says 55mm)

You will need a lens with a little more reach, say a 200 or 300mm

Not took a picture of a plane for a while, took this one with a 55-200mm lens, when it was going over my house.

Theres no hard and fast setting. In general, the longest lens you can use. Use AF-C. For fast jets, shutter speeds around 1/1250th. For props and Helo's, speeds around 1/160th-1/200th for prop blur. Although there is a debate about the best amount of prop blur. ISO is dependent, and stopped down to the lenses' sweet spot.

paul04, small world, this was going over my partners backyard coming into land at Manchester

Thanks jaydean

Hi John, welcome to the forum!
I'm guessing you are using the 18-55mm in those shots? Like Mike suggested, a longer lens will be a big help. The Tamron you have on order will be ideal to get you going.

For sharpness, you want a fast shutter speed - That means a wide aperture with the ISO as low as you can get away with. Bear in mind that the aircraft are travelling across in front of you at somewhere between 150-200 mph.... So make sure you are panning steadily too, which is a technique in itself - Know where you are going to take your shot and plant your feet ready, then twist your upper half and track the aircraft across the sky - When it arrives in front of you, you are already in a steady position.

Also check that you are using spot or centre-weighted metering rather than matrix metering - As you are on the ground, the bottom of the plane is generally in the shade and darker than the rest of the sky!

Thanks Steve, even though this is a low entry camera it is overwhelming for someone who has come from devices you just point and shoot lol, even reading the instruction manual and Google it can all be quite confusing, as in what settings for what scenario, practice practice practice

Some random general images showing general shutter speeds
1/1250th


1/200th


1/160th

Yes, the best way to improve is practice! There a member here from the UK who takes awesome shots - @Lee532 - Have a look at some of his posts and pictures and have a look at the EXIF (settings used) info on his shots. His profile here links to his Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/77016346@N03/

Many thanks guys

@SteveH Thank you so much. @jet2004uk I'll agree with a lot of what has been said already. 55mm just isn't long enough to cut it and having to crop that hard will lose you far too much detail, I see you already have that one covered though. As @jaydean says fast jets normally around 1/1000 second shutter speed, usually around f7/8 as I find that sharpest with my lens and then adjust your ISO depending on the light available. I use AF-C single point auto focus with spot metering and continuous high speed shutter release. The AF-C will track the aircraft whilst you shoot a burst of shots.
Hope this helps and here's one of my latest.

Hang on in the Back! by Lee532, on Flickr

Cheers Lee532, you have some great shots, the reason for trying planes was that they were flying past while I was sat on the patio having a beer, so I thought I would give it a go, before I knew it I was there all afternoon clicking away, thanks for the advice

No problems and yes it gets addictive!