D7000 and air show.

This coming weekend there is an air show on Cleethorpes sea front,its a sort of every thing will be flying show nothing on the ground. There will be several things of interest to me red arrows parachute display,Vulcan bomber,Lancaster bomber and spitfires plus loads I know nothing about.


I was going to set my D7000 on AFC and 3D tracking focus,having no experience of planes in flight is there any other setting I should be considering,cant be sure I will be able to get there but would like to be as ready in my mind as possible.





Thanks



mike

I suggest you go through this thread: http://nikonites.com/automotive/12104-motorsport-photography-what-settings-use.html#axzz2a3E40gpt

The other suggestion I saw in another thread was to keep the circular polarised filter handy, with the reflection on the aircraft.

Personally, I don't trust 3D tracking. It seems to be a hit and miss for me. I use single point and just make sure it's locked on what I want in focus.

Thanks just looked at that but it is motor sport based,if i get there it will be my one and only chance at a Vulcan they are grounding it next year,the polariser is probaly a no go as i dont have a fast lens so would loose auto focus,dont even know if you can auto focus with a polariser on.

mike

Epoc said:

Personally, I don't trust 3D tracking. It seems to be a hit and miss for me. I use single point and just make sure it's locked on what I want in focus.

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Interesting i have been using single point but thought 3D tracking may improve my chances,needs thinking about.

mike

I use single point continuous on my train shots, works great. When they get close, they go by real fast and it rarely misses a shot. Since planes are much further away, may be very similar.

mikew said:

the polariser is probaly a no go as i dont have a fast lens so would loose auto focus,dont even know if you can auto focus with a polariser on.

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you're right that polarizer reduces light 1.5 stops but auto focus should work fine, you can probably set exposure manually at the beginning of the show and leave it the same to make sure planes aren't too dark because of meter reading a bright sky

Just a few thoughts from the show I went to last fall. It was a sunny day and with the CPL filter I was still around f5.6 up to f8. I did boost the Exposure comp by 1.5 to help on exposure.

Practice panning early on with the slower aircraft. then look at the results. Adjust up or down as needed. The Vulcan and Lancasters will probably NOT be the first ones by so you'll have time.

Shoot a lot of shots. you can throw away the bad ones. One of the things I noticed is that almost every aircraft made more than one pass. Some were Slow passes and some were fast. The F-18 Superhornet did a flyby at about 600 mph but then circled around and made a pass at 140 mph. Just take shots of everything that goes by.

Finally, make sure you take an extra battery, and extra mem cards. My battery died during the last act so I lucked out.

For propeller driven aircraft, use a shutter speed slow enough to get some motion blur in the prop. It may take a little trial and error. I've always found that a little bit of motion blur in the prop gives a good feeling of motion, while a frozen prop tends to give a boring, static look to a plane in flight. It may be more personal preference, but it also seems to be the way pros shoot too. Google Ted Carlson or Erik Hildebrandt for some good examples. Oh, and enjoy the show!

On a bright day and some ISO, I'll bet the CP will work fine and you'll gain detail. D7000 ISO can probably go to at least 800-1000 without any noticeable IQ loss. Worth bringing it along anyway!

I dont own a CP and not sure which lens i will use,the 55-300 has a rotating front element and i dare not look at one for the sigma,as i say still not sure we can make it i only found out this week,we never look at the local paper as it is so poor 99% of the time.

mike

Got the info,decided which gear and was all ready for today,got a phone call last night my step son (aged 33) is in hospital with a broken jaw,broken in two places needs plates and wire,he really is a great bloke just a bloody idiot.

mike

Wow! Hope he is ok!!

Thanks he is in hull royal infirmary at the moment waiting for the opp,the idiot didn't go immediately so now they have to break it again,bet he doesnt learn from it.

mike

I don't think using a CPL on a moving object is a good idea. A CPL has to be adjusted each time you move the camera relative to the sun otherwise you'll get uneven exposures, especially in the sky, not to mention it will also slow down your shutter speeds.