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Camarillo Air Show

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
That's wonderful Nikolai!

Great for sharing. did you go previous years? I wonder if we could have posts from you are others of pictures and what lenses were used to give an idea of suggested gear for those who have never taken pictures of parachutests, fly pasts and acrobatics. With each one, give a line, if you can of technic, such as panning with the camera, or not, trpod, gimbal, handheld and so forth.

Asher
 
Asher,

I have a few shots from 2 years ago from Point Mugu: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/227319

I was shooting Sony 828 at the time, so no lens advice can be made. lol:)

I saw some "pros", though:

8808059-L.jpg


I'll sure have some howtos AFTER this one (if I go:)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Nik,

So the result? Those guys got a backache, and you got some nice pictures with your Sony digicam. Those lenses are heavy, handheld. I'd hate to be dragging two monsters all day in the hot sun!

So what will you take this time? Also do the guys use big tripods with Wimberly sidekicks?

Asher
 
Asher Kelman said:
Nik,
So the result? Those guys got a backache, and you got some nice pictures with your Sony digicam. Those lenses are heavy, handheld. I'd hate to be dragging two monsters all day in the hot sun!

It was funny that you said that, Asher!
I spent there the whole show, the guy didn't take a single shot.
Well, it was Sunday, 2d day, maybe he was waiting for Golden Knights (para-divers), whose show was cancelled on the spot due to a high wind.

Asher Kelman said:
So what will you take this time?
Well, me being me, I'll take everything (which is not much, so I can do it:) :)))

For the display items I'll probably use my widest lens, EF-S 10-22. Fisheye would be good, but I don't have one :-(yet:).

For the flights I'll be most likely shooting with EF 100-400L IS. Its AF works rather nicely in broad daylight. I plan using AI Servo and high-speed drive (Canon 30D, 5fps).

Asher Kelman said:
Also do the guys use big tripods with Wimberly sidekicks?
Asher

Nope.
Tripod is usually not an option in those shows, since no head can allow you to cover even the front half of the upper hemisphere quickly enough.
You see, those suckers fly faaaaast, and they fly everywhere, and they fly very close, so your angle changes by hundreds degrees within seconds. It's not like shooting an osprey slowly taking off from its nest. One second you hear the engine blast on the East, next thing you know the aircraft is on top of you, and another second later - it's long gone on the West...
So - no, no tripod this time (which sucks, cause I just got a new one:)

You simply need the arms of steel:)

HTH
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I'll probably use the 70-200IS on a 1DII for the fast planes and a 5D with an 85 1.8 for closer stuff.

I'll take some wides too. We can share!

Asher
 

Roger Lambert

New member
Really like this last one, Nik. And I am not one to enjoy the selective coloring technique, either, but it works well here. Powerful picture. Amazing how one goes to shoot aircraft, but finds opportunities in other places!

Well done,

Roger
 
Roger,

Roger Lambert said:
Really like this last one, Nik. And I am not one to enjoy the selective coloring technique, either, but it works well here. Powerful picture. Amazing how one goes to shoot aircraft, but finds opportunities in other places!

Well done,

Roger

Thank you!

I am not a big fan of SC myself, probably because this - very powerful, I must say, - method is often used totally without a proper reason, and then abused and overused to a fubar degree, but in this case something made me do it
ne_nau.gif


Appreciate your comment!
Cheers!
1drink.gif
 

John_Nevill

New member
Nik,

Great shots, I love the wide angle Mig shot and of course the soldiers. These images defnitiely provide me with some food for thought for my next airshow. Excellent stuff!
 
John,

John_Nevill said:
Nik,

Great shots, I love the wide angle Mig shot and of course the soldiers. These images defnitiely provide me with some food for thought for my next airshow. Excellent stuff!

I do appreciate your kind words, thank you!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Your 100-400 L lens shows it is really a great lens in good hands! Nicolas, you did an excellent job!

Asher
 
Asher,
don't rub it, please!
That 100-400 wasn't mine, and I just returned it back to its original owner. :-(
Oh well, at least now I do know what I want for Xmas:)
Thanks!
 

Alan T. Price

New member
shutter speed

thanks for posting some of your images. If you can stand a little constructive criticism it would be that a slower shutter speed would have shown more motion in the rotor blades. I've not been to an air show for many years but I've read that propeller craft need a slower sutter speed to avoid looking like static models, whereas for jets you just use a faster speed to get the sharpest images.

cheers.
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Alan T. Price said:
thanks for posting some of your images. If you can stand a little constructive criticism it would be that a slower shutter speed would have shown more motion in the rotor blades. I've not been to an air show for many years but I've read that propeller craft need a slower sutter speed to avoid looking like static models, whereas for jets you just use a faster speed to get the sharpest images.

cheers.
Hi Alan
you're certainly right from an academic PoV.
On my side I did appreciate the "stop" of the blades, it brings, IMHO, an unattended feeling, dunno if it's real or toys or even a "montage" with PS…
Great amazing pics for me!
 
Alan,

Alan T. Price said:
thanks for posting some of your images. If you can stand a little constructive criticism it would be that a slower shutter speed would have shown more motion in the rotor blades. I've not been to an air show for many years but I've read that propeller craft need a slower sutter speed to avoid looking like static models, whereas for jets you just use a faster speed to get the sharpest images.

cheers.

Thank you for commenting, I always enjoy constructive C&C!

I agree with you (and I've been told about it several times already :) that the shutter speed I've used on Sunday was an overkill blades-wise. The biggest problem for me was that one can only get a prop blur under /125sec (some sources recommend under 1/90s), and when I tried that the whole image got blurred, since the damn figthers move fast.
I guess I need to learn how to pan properly (And here's a quick tool to do just that: http://hk.promo.yahoo.com/movie/supe...ame/index.html).

Thanks again!
 
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