which lens for airshow?

Obelix · May 19, 2005

Hi. I will be attending an airshow this Saturday in Chino, southern California. Been debating and can't decide which lens to bring. I have the 70-200vr and 300 f/4 af-s lenses. Since weight is an issue so I can't bring them both. I like the sharpness of my 300mm but then will miss the zoom flexibility of the 70-200vr. Any suggestions ? Thanks in advance.

cameraguy21773 · May 19, 2005

Most likely you'll be far enough from the "action" that long lenses will work best. I doing the air show at AF HQ near DC this weekend and plan to use a Sigma EX 70-200 HSM with a 1.4 TC on one body and a Nikkor 300 f4 with a 1.4 TC on the other. I'll carry a wide zoom and a 20mm but I doubt I'll use them. I don't generally do crowd shots.
--
regards
Mike Parker
Frederick, MD

Question_Man · May 19, 2005

Bring the 70-200 and the 1.4TC if you have one. You'll want the zoom for the people shots on the ground.

You also might cosider bringing a flash and mid range zoom for the static displays.

John

F15Todd · May 19, 2005

Not sure if you have an TC but the 70-200 with a TC-17E II should work great.

--
F15Todd
Beer, the cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems

Keith Aitken · May 19, 2005

Hi,

Most air shots will be far enough away for the 300mm to fit nicely
and even if they are not, it can sometimes create interesting shots
to get just part of an airplane, cockpit, exhaust, whatever . . .

If you had the 70-200 along, I'll bet that you would be always at the
long end anyway . . .

Keith

Stu Tanaka · May 19, 2005

I also will be at Chino on Saturday. Im hoping the
70-200, TC 14 & my 12-24 will be enough.
I may go back on Sunday for some fine tuning if need be

Stu
--
http://www.pbase.com/tanakamachi

Obelix · May 19, 2005

I have the 17-55dx to to cover the wideangle of static display. Still debating between the 70-200vr and 300. They have both pro's and con's. Thanks again.

Dan Nelson · May 19, 2005

Obelix said:
I have the 17-55dx to to cover the wideangle of static display.
Still debating between the 70-200vr and 300. They have both pro's
and con's. Thanks again.

The Nikkor 80-200 Af/s ED works pretty well for me ...

= Dan =

Obelix · May 19, 2005

Wow. Are these full shots or cropped ? This will be my first airshow at Chino and I don't know how far we are from the stand to the path of flying aircrafts so it will be hard to make the decision on what lens to bring. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Dan Nelson said:
Obelix said:

I have the 17-55dx to to cover the wideangle of static display.
Still debating between the 70-200vr and 300. They have both pro's
and con's. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

The Nikkor 80-200 Af/s ED works pretty well for me ...

= Dan =

Dan Nelson · May 19, 2005

Obelix said:
Wow. Are these full shots or cropped ?

They are crops, then reduced a bit for the web. The original shots (from a D100 NEF raw) were about 40% plane and 60% "blue sky"...

Obelix said:
This will be my first
airshow at Chino and I don't know how far we are from the stand to
the path of flying aircrafts so it will be hard to make the
decision on what lens to bring. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Those shots were from the Lemoore, CA airshow. This is a pretty good show because they let you stand right next to the flight line, separated by a 3 foot fence, so it's easy to shoot over it and be "up close and personal" to the action. However, if you are going to be far away from the action, then a longer lens may be useful.

FWIW, I also had a Nikkor 80-400 VR with me, but found that I used the 80-200 AF/s for 90% of the shots that day ...

= Dan =

Obelix said:
Dan Nelson said:

Obelix said:

I have the 17-55dx to to cover the wideangle of static display.
Still debating between the 70-200vr and 300. They have both pro's
and con's. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

The Nikkor 80-200 Af/s ED works pretty well for me ...

= Dan =

Click to expand...

norrona · May 20, 2005

FWIW, I also had a Nikkor 80-400 VR with me, but found that I used the 80-200 AF/s for 90% of the shots that day ...

I look at the pics of my last 2 shows and more than 95% of the air photos are between 120 and 340. But I have used 2 bodies with 70-200 and 200-400. 63% with 70-200 and 37% with 200-400. Static all with 17-55.

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which lens for airshow?

Obelix

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cameraguy21773

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Question_Man

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F15Todd

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Keith Aitken

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Stu Tanaka

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Obelix

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Dan Nelson

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Obelix

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Dan Nelson

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norrona

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