Will a 55-250IS cut it for an airshow?

Hi all,

I have my first dslr, a 500D, on the way with the kit lens and tokina 11-16 (I need something to replace the LX3 I sold to get the 500D!).

I'm going to an airshow at the end of the month and would love to take the 500D for a spin. Seeing as neither of my lens will have enough reach, I'm now looking at zooms. Unfortunately, due to the price of the tokina my budget is super limited.

So, I was thinking of going for a 55-250IS. Seems logical and is at a price I can afford.

My questions:

• Does it have the reach for an airshow?
• Is there anything better for around the same price?

Thanks

With 500D crop factor of 1.6, you will have good reach at 400mm. There may be time you will be short, depends how close the plane fly by. I will be more concern on the AF tracking performance during panning and how fast you lock focus. Best way to find out is to start shooting. Have fun.

I like my 55-250, has always worked well. There is no real affordable Canon lens past 300MM, so what choice do you have? My Air Show experience has been that planes can be anywhere from spots in the sky to in-your-face overhead, so the 5:1 zoom range should serve you very well. Remember to study and practice 1st, there are no systems that can track a 600 MPH jet coming straight at you, so shoot at 90 deg to the action or prefocus.

I love my 55-250is. It is definitely worth the money and offers excellent value. I have the 70-300is and I would have to give it a slightly better rating because of the USM, reach, build quality and very slightly better IQ. However, I would not hesitate to the use the 55-250is for an airshow being very watchful of the af tracking.
--
http://digitalphotonut.zenfolio.com/

I used my 70-300IS for an airshow and the results were good. I got some really good shots that I'm proud to display.

The following year, I rented a 100-400L for the airshow. The results were spectacular. It was 70 or 80 dollars to rent the lens for a week and it was money well spent.

Glenn

--
There, Their, They're. It's not that hard.

Noopz said:

Hi all,

I have my first dslr, a 500D, on the way with the kit lens and tokina
11-16 (I need something to replace the LX3 I sold to get the 500D!).

I'm going to an airshow at the end of the month and would love to
take the 500D for a spin. Seeing as neither of my lens will have
enough reach, I'm now looking at zooms. Unfortunately, due to the
price of the tokina my budget is super limited.

So, I was thinking of going for a 55-250IS. Seems logical and is at a
price I can afford.

My questions:

• Does it have the reach for an airshow?
• Is there anything better for around the same price?

Thanks

Click to expand...

yes,
no

--
An excellent lens lasts a lifetime, an excellent DSLR, not so long.

The short answer is not NO. I shoot aircraft most weekends, both from the ground and air-air. For ground-air work I usually use a 1DIII and 100-400L. I recently added a 500D and 55-250 to use as a travel kit along with an LX3 for the wide end and low light. I took th 500D/55-250 to the airfield last weekend and was quite pleased with the results I got from the ground. Of course it doesn't have the reach or A/F speed of the 1D/100-400 combination, but I got a quite respectable number of keepers of aircraft in the circuit and taking off and landing. The 55-250 is a quite remarkable little lens - especially for the price - and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand just because of it's budget position. I'm sure it would struggle with low level jets making fast passes, but then most photographers fail before the equipment does without a lot of practice.

I used my 55-250 at an airshow with excellent results. My copy is sharp and focuses well. I now have the 100-400. I believe the 55-250 would do a better job at an airshow. The lens is light and easy to handle and pan. The 100-400 is not and just holding the lens up would be tiring after a short time. Sure I could try a monopod but at an airshow you really need to track and pan rapidly.

jrkliny said:

I used my 55-250 at an airshow with excellent results. My copy is
sharp and focuses well. I now have the 100-400. I believe the
55-250 would do a better job at an airshow. The lens is light and
easy to handle and pan. The 100-400 is not and just holding the lens
up would be tiring after a short time. Sure I could try a monopod
but at an airshow you really need to track and pan rapidly.

Click to expand...

yes, the 55-250 is fantastic at airshows, surprisingly better than the older heavier telezooms

Noopz said:

Hi all,

I have my first dslr, a 500D, on the way with the kit lens and tokina
11-16 (I need something to replace the LX3 I sold to get the 500D!).

I'm going to an airshow at the end of the month and would love to
take the 500D for a spin. Seeing as neither of my lens will have
enough reach, I'm now looking at zooms. Unfortunately, due to the
price of the tokina my budget is super limited.

So, I was thinking of going for a 55-250IS. Seems logical and is at a
price I can afford.

My questions:

• Does it have the reach for an airshow?
• Is there anything better for around the same price?

Thanks

Click to expand...

250mm is a bit short, even when used with a crop sensor camera like the 500D. You may want to consider a 70-300mm AF lens, in combination with a 1.4x or 1.5X Kenko teleconverter. If you have access to a 400mm lens, it may be better still. Not only do you have enough reach to get many different shots, but you may be able to focus on the pilot inside the cockpit if he flies close enough.

If you're right by the flight line you can certainly get some shots. The fighters most certainly will pass close enough for some shots. You just have to be judicious. Longner focal lengths let you shoot more of the action.

Where it will really hurt is small prop planes.

I prefer my 100-400. In looking over past shots I certainly have some at 250mm or less but I also have a lot at 400mm. Just be patient and you'll do OK.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think it's worth a punt so I'll pick one up.

Slayboss- thats an excellent pic - is that a crop?

Do you know how to take light meter readings at an air show?

BAK

Nope, I'm pretty new to dslrs... I can happily use full manual on a compact and have tinkered with dslrs before..

Anything I should look out for?

The 55-250mm lens will not have 400mm "reach" on any crop camera. It will have the field of view of a 400 mm lens on a full frame camera. "Reach" and field of view are two very different things. A 250 mm lens on the 500D will give the effective "reach" of a 340mm lens on a 1Ds Mark III when both pictures are viewed at 100% (the 500D will have more pixels on the subject because the sensor has higher pixel density).

The original poster might be better off renting a 100-400mm IS or 300mm f/4 IS which can be done very cheaply. Of course, it isn't very cheap when considering that after trying these lenses, the OP might feel a burning desire to buy one...

Noopz said:

Thanks for the replies guys. I think it's worth a punt so I'll pick
one up.

Slayboss- thats an excellent pic - is that a crop?

Click to expand...

yes, about 50% crop with an XSi, the 55-250 will get you good shots (assuming you're next to the flight line and there is good light)
another -
Tv mode, 1/1250 sec. ISO 100 AI servo mode

I have used my 75 - 300 IS lens, my 28 - 135, a wide angle (for static displays), and a now discontinued Tamron 200 - 400 f5.6 lens. The very best lens and a lens I would own if I was shooting lots of Air Shows would be the Canon 100 - 400 IS. I'm not putting down the quality of said lens in question, more its reach.

Images can be cropped and thus "magnified" but many of the cropped images I see here in dpreview aren't that good when cropping relied on instead of long lenses. Many shots can be taken as the air craft flies over head, but if you are shooting longer range pics, you gotta have the longer lenses. As you are well aware most air shots have two items in the pic - the aircraft and the sky. So if the image isn't up to snuff, it is obvious.

I would say the same thing to birders who want to do BIF's. You can shoot BIF's with just about anything if they are close to you, but on average you'll wish you had a longer lens. In fact, in a Canadian Outdoor photo mag, there was an excellent article about using the cheap "blinds" you can purchase from Walmart and use them for birding. If you use them, you can get away with substantially shorter lenses. When you consider the price of long lens versus a $100 Walmart blind, the blind is an absolute bargain.

If the OP wishes to shoot many air shows over his/her photographic career, get a longer lens. The reason I have the Tamron 200 - 400 f5.6 is quite simple; it was given to me by my best friend who only shoots air shows and the various Indy's. He bought a 100 - 400 and has been using it for years, before that he used the Tamron lens I now have.

--
An excellent lens lasts a lifetime, an excellent DSLR, not so long.