Abbotsford Airshow and the K3 / DFA 150-450 combo

I have seen it mentioned here several times that people have been considering the D FA 150-450 as an Airshow lens. I thought I would post my thoughts after having rented the lens for the Abbotsford Airshow.

The spectators of the Abbotsford Airshow face southward. The results in a lot of pushed shadows to compensate and usually extra noise or less detail in the photo. With the recent addition of the twilight show it has made for some fun photo opportunities with the sunset colours and the sun being in the west.

I decided to rent the DFA 150-450 instead of using my Sigma 100-300 F4 as the autofocus was recently partially damaged on the Sigma. With the 150-450 I probably tripled my keeper rate due to the auto focus. With the Sigma I would use AF-S because in AF-C I missed too many shots. The 150-450 with the focus limiter set it would focus very quickly allowing me to use 150-450. It also wouldn't constantly reconfirm focus constantly as the Sigma does on my K-3. I set the on-lens buttons to AF Cancel allowing me to shoot at 8fps when required.

I was very happy with the results. I was able to spend more time thinking about composition and less time on just trying to get a good focus. The lens is sharp wide open. A few cons (because nothing is perfect):

• The buttons on the lens feel too close to the camera for me when the lens is extended at 450mm. I found it awkward to press the button while panning.  I had to change how I held the lens to be successful at this.
• It is very heavy and I had SR off. This was OK for the fast movers where you are generally shooting at 1/1000 or higher but on the prop planes where i would shoot between 1/320 to 1/640 it was difficult to remain steady and get a sharp picture. I did have SR On/Off tied to my Raw/FX button but I did not notice an increase in keepers for the shots with SR On, if anything it was the reverse.

With 24 Megapixels you can really be creative with cropping and the DR allows for some creative processing. If you get an airplane to fill the photo the detail is amazing from seeing faces to outlines of gauges in the cockpit.

Unfortunately this lens is out of my budget for purchase, but I will probably be renting again next year.

Below are photos from the event. There are more pictures from the airshow in my galleries.

Skyhawks open up the Airshow.

Canadian Snowbirds in formation.

This is where I would use the AF Cancel button the lens.  I would prefocus and just before they cross hold down the button allowing for the full 8fps.

Breitling Jet Team. I decided to add grain and make it black and white. I am not sold on the grain on this photo but I like the concept.

This photo was with the 16-85, but I like it so it is included here. View from the Navigator station in a B-17

Gene Soucy with the "ShowCat"

2 Harvards and a B-25 Mitchell.  I feel with the vintage aircraft that at least one photo should have grain and muted colours.

Breitling Jet Team

Gene Soucy with wing walker Teresa Stokes.  This act is hard to get sharp shots as you are almost always shooting through the airshow smoke.

F-22 Raptor Demo.  This is one of those photos which I had to lift the shadows as I am facing southward at 3:00 in the afternoon