a77 + 70-400 air show tips anyone?

[Marco Cinnirella]

Hello again - OP here. Thanks for all the tips. It was hot, hot hot at Farnborough today - hottest day of the year so far here in England. I battled with heat haze from the runway and dynamic range issues but I think I got some keepers. Have 950 raws to work through though...

Here are a few early favourites. Click on "original size" to see them a bit bigger.

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence." Ansell Adams.

 

[eawhitcomb]

I also use a monopod with a ball head that is set to move freely but with some friction still and I do use SSS.

I don't want to hijack this thread…but I was always wondering about tripod and SSS when the ball head is set to move freely. When I'm shooting birds/birds in flight, or something else that is moving (or might move) and I'm on a tripod I don't have my ball head locked down -- do I leave SSS on at that point? I do, and my pictures are fine, but always wonder if they'd be better if I turned off SSS.

Elizabeth

 

[WildBill in MN]

Thumbs up, Marco! Very nice!

Bill

 

[NewsyL]

Those are very nice!

.

 

[Denis247]

Very good shots. You were lucky with the Vulcan, just getting it all in with the zoom pulled all the way back to 70mm, It must have sounded great being that close. A day in the hot sun well spent I would say.

 

[busch]

You did very, very well in spite of the heat! Love the Vulcan shot! I was in the cockpit a LONG time ago. Quite a plane.

We had 35C yesterday so I can imagine what it was like at field.

 

[Marco Cinnirella]

You did very, very well in spite of the heat! Love the Vulcan shot! I was in the cockpit a LONG time ago. Quite a plane.

We had 35C yesterday so I can imagine what it was like at field.

 

[GingerSix]

Ahoy!

SSS = on (unless tripod mounted), ISO 100, A mode (you control DoF), spot focus, matrix metering, RAW @ largest image file size, WB = daylight, focus mode = CAF (if tracking in-flight) or AF for static shots.

Mark (aka Pirate!)

what's the benefit of using A mode vs. S mode?

I would think S mode makes more sense since you are shooting a plane flying at high speed, you want to make sure that your shutter speed is fast enough; and most of the time it's just the plane and the blue sky (or cloud), how much will DoF affect the final result of the photos, say F2.8 vs. F11?

Cheers~

 

[busch]

You are absolutely correct! The shutter speed is what you want to control (around 1/300 for props and high for jets).

 

[Marco Cinnirella]

You are absolutely correct! The shutter speed is what you want to control (around 1/300 for props and high for jets).

 

[Dsnoir]

Thanks for the information