m43 Can Do Airshow

I created a thread ( https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/61310388 ) asking about how to do airshow images, and there was great info in it, some of which I didn't do. So that is my fault, but I still went to the show and gave it the old college try, and hoped for a couple keepers. A couple is a lot it seems.

In that thread some stated to shoot prop planes fairly slow, like 1/200th second or so. I didn't remember reading it to be that low, and went down to 1/640 sec, and I should have went slower. It would have helped get an even better image of Coast Guard helicopters and the B-17 bomber that was there. Props and rotors aren't blurred enough at 1/640sec. But, you get what you get, learn what you learn. So for others reading, go slower than me. The E-M1mkII got me some fine images despite my reading comprehension and scared shooting ability.

Some jets were there, including Blue Angels, and I was higher with shutter, 1/2000 to 1/4000 sec which I believe turned out to be proper. My ability to pan jets going 400mph or more was more in question, and practice is for certain required, but the E-M1mkII helped me get more keepers than I had hoped for. Luckily there were a few jets that zipped and zoomed by and allowed me to practice some on the panning and keeping them in the ficus sight. When they zip by at 400mph or more, panning ability is an art.

I used C-AF, single point moving it a few times side to side for framing, was in shutter priority mode, and let ISO float. The last one might have been a mistake on my part. A few of my shots were at 320 or even 640 and while I wonder why the results were plenty good enough for me. I used the Olympus 40-150 f/2.8 for the whole show and was more than satisfied. I wasn't that far from the flight line so that was good and helped me. The Olympus 300mm would have helped, but sometimes it would have been too long/close, so the zoom was good. It was also hot, sunny, and partly cloudy in half the sky. The blues were blue and some I think can be made better.

Here are a few of the many images I thought were more than acceptable... Hope it shows some mistakes I made and some good grabs.

Coast Guard swimmer recovery demonstration

Not sure who or what, but they were fast.

B-17 Flying Fortress...

Blue Angles diamond formation

Blue Angels Solo crossing...

Both Blue Angels Solo pilots

All 6 Blue Angels

Totally agree and your photos are proof of that.