Eastbourne Airshow - 16-8-08

[Biscuit761]

Took the D300 + 300mm F4 (and Janet !) to Eastbourne for the airshow on saturday, watched most of it from the pier where I discovered the limitations of the 300mm F4 Nikon lens, its not the quickest at focusing when jets are coming straight at you at 300 - 400 mph. Still it does everything else well, her is a small selection

1

2 - The pre show entertainment

3 - Action started with the Red Arrows

4

5

6

7

8 - We then had some old biplanes with "wing walkers" on. Brave ladies

9

10

11

12

13 - A WWII display

14

15

16

17 - The Blades

18

19 - Jordanian Helicopter - very bright !

20 - An interested spectator

Not the best set I have ever done but not too bad, will have to learn how to use the focus limiter some time.

Bill

[Gingerbillc]

Wonderful pictures, if these aren't what you call good.....
Now go back and get a picture were the planes engines are running, they scare me.

Got to say though, if there's one thing more stupid that jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane, then walking on its wings has got to be it.

Cannot believe I'm on here at this time, ow well it passes the night shift

[Mike.P®]

Excellent pictures.

The gull is crystal clear, the biplane shots are brilliant and the last one really shows how good that lens is.

Nice job

[richard plumb]

nice shots. I'd say that the shutter speeds could have been a little slower to get more blur on the propellers, but then I've never shots prop planes so I'm not one to talk


How did you get on with the 300mm being a prime? Did it restrict your shooting in any way, or did you position yourself so the planes were mostly moving across you?

[Zone]

Some crackers there Bill, love the wing walker ones

[bodoman]

Excellent set of photographs, the wing walker and ww2 are my favourites

[ryart]

An excellent set of pictures which really capture the essence of the show.

[Biscuit761]

Thanks All, perhaps there not so bad after all, I must say that I am really pleased with the lens, bokeh is superb.

I didn't really position myself with any other thought than "there's a gap here I can squeeze into", then just shot.

Sticking to the 300 is a bit compromising in that you loose the "atmosphere" type of shot but it was my new toy and I wanted to play with it !

Am photographing a concert in London in a few weeks time so should be interesting to see how it performs indoors.

Thanks again.

Bill

[senu]

Decent collection there Bill.
Im not sure any lens is that fast though .. most times it is down to technique ( says one whose plane shots are pure pot luck!)
What would you do different next time?

[denno75uk]

Excellent shots. The crop on #6 is inspired. The wing walker ones are astounding for how close you are and how much detail is visible. They also are excellently framed/cropped.
Do like the last one too.

[tontoshorse]

Rather good Bill, I like the sharpness especially from #7 onwards. The Bi Planes ones are pretty spectacular.

[Biscuit761]

What would I do different next time ?

Well, firstly get a view that was parallel with the flight path I think so that focusing is not so much of an issue, also take a second body with a wide lens so that I can capture the Red Arrows latest stunt, a heart with an Arrow through it.

Oh, and finally paint the sky blue rather than white grey, had a blue sky on some of the Farnborough shots, makes such a difference.

When I get a few minutes I will post some more, actually pressed the shutter over 1,000 times (including burst shots) on Saturday

Took ages to upload !.

Bill

[rrfierce]

Great set. I know how hard it it taking pics of jets flying past. I'm seriously considering one of these lens now!