Search the archive:
YaBB - Yet another Bulletin Board
 
   
 
Pages: 1 
Send Topic Print
Finally! (Read 1146 times)
May 10th, 2012 at 9:44pm

RaptorF22   Offline
Colonel

Gender: male
Posts: 1643
*****
 
I've finally saved up enough to purchase a DSLR, and I'll be ordering a used EOS 40D and EF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 IS USM tomorrow! Cheesy
It should arrive a day or two before I head off to Andrews AFB for the annual air show there, so I'll be trying it out there, any tips on air show shooting?
Can't wait to post pics!  Smiley
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #1 - May 10th, 2012 at 10:00pm

c130lover   Offline
Colonel
Allons-y!
U.S.A

Gender: male
Posts: 326
*****
 
you'll be at Andrews? Big tip- bring lots and lots of memory! A couple years back at Andrews I ran out of memory before the Thunderbirds even took off!
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #2 - May 10th, 2012 at 10:15pm

RaptorF22   Offline
Colonel

Gender: male
Posts: 1643
*****
 
c130lover wrote on May 10th, 2012 at 10:00pm:
you'll be at Andrews? Big tip- bring lots and lots of memory! A couple years back at Andrews I ran out of memory before the Thunderbirds even took off!


I'm getting an 8Gb card, that'll hold about 550 RAWs or 2,300 JPGs.
Is it worth it to shoot JPG to get more shots in this case?
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #3 - May 10th, 2012 at 10:27pm

skoker   Offline
Colonel
Jordan never wore his
safety goggles...
1G3

Gender: male
Posts: 4611
*****
 
RaptorF22 wrote on May 10th, 2012 at 10:15pm:
c130lover wrote on May 10th, 2012 at 10:00pm:
you'll be at Andrews? Big tip- bring lots and lots of memory! A couple years back at Andrews I ran out of memory before the Thunderbirds even took off!


I'm getting an 8Gb card, that'll hold about 550 RAWs or 2,300 JPGs.
Is it worth it to shoot JPG to get more shots in this case?

I only shoot RAW if I know the shooting conditions are going to be bad or I really want to control the photo conditions.  JPG only is the way to go for airshow stuff by far. Wink
 


...
IP Logged
 
Reply #4 - May 10th, 2012 at 10:30pm

RaptorF22   Offline
Colonel

Gender: male
Posts: 1643
*****
 
skoker wrote on May 10th, 2012 at 10:27pm:
RaptorF22 wrote on May 10th, 2012 at 10:15pm:
c130lover wrote on May 10th, 2012 at 10:00pm:
you'll be at Andrews? Big tip- bring lots and lots of memory! A couple years back at Andrews I ran out of memory before the Thunderbirds even took off!


I'm getting an 8Gb card, that'll hold about 550 RAWs or 2,300 JPGs.
Is it worth it to shoot JPG to get more shots in this case?

I only shoot RAW if I know the shooting conditions are going to be bad or I really want to control the photo conditions.  JPG only is the way to go for airshow stuff by far. Wink


Ok, thanks, I've shot around 1,500 pics with a point and shoot in past years, so with 6.5 FPS I'm expecting a lot of photos! Smiley
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #5 - May 13th, 2012 at 1:54pm

jrom   Offline
Colonel
Go CAP!
Location: Earth

Posts: 203
*****
 
I'm going to have to disagree with skoker here.   Smiley

I always shoot in raw, no matter what. Last airshow I took pictures at I had several otherwise excellent shots of hard-to-catch moments, aside from the fact that they were overexposed by 1.5-2 stops. I was able to at least salvage them (quite well) with DPP, which I could not have done with JPG.

So it depends. I would highly suggest shooting in raw, and taking time to dump the ones that aren't good.

I don't shoot airshows that much though, so someone with more experience would probably know better. Wink
 

43 6F 6E 67 72 61 74 73 20 6F 6E 20 64 65 63 6F 64 69 6E 67 20 6D 79 20 73 65 63 72 65 74 20 63 6F 64 65 21 0D 0A 0D 0A 48 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 79 6F 75 72 20 72 65 77 61 72 64 3A 0D 0A 0D 0A 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 79 6F 75 74 75 2E 62 65 2F 64 51 77 34 77 39 57 67 58 63 51
IP Logged
 
Reply #6 - May 14th, 2012 at 11:14am

gtirob01   Offline
Colonel
FSXer
Ft. Walton Beach, FL

Gender: male
Posts: 3522
*****
 
A few weeks ago when I went to see the Blue Angels practice, I shot pretty much all in raw. Only time it was not in raw was when I shot in bursts to catch opposing solo crosses and such. I found that I had better shots shooting raw. And I do have a 40d... used a 75-300 non is lens. I was happy with the results.
 

My specs... A hard drive, motherboard, graphics card, some memory, a keyboard, mouse, and monitor - in other words, nothing special.
&&
...
&&My Posky 777 VC settings - http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1218341439&&Posky 777 and FSX jetways - http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1228448408
IP Logged
 
Reply #7 - May 14th, 2012 at 2:14pm

RaptorF22   Offline
Colonel

Gender: male
Posts: 1643
*****
 
gtirob01 wrote on May 14th, 2012 at 11:14am:
A few weeks ago when I went to see the Blue Angels practice, I shot pretty much all in raw. Only time it was not in raw was when I shot in bursts to catch opposing solo crosses and such. I found that I had better shots shooting raw. And I do have a 40d... used a 75-300 non is lens. I was happy with the results.


Do you find the max burst of 17 frames restrictive?
I would like to shoot in raw, but I really do not have the budget to buy more cf cards at the moment, and I don't think 550 pictures will be enough.
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #8 - May 14th, 2012 at 2:30pm

jrom   Offline
Colonel
Go CAP!
Location: Earth

Posts: 203
*****
 
Also, just putting it out there, you can always take in sRAW if you are concerned about space. I'd rather take mRAW or sRAW any day than JPEG.

I also own a 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM. I love it,and it is a good lens BUT it is not super sharp (It is still better than the 75-300, though). This means two things:

   1. Stop down to f/8. Everything becomes much sharper there.
   
   2. Even at f/8 the 70-300 doesn't have enough resolving power (IMO) to fully use the entire 10MP of the 40D. So, sRAW is most definitely an option. Once I did a quick photoshoot with a family member, and left my T3i/70-300 IS combo on s1 JPEG (2.3MP). I (as you could imagine) wasn't to happy. The point of this though, is that I seriously couldn't tell the difference inbetween 2.3MP and 18MP, even after some cropping.

Just a little more of my opinion..... Cheesy Wink

Have fun with you camera when it comes in!  Smiley
 

43 6F 6E 67 72 61 74 73 20 6F 6E 20 64 65 63 6F 64 69 6E 67 20 6D 79 20 73 65 63 72 65 74 20 63 6F 64 65 21 0D 0A 0D 0A 48 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 79 6F 75 72 20 72 65 77 61 72 64 3A 0D 0A 0D 0A 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 79 6F 75 74 75 2E 62 65 2F 64 51 77 34 77 39 57 67 58 63 51
IP Logged
 
Reply #9 - May 14th, 2012 at 4:21pm

gtirob01   Offline
Colonel
FSXer
Ft. Walton Beach, FL

Gender: male
Posts: 3522
*****
 
RaptorF22 wrote on May 14th, 2012 at 2:14pm:
gtirob01 wrote on May 14th, 2012 at 11:14am:
A few weeks ago when I went to see the Blue Angels practice, I shot pretty much all in raw. Only time it was not in raw was when I shot in bursts to catch opposing solo crosses and such. I found that I had better shots shooting raw. And I do have a 40d... used a 75-300 non is lens. I was happy with the results.


Do you find the max burst of 17 frames restrictive?
I would like to shoot in raw, but I really do not have the budget to buy more cf cards at the moment, and I don't think 550 pictures will be enough.


I did not find it restrictive as I only used the bursts close to the aircraft crossing. Id say if you are gonna shoot static a/c... use jpeg, its easier to control the camera and set up the shot, and saves precious card space. I have an 8gig card and I found it to be enough for me.
 

My specs... A hard drive, motherboard, graphics card, some memory, a keyboard, mouse, and monitor - in other words, nothing special.
&&
...
&&My Posky 777 VC settings - http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1218341439&&Posky 777 and FSX jetways - http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1228448408
IP Logged
 
Reply #10 - May 14th, 2012 at 9:32pm

RaptorF22   Offline
Colonel

Gender: male
Posts: 1643
*****
 
I had not considered sRAW, I'll definitely consider that.
I'm not going to be shooting static A/C much at all with the 40D, I only have the 70-300 at the moment, and I think that'll be too restrictive for close up stuff.
I'll stop down to f/8, I just hope it's not too overcast so I can get good shutter speeds at low ISO. BTW, how is the 40D's noise performance? What should I try to keep it under?
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #11 - May 14th, 2012 at 10:33pm

jrom   Offline
Colonel
Go CAP!
Location: Earth

Posts: 203
*****
 
Staying at or below ISO 400 is usually good, as a general rule of thunb. Since I don't have a 40D, I don't know about it's noise preformance.

RaptorF22 wrote on May 14th, 2012 at 9:32pm:
and I think that'll be too restrictive for close up stuff.


Or so you think..... You'd be suprised at what you can do with a tele lens.

Now that I've had a liittle time to think about what I said in my last post, I would add this:

RAW will give you all 10MP to crop down with (very useful in shots of planes in the air farther away), while sRAW and it's 2.4MP doesn't give that much to crop with. HOWEVER, because of various factors (heat distortion over long distances, sharpness of the lens, etc.) the 10MP image has a good chance of being so soft when cropped that a 2.4MP image would give the same amount of detail when cropped the same amount. If that makes sense..... Roll Eyes

Bottom line, just experiment with your camera before you get there, it always helps.  Wink

 

43 6F 6E 67 72 61 74 73 20 6F 6E 20 64 65 63 6F 64 69 6E 67 20 6D 79 20 73 65 63 72 65 74 20 63 6F 64 65 21 0D 0A 0D 0A 48 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 79 6F 75 72 20 72 65 77 61 72 64 3A 0D 0A 0D 0A 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 79 6F 75 74 75 2E 62 65 2F 64 51 77 34 77 39 57 67 58 63 51
IP Logged
 
Reply #12 - May 14th, 2012 at 10:36pm

machineman9   Offline
Colonel
Nantwich, England

Gender: male
Posts: 5255
*****
 
Yeah I usually do RAW for airshows. In fact, RAW for anything. It gives a better dynamic range when editing, but it gives you a bit more play in the camera settings. Your camera and lens are clearly not the top of the line, so shooting in RAW gives you that little bit extra.

For example, I usually underexpose on my camera at airshows so that I can use a faster shutter speed (weather dependent) and I can bring back that lost exposure in editing afterwards. It also lets you do weird things with the colours  Grin



But yeah, bring plenty of memory. I have 24GB worth of cards... At Cosford the other year I used up about 1900 of the 2100 available shots in RAW. So long as the card is fast enough, the image buffer won't be a problem.
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #13 - May 15th, 2012 at 3:40am

Hagar   Offline
Colonel
My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

Posts: 33159
*****
 
Interesting comments. In the end it all comes down to what you want to use the photos for. I've been taking photos at all types of air events for several years now. I take literally 1,000s of photos throughout the display season.* (I took over 800 at a fly-in at Popham on Sunday.) Everyone tells me how much better RAW is. After trying it a few times I decided I can't be bothered messing around with all that post-processing. For one thing I just haven't got the time.

It's better to get the camera settings right. IMHO This takes a bit of experimenting & practice, practice, practice. My favourite camera for aerial photos is my trusty Canon 40D with either a 70 - 300 or 120 - 400 mm lens depending on the venue. I find it very easy to use & change settings on the fly. I find that two 4 Gb memory cards are more than adequate for one-day events. Most important is carrying spare batteries & making sure they're all fully charged. Nothing more disappointing than having the battery run out just after you've arrived.

Also, I rarely use the burst feature. I prefer to take individual shots & the 40D is capable of taking as many shots as I want as fast as I can press the shutter button.

*You can see some of the results from the "My photo gallery" link in my sig. Please note that these images have been resized & compressed for posting on the Internet. All were taken in JPEG format.
 

...

Founder & Sole Member - Grumpy's Over the Hill Club for Veteran Virtual Aviators
Member of the Fox Four Group

Need help? Try Grumpy's Lair

My photo gallery
IP Logged
 
Reply #14 - May 15th, 2012 at 10:59am

expat   Offline
Colonel
Deep behind enemy lines!

Gender: male
Posts: 8499
*****
 
Hagar wrote on May 15th, 2012 at 3:40am:
Interesting comments. Everyone tells me how much better RAW is. After trying it a few times I decided I can't be bothered messing around with all that post-processing. For one thing I just haven't got the time.



About sums up RAW for me. I prefer to just take the shot. There are enough adjustments on my camera (Nikon d7000) to keep me busy without hours image manipulation out side of normal contrast and brightness if required.

Matt


 

PETA ... People Eating Tasty Animals.

B1 Boeing 737-800 and Dash8 Q-400
IP Logged
 
Reply #15 - May 17th, 2012 at 1:01pm

Mictheslik   Offline
Colonel
Me in G-LFSM :D
Bristol, England

Gender: male
Posts: 6011
*****
 
Bloody hell! How many shots do people take at airshows??

I very rarely fill an 8Gb CF card (shooting RAW) and that's with a 7D and the temptation of 7fps.

Moderation is the key....look for the shot Wink

Also, it depends what you want out of the airshow....many people simply want to record everything that happens and take lots of photos. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer to plan shots and look for them. If the aircraft doesn't fit nicely into the frame (not just filling the frame, but composed nicely), I don't bother taking the shot. Similarly, if the aircraft is just doing a straight and level pass, take a couple of shots, but don't machine gun it Wink

.mic (click on the sig for example photos Smiley )
 

[center]...
IP Logged
 
Reply #16 - May 17th, 2012 at 2:59pm

RaptorF22   Offline
Colonel

Gender: male
Posts: 1643
*****
 
Mictheslik wrote on May 17th, 2012 at 1:01pm:
Bloody hell! How many shots do people take at airshows??

I very rarely fill an 8Gb CF card (shooting RAW) and that's with a 7D and the temptation of 7fps.

Moderation is the key....look for the shot Wink

Also, it depends what you want out of the airshow....many people simply want to record everything that happens and take lots of photos. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer to plan shots and look for them. If the aircraft doesn't fit nicely into the frame (not just filling the frame, but composed nicely), I don't bother taking the shot. Similarly, if the aircraft is just doing a straight and level pass, take a couple of shots, but don't machine gun it Wink

.mic (click on the sig for example photos Smiley )


Ok, after a day or two of playing with it I think I'm going to shoot raw and try not to go crazy with the bursts. What lenses do you use for airshows Mic? I'm afraid I won't be able to fill the frame nicely for many of the displays with a 300mm lens.
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #17 - May 17th, 2012 at 3:57pm

expat   Offline
Colonel
Deep behind enemy lines!

Gender: male
Posts: 8499
*****
 
RaptorF22 wrote on May 17th, 2012 at 2:59pm:
Mictheslik wrote on May 17th, 2012 at 1:01pm:
Bloody hell! How many shots do people take at airshows??

I very rarely fill an 8Gb CF card (shooting RAW) and that's with a 7D and the temptation of 7fps.

Moderation is the key....look for the shot Wink

Also, it depends what you want out of the airshow....many people simply want to record everything that happens and take lots of photos. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer to plan shots and look for them. If the aircraft doesn't fit nicely into the frame (not just filling the frame, but composed nicely), I don't bother taking the shot. Similarly, if the aircraft is just doing a straight and level pass, take a couple of shots, but don't machine gun it Wink

.mic (click on the sig for example photos Smiley )


Ok, after a day or two of playing with it I think I'm going to shoot raw and try not to go crazy with the bursts. What lenses do you use for airshows Mic? I'm afraid I won't be able to fill the frame nicely for many of the displays with a 300mm lens.



Bearing in mind that a digital 300mm lens depending on how wide it is can be the equivalent of up to 450mm of a wet film lens, I would just suck and see. Use this display as a learning experience. And don't expect too much from your first day out with it, digital and all the setting that are possible is a steep learning curve. I had just got the hang of my Nikon D60, when my wife surprised me with a 20th wedding anniversary present last year in the form of a Nikon D7000. It was back to square one even though quite a lot of the functions, setting and switching is the same.

Matt
 

PETA ... People Eating Tasty Animals.

B1 Boeing 737-800 and Dash8 Q-400
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 
Send Topic Print