Help with setting up my Nikon D80 for flying shots

Wow guys… thanks for all the suggestions! Just wish I could have a play before my next trip to Dux in September. Looks like I’m going to have to jot down these selections onto a piece of paper so that I can put them into practice 🙂

So as to give you an idea of my results thus far, here are the fruits of my labours from Flying Legends. All were shot in Sport mode with the subsequent NEF files post-produced in Adobe Photoshop…

Cheers

Pete

A far as I see it, we should be using M mode. P I think is basically the same as putting it on auto.

Almost, but not quite! A little on exposure modes:

Auto: The camera thinks about everything. It adjusts ISO, aperture, shutter speed and white balance entirely on its own, so essentially your DSLR works the same as a ‘point and shoot’. This mode is generally best avoided because what the camera decides to do isn’t necessarily what you actually want it to do.

P, or Program: Similar to Auto, but it gives you control over certain features like white balance and ISO. It also enables exposure compensation to be used. The camera will automatically select the shutter speed and aperture in P mode. This is a good mode to use for shooting weddings or such events and it’s OK to use for aviation, but generally a slightly higher degree of control is desirable.

A, or Aperture Priority: This is a semi-automatic mode where you have full control of ISO and white balance. You select the aperture and the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to get the correct exposure. Depth of field, ie. How much of your image is in focus and how blurred the background is depends on aperture. The wider the aperture (lower the f number), the more shallow the depth of field. The smaller the aperture (the higher the f number), the greater the depth of field. So, for example, if you’re taking a portrait with a medium telephoto lens (say around 100mm) at f5.6, the background will be blurred nicely. Taking the same photo at f11 will make the background much clearer. Most lenses have a ‘sweet spot’ at around f8 where the lens is naturally at its sharpest, Selecting Aperture Priority between f8 and f11 usually works well if you’re shooting jets.

S, or Shutter Priority: The same as Aperture Priority, but you select the shutter speed and the camera automatically adjusts the aperture. In aviation you’d generally use this mode for shooting props where you want to blur the propellers. Try selecting this mode and a shutter speed of around 1/160th of a second for a bit of prop blur.

M, or Manual: In this mode the camera does absolutely nothing! You have full control over every function. This mode should only really be used when you’re a little more experienced using the other modes, simply because it’s the easiest to mess up with. It can be great for taking static photos when you have a very specific idea of what you want the camera to do, but the dynamic nature of shooting aircraft in the air makes this a very inappropriate mode to use. The background changing from a dark cloud to a light one can easily lead to an over or under-exposed image, so Manual really is best avoided in 99.9% of circumstances.

Hope that helps! Feel free to drop me a PM if I can help further.

Paul

Hi Pete,

I would use the camera in shutter priority only. For flying shots I would start with setting the shutter speed to either 1-250th or 1-320th that way you won’t loose too many shots. The steadier you are the slower you can go.

Nikon bodies will always under expose a little, so I would be careful using the exposure compensation, its very easy to forget its in use. Always better to under expose. If you use NX capture or photoshop software it should be able to readjust under exposure OK. As for Auto Focus I always use AF-C.

If you post a couple of images we can see what difficulties your having.

Septic.

I’m just starting out with my Nikon D40, so I’m no expert, but I use the following –

S Mode
Between 1/160 and 1/400 shutter speed
Exposure compensation at +2/3 or +1 if the sky is light and the aircraft dark and -2/3 or -1 if the sky is dark and the aircraft light
55mm to 200mm DX lens
Manual focus usually, or sometimes AF-C with dynamic focussing

A far as I see it, we should be using M mode. P I think is basically the same as putting it on auto. I am using S at least until I begin to understand aperture a bit more, then I will swap to M

I’m sure some of the better photographers here will have some better ideas!

Steve