Thanks for the feedback guys, glad you enjoyed the shots.

In case you didn’t get my PM David:

Hi David,
I’m a Canon user, using an EOS-1D Mark II N, with a 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 and a 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 as my airshow lenses. Both feature Image Stabilisation which is important at long focal lengths.

The 1D series bodies are weather sealed which makes them great when in the rain, or in avalon’s case the dust storms

The replacement for the body I use is about to be released, and is priced the same. I wish I could upgrade to the new body as it is even faster, has a bigger screen, higher res and numerous other advantages.

Link: EOS 1D Mark III

The 1D II N and 1D III are almost the best bodies you could use for airshow photography as they feature rapid fire at 8.5 and 10 shots per second respectively. Make sure you pack a 4Gb or 8Gb memory card though as you’ll be able to go crazy and get a load of photos on every pass.

If you’re looking for a cheaper body I would recommend waiting for the 30D replacement due to be announced in the coming months as it will likely have a smaller crop ratio, squeezing that little bit of extra zoom out of your lens, there will be a sacrifice of durability and speed however.

for the shots themselves, I left it on auto mode for most of them, unless I was going for some panning, or for helicopters and prop aircraft, where I would stick it on to Tv mode and set the shutter at or below 1/200, sometimes down to 1/85 if the lighting would permit. Be aware that the slower the shutter speed, the more wasted shots you will get, though there will be some gems as well.

Hope I could be of some help.