Apart from the weather, the only down side were those two prats on the microphone during the morning and although I was down the M11 end I could still hear that prattling French man when the wind blew in the wrong direction. The up side was quite a few formations you wouldn’t see any where else in the world. The photos are in the order they were taken so you can see the changing weather conditions. I’ll post a few more later on.
Techie Bit.
Although I use Manual settings for static shots, I had a practice over the last week during my visits to Duxford at using manual settings for flying shots. F11/F10, ISO200 seemed to work very well and shutter speeds that varied from 1/400 down to 1/320 which I kept having to change to suit the varying lighting conditions. It meant doing a bit more work and a lot of chimping to check the results, but I quite enjoyed it. I also turned off the in-built Sony Alpha ‘Steady Shot’ function and the image quality improved as I believe that the ‘Steady Shot’ function was trying to compensate for me panning from side to side with the camera.
Brian
By: Skybert - 18th July 2011 at 10:57
Brilliant shots Brian,
I like the Buchon- and Hawker biplane and Curtiss formations!
These modern helmets on the Swordwish crew make them look like the Teletubbies 😀
By: Orion - 17th July 2011 at 15:19
Don’t we have any checks re racist remarks on the forum?
If anyone had referred to a black commentator using the name of Gibson’s dog there would undoubtedly have been outcry. Double standards I think!
No there aren’t double standards in play. The French are not a separate race compared with the rest of humanity. Having said that nationalism is at least as great a problem, but pointing out that this particular Frenchman is a complete idiot seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
Picking up on some of the comments re commentators, I take video and for that reason I’m sensitive to the quality of the commentary because you’d be surprised, if you’ve never edited a film, just how important a commentary is. I often have to edit a sequence in such a manner where the visual image is less important than the commentary, ie the sequence just wouldn’t make sense if it didn’t start and end with a complete sentence or paragraph from the commentator and the visual image is extended or truncated because of that. Commentators who cannot shutup or who have a limited historical knowledge (but who think they have an extensive knowledge) are a pain
in the neck. Regrettably most airshow commentators are useless, but perhaps the worst I’ve ever come across are the pair at Little Gransden in 2009 who not only rabbited on for the afternoon but steadily got more and more drunk until they were completely incoherant.
I prefer commentators who do a television commentary as opposed to a radio commentary. The bloke who does the Moth Club’s meeting at Halton is great. I have heard him at Old Warden too, but John Blake, who has had plaudits here, is too garrulous for me and doesn’t actually know as much as he likes to think he does, which is a pity.
Regards
By: Sky High - 17th July 2011 at 13:06
Firstly I cannot get as worked up as some on here do about the commentary. But that aside casting aspersions on the commentary as a potentially horrific accident is taking place tests all but the best. Firstly we have no idea how we would react or what we would say at that precise moment and secondly commentators tend to play down accidents and try to divert attention from them, for quite obvious reasons.
By: hydealfred - 17th July 2011 at 11:12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciMaBKhgAGQ
i didnt know there were 2 incidences
Three if you include the near miss between the Skyraider and Spitfires on the Sunday.
By: lindoug - 17th July 2011 at 08:17
……..hopefully they won’t have the crazy frog back……
Don’t we have any checks re racist remarks on the forum?
If anyone had referred to a black commentator using the name of Gibson’s dog there would undoubtedly have been outcry. Double standards I think!
By: vulcan118 - 16th July 2011 at 21:44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciMaBKhgAGQ
i didnt know there were 2 incidences
By: duxfordhawk - 16th July 2011 at 10:59
Bring back John Blake. The best commentator ever at Old Warden.
Moggy
He was great at Biggin Hill too.
By: mike currill - 16th July 2011 at 08:02
Well after his poor choice of words after the BBD/Skyraider incident on the Sunday hopefully they won’t have the crazy frog back. In his words there was a slight problem. I consider an incident which leads to the loss of one aircraft and almost the loss of another is a serious problem
By: Moggy C - 12th July 2011 at 10:44
Bring back John Blake. The best commentator ever at Old Warden.
Moggy
By: Ridge Runner - 12th July 2011 at 10:40
that prattling French man when the wind blew in the wrong direction
Be fair, most commentators prattle on.. and on….. Take Old Warden’s Military Pageant recently, while being very learned on the subject the delivery was monotonous! Be thankful the commentator at FL wasn’t a yank!
RR
By: Pen Pusher - 11th July 2011 at 19:30
what lens was you using? As i’ll be looking for a lens for next year
Sony Alpha 580 with a Sony 70-400mm G SSM Lens attached.
Brian
By: danjama - 11th July 2011 at 17:30
Brilliant set – what lens was you using? As i’ll be looking for a lens for next year (this year I was equipped with a measly 28-80mm, great for static’s, terrible for in flight, as you can imagine).
No2 of set 2 is magnificent.
By: wiseman - 11th July 2011 at 06:59
Great pix. Love the formation shots.
Thanks.
By: pagen01 - 10th July 2011 at 20:00
Outstanding!
By: GliderSpit - 10th July 2011 at 19:28
Excellent. Thanks.
By: tarkey - 10th July 2011 at 19:20
Nice stuff Brian Interesting your comments about the anti shake setting
By: Griffhawk - 10th July 2011 at 19:06
Cracking photo’s Brian well done, especially with the dark clouds on the horizon
By: Pen Pusher - 10th July 2011 at 19:03
Part 2
Part 2
Brian
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July 10, 2011 at 3:43 pm