I recentley purchased a Sigma 70-300mm F4/5.6 DG OS Lens for my canon 50 d.
I browsed the internet prior to going to the check settings for taking aircraft photos e.g. for a prop aircraft shutter should be about 125 sec.
I was abit dissapointed with most of the results as they were not sharp and not clear.I was told that I should have used 300 shutter speed as per the focal length of the camera. Is this correct ? if this is the case the prop blur would not exist.
Which settings would you have used on this type of lens ???
many thanks in adavance
By: efiste2 - 22nd July 2011 at 22:46
What would you guys recommend to set the metering mode to on my 400D for taking shots of the aircraft, either center weighted or partial……in my lamens thoughts I am trying to get the best exposure on the aircraft and not the sky behind it 😮
By: pagen01 - 13th July 2011 at 15:55
I’m using the same lens as you Martin (but on a Nikon) and I find that 1/250 – 320 gives plenty enough prop blur for most types, helicopters are a bit different and I err on the 1/200-250 bracket for those.
The great thing about digital of course is that you can try out all sorts of settings and then review the results to see which come out the best, and it dosen’t cost a penny.
Personaly I hate to see the props appear almost stopped in pictures.
By: Morthin - 13th July 2011 at 15:17
Thanks for that … VERYuseful information.the prop blur in your photos to me is very acceptable, but the comments made on other sites on other photos always seem to highlight the lack of blur, thats what made me bring my speed down to 125, with fair results.
excellent photos by the way, wish they were mine !!
Many thanks
martin
By: Pen Pusher - 13th July 2011 at 07:29
If you were using the lens at the 300mm end, then 1/125 is way to low. The simple rule is that whatever the focal length of the lens is then the same for the shutter speed. 300mm = 1/300sec.
If you have a look at my photos from Legends See Here I was using a 70-400mm lens and most of those are at the 400mm end and my shutter speed was 1/400. I did drop it down at times to 1/320. It depends how much prop blur you want and how steady you can hold the camera as to the settings used.
Me, I’d rather get the aircraft in focus than have massive amounts of prop blur.
Brian
Sign In
July 12, 2011 at 8:46 pm