My small aviation photography FAQ

Great stuff Muflon!!

Do not worry about people telling you about 1/60th handheld, they must have image stabalistation/ vibration reduction as i would be very very suprised if someone can hold a good airshow lens steady.

Have you actually tried yet? You can do it too, just practise.

Taken at 1/100th:
http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/ow050807_28.jpg
crop: http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/ow050807_01.jpg

Taken at 1/60th:
http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/fl2005_20.jpg

Taken at 1/40th:
http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/ow050820_01.jpg

Taken at 1/30th:
http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/dx050910_01.jpg

Taken at 1/20th:
http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/ow050924_01.jpg

All taken with the crappy ultra-light Canon 100-300 without image stabilizer.

The last shot, taken at a silly 1/20th of a second, gets fuzzy at the nose and tail ends. I believe this is because of perspective distortion, rather than faulty panning. The wing is also fuzzy as it vibrates because of the landing shock. Nothing you can do about that at this sort of speed. The cockpit area is sharp, which is what counts most.

Muflon is right… machine gun away and you have a good chance of getting a sharp one amongst many crap ones 😀

IS does help a bit with horizontal pans (see http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/photos/aircraft/ow060604.htm for some examples – Seafire, Piper, Bücker) but I haven’t noticed too much difference with non-horizontal airshow pics. I usually keep it on though, as it helps in getting head-on shots more stable. In overhead passes however you tend to fight against it, no matter what IS mode you use (“static” or “panning”).

When panning, stand parallel from the flight path – do NOT face the plane, you can’t pan this way. If it’s a jet and you expect it to pull up with full afterburner, even face away a bit from the plane. Start panning over your shoulder. When the action happens you’ll already be panning with it and facing it for optimal shooting comfort.

PS. I personally found the best compromise between a good prop blur and chances of getting a sharp picture to be around 1/250th of a second. For helicopters (and tilt rotors) you need to go down to 1/125th or else the main rotor freezes too much. But if your panning is flawed, even 1/1000th of a second won’t save you 🙂 In general I think 1 in 4 or 5 pics I make is of acceptable sharpness, and only 1 in 10 is really good. Funnily enough this seems to be totally irrelevant to shutterspeed, as I get the same success rates at 1/30th of a second 🙂 But then again I use such low shutterspeeds usually only for landing/take-off shots, when the path of the plane is straight and predictable.

Great shots Muflon

Mantong,
I have been doing some maths recantly (yes forumites i can do maths) and i have worked out a few interesting things.

Pity you didn’t spend a bit more time learning to spell.

That is the best R44 photo I’ve seen!

I am impressed with them, im going to give that strap methord a go.

😉 Fantastic pictures. 😉 Anna

I would like to see a photo taken at 1/60th.

I can show some of mine, but unfortunately I have only the IS lenses. However, the below ones were shot 2 years ago, when I had only 70-200IS (these are around 50% crops) and my technique was really starting, so let’s say that it’s at least halfway fair 😉 They are all @1/60s.

(They are all from my Air’04 Payerne gallery)

However, there is one of my friend, taken with Sigma 120-300/2.8 (yes, that bloody heavy 92oz monster) at 1/50s and using the above “elbow strap” technique:

I would like to see a photo taken at 1/60th.

You can still shoot an aeroplane at 1/400 shutter speed and still get some prop blur.

That’s true, for some small aerobatic planes you can sometimes even get a full disc at relatively high speeds! However, the lower you get, the nicer the pictures (and the more difficult to get) are.

as i would be very very suprised if someone can hold a good airshow lens steady.

Well, nobody claims that you get 10/10 sharp shot rate 🙂 But that’s why you have a burst mode in the camera 😀

Thanks for posting that, very interesting! I’m still struggling with props though, especially typical 40s warbirds. I can’t afford IS lenses but at 1/100 – 1/200 with 300mm focal length (more than 400mm on my 300D with that crop factor thingy) I cannot avoid camera shake.

Mantong,
I have been doing some maths recantly (yes forumites i can do maths) and i have worked out a few interesting things. You can still shoot an aeroplane at 1/400 shutter speed and still get some prop blur. Of couse this depends on the engine speed and how fast the prop is turning.
If you do not whant to risk static props go down to 1/350th and shoot at that. It will still give you some prop blur.
Do not worry about people telling you about 1/60th handheld, they must have image stabalistation/ vibration reduction as i would be very very suprised if someone can hold a good airshow lens steady.

I learnt a nice trick recently, they call it the “poor man’s IS”:

– while holding the camera body in your hand, put the neck strap around your elbow
– then, adjust (shorten) the strap in a way that it fits tightly. It should be so tight that you are uncomfortable moving the camera with just a hand – a full arm movement is required.
– practice 🙂

It’s quite personal and doesn’t work for everybody – e.g. for me it doesn’t and I have the IS lenses 😀 But I have a friend who was able to get superb results at 1/30s with 200mm non-stabilized lens using this technique.

Thanks for posting that, very interesting! I’m still struggling with props though, especially typical 40s warbirds. I can’t afford IS lenses but at 1/100 – 1/200 with 300mm focal length (more than 400mm on my 300D with that crop factor thingy) I cannot avoid camera shake.