Novice Canon EOS user

It also comes down to what lense you’re using. Personally, I never bother changing my shutter speeds. That’s because I have found on the 75-300mm lense, the best aperture range is f8-11 (I use this on Av mode). F11 produces the best results, and I’ll try to shoot that high if the weather allows me. During bad weather, I will only go down as far as f8. If I try any lower, then I know it’ll be a waste of my time as the results will certainly lack in quality and sharpness. All of this is at ISO100-200 to.

I don’t know the best aperture ranges for any other lenses, but if you tell us what lense you’re using then some others on here may be able to give you a clue.

The only time I’ve ever changed shutter speeds, is when I’ve had to go fully manual on things such a night shots.

Set on manual and take a meter reading off the runway or grass. That should give you an exposure that will consistently produce good images that aren’t silhouettes.

Boarding Call for Canon EOS users!

I have had mine a while and have always been lazy and used auto everything, but now want to get the best from my camera. I am trying to work out what the best shutter speeds and apetures are for aviation photography… for example:

1) A landing plane in good light
2) A departing plane in good light
3) Aircraft on the ground in good light.

I am hoping there is a camera wizz out there who can throw me some ideas. The insrtuctions are good, but not specific enough. Grateful for any tips.

Anthony

Unless you are shooting in fully manual mode you will have no problems, if you are going to shoot aircraft i would suggest that you turn the Dial to Tv and set the shutter time according to how you want the photo to come out.. i.e. do you want to pan with the plan and blur the back ground showing a dynamic image or do you want the plane to look static. if you are shooting warbards a slowish shutter speed is good as a shutter speed that is too fast will result in the props looking like they have just stoped and will make the shot look boring.

Anthony,

the only real way is to experiment until you get results you are happy with.

When I first started taking slides I took a couple of rolls of each of the films I was considering using and spent at day at LHR photographing as much as I could. What I also did was to vary and log the shutter speed / aperture of each shot so I could determine which gave me the best results on each film and then do a comparison between films. Ended up using Fujichrome 100ASA slide film with +1 exposure compensation for airborne shot and dropping to +0.5 for static. If shooting prop aircraft then it is worth showing the prop blur and for this a slowish shutter speed is required (usually 1/250 or less to get the best results)

If shooting in good light then a fast shutter speed will reduce any self induced camera shake. However if you shoot using a zoom then there will be an optimum aperture where lens performance is best so I often set a specific aperture and let the shutter speed depend on that. On the 100-400 zoom I tend to use F8 a lot and avoid the high end of the zoom range as the nearer you get to the end of a zoom range the greater the loss in lens performance.

hope this is of some use – no doubt others will comment