Seeking airshow advice – use of tripods

Can’t say I’ve ever considered the use of a tripod or monopod. Doesn’t seem feasible for airborne shots.
I’ve been using a Sigma 75/250 zoom, sometimes with a Vivitar 2X converter, for years on my Olympus OM-2N.
However, I’ve just picked up a Zuiko (Olympus) 200mm/f:4 prime and a Zuiko 2X matched multiplier so I’m going to give that a try.
I put an 800ASA film in at Leg Ends for the first time but it’s still in the camera so I don’t know what the results are like yet.

Am I the only stupid git here having to work on a Saturday

Unfortunately, no.

Originally posted by Moggy C
As a supplementary to this..

Is the Beldray currently the step-ladder of choice or do the experts amongst us favour a more up-market brand. 😉

Moggy

Ladders are great , great excuse for helping ladies undress , “oh look your stockings are laddered……rrrrrriiippppp , yeee haaa”:D

Am I the only stupid git here having to work on a Saturday ??

At an airshow I use a monopod occasionally to be able to use slower shutter speeds to prevent completely freezing the movement of propellors. This works quite good with even long lenses (I often use a Nikkor AF-S 4/300 mm with a 1.4 dedicated converter), but mainly for shooting taxiing aircraft.

Using a monopod or tripod for ground to air shots usually isn’t very practical. The “secrets” of obtaining sharp photo’s with long lenses are: use a fast (F 2.8 or 4) high quality lens with or without an equally high quality converter, use a fast shutter speed of at least the reciprocal of the focal length (e.i. 1/500 with a focal length of 500 mm), accurate focussing and accurate panning including follow through after making the exposure.

Quality wise, I would advise against the use of slow zoom lenses combined with a converter. With a converter, much better results would be obtained by using a fast prime (non-zoom) lens. With the quality standard of today’s films, especially colour negative, a faster film up to ISO 400 or even 800 will enable you to use very fast shutter speeds without sacrificing much in picture quality. In this way you should be able to practically eliminate camera shake.

Monopods is much favoured among sportsphotographers, but I guess they work in a “flatter” plane. Freehand panning is my favoured technique. Go for the faster film. And don’t be afraid to do some workout, so you can “clamp” the camera and the long tubes.

The problem with tripods (at airshows) is that you need a ridiculously big stepladder! 😉

Best regards atc pal

You say it was windy but not whether the sun was out, if it was dull, overcast, where the sun was etc. What was the ASA/ISO of your film, what the max aperature of your Tamron is (sorry, I am well out of sync with current specifications), the make of the converter, whether you or the camera were choosing the shutter speed. Etc, etc, etc.
Check your shutter speed. If you are using your camera on program (and so many do – despite what they might say) then make sure it is selecting a suitable shutter speed. Put it on shutter priority if necessary. As a rule of thumb: the length of lens = hundredths of seconds – that is never go below 1/300th with a 300mm lens. At least, not until you feel comfortable with your equipment. Shutter speed is the first thing to master to cure shake and blur.
Yes converters are usually a waste of time and only make the salesman happy but then again you should be able to get something usable, it just depends on how desperate you are for good quality – and if you are after quality then a prime lens is going to be better quality than a zoom everytime (I used to know a guy who used a Nikon 400mm f2.8 with the dedicated Nikon 1.4x or 2x converter and a nameless 2x converter that cost him £8 – I think – but he got fantastic results from that set up of comet Halley-Bopp and a celebrity snatch – careful! – probably of Madonna that he sold somewhere).
Tripods or Monopods. I have a ruddy great Manfrotto which is lovely, stable, and weighs a ton (or very nearly!). If you fancy carting one of those around to an airshow or whatever then go for it, but I started off with a light-weight flimsy aluminium thing which cost me less than a tenner 15-20 years ago and it wobbled like a Page 3 girls artificial breast augmentation. You pays yer money and you gets yer choice. I have a couple of Manfrotto monopods (I am lazy so one is semi permanently attached to my 300mm f2.8) and I wouldn’t be with out them for most long lens use. Yes they do take a bit of getting used to but last weekend I was panning runners on one at the far end of my 70-200mm at 1/30th. Believe me; it does work, you can do it. Go out and practise – if you are on film then remember that film is cheaper than a good quality tripod if you can master it.
But in this age of auto everything cameras you do have to take control from the machine!

Flood.

Ideally any long lens should be properly supported with a decent tripod, but at an airshow? No I never use one, I don’t find it practical, and I’d miss far too much. I do use a monopod in some situations, especially with the sigma 50-500 lens which helps at the long end of the zoom for taxiing/takeoff shots, but for displays in the air I always handhold.

If you are getting unsharp images try upping the ISO, don’t be afraid to use 400, 640 or 800 ISO, its much better to have a sharp, well exposed photograph with a bit of grain/noise (film/digital) than an image ruined by camera shake. There are some very effective noise reduction programmes (Neat Image etc) that can help if the noise becomes too objectionable.

A 60-300 lens is likely to have a maximum aperture of F5.6, add a 2x converter and your maximum aperture will be F11, very difficult to use effectively. I’d try loosing the converter and using the lens on its own. A 300mm should be enough to get some decent results if you think carefully about your position at a show, look to see which end they come over the threshold or start their takeoff run and position yourself there, rather than at the centre of the display line.

All the stuff I posted yesterday at Elvington Photos were taken with a 70-200mm lens+1.4x converter (effectively 280mm) so it is possible to get reasonable images with this focal length so long as you think about your location.

Gareth

Roger S, you’re right that 2x converters are not always known for their optical quality. But these shots were much too blurry for that. I’m pretty certain it was the camera shaking. It’s a different kind of blurry, if you know what I mean. Blurred by movement, not by poor focus.

I was considering the use of a tri or mono pod for my camera last weekend but I am still in experiment mode with my Dig camera. My camera is limited to 25-200mm true opitical zoom so ground to air shot are a stretch..I tired combining the opitcal with the digital zoom but it sucked badly..The winds were a challenge yes!

Slow ground to air are good but limited by my lenses.

I’ll guess the problem was more the zoom/2x converter. Converters are not known for their quality, unless it is one of those very expensive ones (and even then). BW Roger

As a supplementary to this..

Is the Beldray currently the step-ladder of choice or do the experts amongst us favour a more up-market brand. 😉

Moggy