Nice shots there thanks for sharing 😎 any ideas what the Czech C-130 is doing there and the RAF SAR Grffin |:cool:

James

Not a Czech C-130, bur a Dutch (RNLAF) one!!:)

Quick Update, Well need to ask about a lens anyway. I thought insterad of making a new thread, why not just update this one. First of, I be getting this for christmas as I’m only 15 and won’t be making £££ any time soon!

1. Nikon 55-200MM F4.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX Black Lens (That means its got Auto-Focus built into it yeah?)

2. On Lens such as Tamron, do they have any special codes that says it has Auto Focus or I’m I still looking for the word DX etc?

Thanks again,

Matt,

1. The Nikon 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX does indeed have a built-in AF-motor and also vibration reduction (VR).

2. As you know the Nikon indication for lenses with built-in focusmotor is AF-S.
Comparable Sigma lenses are indicated by HSM; Tamron uses BIM for the same. Tokina is just starting to market such lenses, but have no special indication yet. The first Tokina lens with built-in AF-motor for Nikon to reach the market will be the SD 12-24mm F4 (IF) DX II.
The indication DX has no relevance to AF-motors at all; it only indicates that the lens in principle can only be used on Nikon DSLR’s with DX (=APS-C) size sensors and not on FX (“fullframe”) sensors.

Especially the B-17 and Mustang is a beauty Arjan!

Here you can find some information about the Mustang “Trusty Rusty” restoration project with the Early Bird organisation at Lelystad.

http://www.vroegevogels.org/indexeng.htm

Go to “planes” and select the Mustang.

There are more options than Canon DSLR’s: Pentax K10D and the recently announced K20D, Sony α100, α700 and the recently announced α300 and α350, Olympus with various interesting models and of course Nikon.

As a Nikon user for over 30 years I can only give advice on options in this brand. For a new user I could recommend to look into the D40x and its recent announced successor the D60 (£449 body only, with AFS 18-55VR kitlens £529), the AFS 70-300 4.5/5.6VR lens for aviation (£330) and for macro the recently announced AFS 60/2.8 Micro-Nikkor (£379) or the AFS 105/2.8VR Micro-Nikkor (£459). Prices are from the Grays of Westminster pricelist http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/products/digital.html , but probably there are cheaper options.

The lenses are not cheap, but I would strongly advise always to buy the best glass within your reach (applies to every brand).

My advice: read as many test reports and user reports as possible ( http://www.dpreview.com/ ) , make a shortlist of the camera’s that appeal to you most (compare features), try to handle those camera’s (and make test shots) and decide which camera’s ergomics appeal to you most. As for lenses it is important to note that with Canon and Nikon you have the widest choice, not only within those brands, but also from the independent manufacturers (Sigma, Tokina, Tamron). Good luck and enjoy your survey. 🙂

Keith,

For your D40x I would advise to really consider the Nikkor AFS 70-300mm f 4.5-5.6VR, which has received very good reviews. It is much better in every aspect than the Nikkor 55-200 and also has better “reach” for ground-to-air shots. I would steer away from the 18-200 zooms, which are too much of a compromise.

It depends on the actual lightlevels and the lens you’re using. To prevent camerashake, a rule of thumb is to use a shutterspeed which at least is 1/focal length; e.g with a 300 mm lens you should use a shutterspeed of at least 1/300 or better even 1/500. With good panning technique it is possible to get sharp shots at lower shutterspeeds, but the above rule is a good starting point.

With fast lenses you can use a larger aperture than with slower lenses. Also most lenses deliver the best optical quality when the aperture is closed one or two stops. So, with a 2.8 lens, you should normally aim for 4-5.6 or better. With slower lenses you’ll normally tend up to use f8. If that’s not possible you should bump up the ISO setting.

For ISO settings go with the rule “as low as possible and as high as necessary”. With your camera I would avoid ISO settings above 400 ISO as much as possible.

A few links which may be useful:

http://www.photoworkshop.com/adobe/index

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html