Well, in the end it doesn’t matter what you think of VTTS, or what anyone says about ‘Vulcan Fans’.

XH558 represented an awesome achievement, or should I say some awesome achievements: Mr. Chadwick’s original concept, the legendary Farnborough Roll, the Vulcan crews who flew and maintained them, the Blackbuck missions, operation Skyshield/ Red Flag, and, yes, VTTS returning XH558 back to flight. In just the same way that Spitfires, and the people who admire them are often looked down on by those who think they’re just so over that kind of thing – the awe-inspiring memory of the Vulcan in the air can never be diminished by its popularity.

The sight and sound of XH558 at a 1980’s airshow is one of my earliest memories and the time and place I first became interested in aviation (at the age of about 3) so you’ll have to forgive me for sentimentality when it comes to this particular aircraft type. Farewell and thank you XH558, it’s been an utter pleasure.

My other half and I nipped in to Duxford this afternoon as we were passing. The sun was low in the sky and catching the glass panel memorial behind the AAM in a very pleasing way:

IMG_8849_50_51_tonemapped by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_8838_tonemapped by sboreeves, on Flickr

And as we made our way to the exit around 4pm there was an impressive bit of cloud iridescence in the sky:

IMG_8867_8_9_tonemapped by sboreeves, on Flickr

As an aside (I know it’s been discussed before) we couldn’t remember what the German wings on the floor of Hangar 3 are from (Thanks to Mr. Whitworth for the photo which appeared earlier in this thread):

1422:G-AWHK / 10 by David Whitworth, on Flickr

Please could someone enlighten me? – Cheers!

I’m surprised that the Daily Mail is still tolerated in this neck of the woods post Shoreham… If that isn’t this forum’s Hillsborough then I don’t know what will do it.

Could not agree more.

Observing the chaos ‘the Vulcan effect’ caused was almost as much fun as seeing the aircraft itself…. It reminded me of going to watch the Tour de France go past; Struggle for a hour or so to find the best parking/viewing spot and then its all over 30 seconds after the aircraft was first seen. :applause:

Yeah, I had the same thought yesterday during the chaos at Rutland Water: cars abandoned everywhere and people pouring over styles, through gates etc. to get a spot on the shore.

In other news I read in the Daily Fail this morning that we all missed a Vulcan Fighter that was apparently also doing the rounds this weekend. Went to all the same places as the Bomber apparently.

Hi Alan,

Owning a piece of kit that is capable of such outstanding image / sound quality has been too much of a temptation for me so I’ve been using a 650D for the occasional video shooting and have been wrestling with its limitations ever since since I bought it. Many of the following points will also apply to the 70D. Incidentally, I’m off in an hour or so with it to get a video of the Vulcan over Rutland Water.

The first thing I found was that I needed an external microphone because I got a lot of focus and wind noise with the built in one and also it is only mono. I now use a stereo condenser mic which fits into a hot-shoe holder, which is fine, except that the cable gets in the way of my forehead if I want to leave it in place use the view finder for photos. It’s a bit of a faff but I have to take it out of the hotshoe and turn it round by 90″ when not in use.

I don’t have the luxury of lots of lenses so either use the standard 18-55 or a 70-300. To be honest, I think something in the range 30-200 would be about right for airshow work, to include both taxiing and flying aircraft.

These days I usually shoot video from a monopod which also has its limitations, but I’ve found that having a grip under the camera for my left hand while I use my right to operate the camera/focus works well and also the the IS lenses help a great deal. Panning requires a lot of room and pre planing so that I can stand in the middle of the arc so it requires minimum movement on my part, also it’s a bit tricky when something goes directly overhead, especially with the bigger lens. The monopod does help a lot with keeping the image steady, especially with the tendency of the camera to rotate when zooming.

Focus is the other thing that can be troublesome, especially with the bigger lens, and it’s also fairly difficult to see in the small viewfinder. I get varying results but mostly if I’m able either to estimate the focal distance and switch to manual or wait until the subject is in view and then auto focus on it it’s OK. Trying to re-focus during filming is usually a failure though. Apparently you can off set the problems a bit by manually setting an aperture value but I’ve not been able to work out how to do it!!

I’d say that it is worth giving it a go with the SLR, but if you want decent sound then invest in an external mic at the very least. You can get some very good results as long as you accept its limitations.

Here’s my Youtube channel Anything that’s in HD was shot with the 650D and you’ll see that the more recent stuff is steadier due to monopod use. I’ll upload the Rutland video later on if it turns out OK.

Have fun!

More from the local rag:

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Wreckage-crashed-Spitfire-starts-emerge-Great-Fen/story-27930281-detail/story.html

I took a video of the Duxford flypast with the Skyvan:

https://youtu.be/sDYaA4nZ7ms