Which lenses for an Air Show?

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wotan1

wotan1

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I have been invited to attend Seafair, which involves both hydroplane boat races and an air show. I have a pit pass for the hydroplane boats and will also be able to photograph the air show from the deck of a home located just up the hill from the main event. I would probably use a tripod and gimbal on the deck but at the pits i would do everything handheld.

I am wondering which lenses would work well for this.

I am looking potentially at the following lenses:

800mm pf
400mm f4.5
70-200mmm f2.8
135mm f1.8 Plena
24-70mm f2.8
14-24mm f2.8.
1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters

I could also rent something if appropriate. The options could include a telephoto zoom or possibly a 400mm f2.8.

This is going to be shot mid day so low light performance is probably not going to be an issue.
 
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I would take the 70-200 and the 400 4.5 / 400 2.8, and then the 24-70 for close ups in the pits. Covers a lot of range with your teleconverters. The 800mm could also be useful but I'm thinking you might wind up being too close to get the compositions you'd be looking for in your images.
 
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I am inclined to bring the Plena because of its incredible sharpness, shallow depth of field and excellent ability to detune backgrounds. It also can be used on DX to get to 200mm and might even be a good substitute for the 70-200.
 
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For the pit lane, either a 24-70 on one body and a 70-700 on the other (full event pro with all the other stuff needed to carry all that, and I mean that non-ironically). Or a 24-120, the orginal one was called "streetsweeper" by photojournalists for a reason, that lense covers basically every situation you throw at it in a "reporting" style environment (the pit lane is exactly that).

For the airshow, I did only one so far and that more or less by accident, the 400 and 800, going from your available lenses. Depebding on distance to the action so.

If you can borrow, maybe a 100-400 or a 180-600, the flexibility of zooms cannot be overstated. I would borrow / rent nore than one lens I am bot familiar with so.

The 14-24 is a highly specialized, landscape focused lense, way to wide for the event, 24 is plenty wide and you have a 24-70 already.

The Plena is a superb lens, but a prime and a specialized tool as well. For the airshow too short and for the pit lane too long and not flexible enough.

Just my thoughts on some small scale events and one airshow from a bad spot.
 
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At my regular airshow venue I use the 180-600. If they are any farther out than the 600 can grab, the atmospherics are too severe. My up close lens is the 24-120 but that's not on your list.
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Oh great, maybe one day I'll get to such an air show across the Atlantic. Generally, it all depends on what frames you expect and at what distances the machines will fly.
I would definitely consider giving up the tripod altogether (even with a gimbal head). In fact, it only interferes with photography - planes are not birds. Especially if you manage to get near the axis of the show.
Good luck to you and of course have fun!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I have been photographing airplanes for many years.
 
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Here are my rules:
  • Best distance for an airshow is the one in which one gets a full plane on a full sensor (that is shorter than one might think about 250m (800 f) for medium size plane and 600 mm
  • Do not press shutter if the plane is not at least 1/3 viewfinder unless aiming for smoke trails or groups
  • Use FPS which grants at least 7 pictures per burst (depends on plane speed)
  • 1/120s for copters, 1/500 for propeller's and 1/1000 for jets at 600mm in order to get moving parts motion (go down if your hands are steady)
  • Use 100% magnification to see unwanted motion blur
  • Light lens are bonus
  • Background sharpness is usually no issue as it is mostly clouds.
  • Biggest issue is to balance contrast of sky against the plane. (I usually significantly darken the sky using LR slider dehaze in PP)

Usually I shoot 600 mm. 800 mm is possible only in a great weather (no air shimmer), 100-400 if one gets really close.
 
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Tibor Hrnko said:
Here are my rules:
Click to expand...
When it comes to shutter speed, I would definitely break these rules - if we want to have photos different from everyone else and they should stand out. For example, for jets I often use 1/125 (at 300, 400, 500 mm) and for helicopters 1/1000s.
Generally, it all depends on what and how we want to show it :)
 
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