Military Aircraft: airshows, operational, whatever, lets see what you have!

[Valvebounce]

Hi Erik.
Beautiful shots of the vampire, this must be a very rare aircraft today, the other one is nice too.

Cheers, Graham.

De Havilland DH-100 Vampire, known as J28 in the Swedish airforce 1946-1952
And a Mitsubishi MU-2 currently in us for target towing..
Skavsta airport, Sweden 2015-08-30

 

[Roo]

Nice shots Erik. The Vampire still looks good in the air.

 

[Click]

Very nice shots, Erik. I especially like the first picture.

 

[RustyTheGeek]

My plan is to shoot the first pass of a prop plane at a 400th, then step down through the speeds after getting good crisp shots. The expense of traveling and time spent at the show would be wasted without at least one good clean shot.
I have cut out most of the shows where I have shot into the sun and crappy sky. There are exceptions to the rule, but only when the lineup is something I haven't seen before. Good example is the Chino Planes of Fame.
Jets are shot at 1000th-1600th depending on the light and lens. When using the 100-400, I go into Auto ISO mode to avoid running out of f stops- something I have done way too many times.
The real fun starts when the sky has a mix of props and jets. This is one of those "how fast can you change between settings" situations. I have plenty of blurry jets and frozen props to deal with over the years.
I have considered setting C2 for props & C3 for jets.

Thanks for the extra points about your technique Keith! And I love the extra incentive you included at the end! Very interesting looking girl that hopefully was fun to hang out with! This thread has a undertone of "this forum isn't strong enough with image centric topics" so maybe you should start a thread about attractive photographers we all have run into at various shoots. It's always great to see an attractive female using a camera!

 

[Erik X]

Maybe I shouldn't ignore SAAB aircrafts, actually I'm a bit biased ;-) Jets will follow soon..
Here are some SAAB 91 'Safir' in formation (Skavsta 2015-08-30). It was used as trainer 'SK50' in the Airforce from 1952 to 1993
Saab B17 (Såtenäs airshow 2015-07-04), was in service 1942-1968. This plane is maintained and flown by a team of enthusiast while Saab Linköping provides facilities and parts..

 

[Erik X]

Douglas C-47 A-60-DL USAAF 43-30732. First stationed in Algeria but then used in the invasion of Normandie.
Sold as surplus after the war to Scandianvia Airlines System. Flew in Norway 1948-57, in Sweden 1957-60 for Linjeflyg. Sold to Swedish air force 1960. Bought by Flygande Veteraner Stockholm 1982, SAS painting restored. Nickname 'Daisy'. I wish I had that finish on my car ;D (click on picture twice for full res)

 

[Viper28]

Great shots of the Vampire Eric

Maybe I shouldn't ignore SAAB aircrafts, actually I'm a bit biased ;-)

No really should not ignore Saab military aircraft. They have always been different and unique, the JAS37 Viggen is still in my top-10 of great jets. Been lucky enough the catch the historic flight a couple of times, would love to get the Viggen or Draken low level

J29 Tunnan

JAS35 Draken

JAS37 Viggen

 

[Click]

Great shots, Simon. 8)

 

[KeithBreazeal]

My plan is to shoot the first pass of a prop plane at a 400th, then step down through the speeds after getting good crisp shots. The expense of traveling and time spent at the show would be wasted without at least one good clean shot.
I have cut out most of the shows where I have shot into the sun and crappy sky. There are exceptions to the rule, but only when the lineup is something I haven't seen before. Good example is the Chino Planes of Fame.
Jets are shot at 1000th-1600th depending on the light and lens. When using the 100-400, I go into Auto ISO mode to avoid running out of f stops- something I have done way too many times.
The real fun starts when the sky has a mix of props and jets. This is one of those "how fast can you change between settings" situations. I have plenty of blurry jets and frozen props to deal with over the years.
I have considered setting C2 for props & C3 for jets.

Thanks for the extra points about your technique Keith! And I love the extra incentive you included at the end! Very interesting looking girl that hopefully was fun to hang out with! This thread has a undertone of "this forum isn't strong enough with image centric topics" so maybe you should start a thread about attractive photographers we all have run into at various shoots. It's always great to see an attractive female using a camera!

Ha!
I occasionally shoot some of the women but I ask first. Actually, there are a lot of women shooting lately.
Some are into photography pretty heavily.

CCA Photo Tour 6610 © Keith Breazeal-2 by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

Photographer Reno 2011 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

 

[KeithBreazeal]

What is so cool about this thread is seeing all the European aircraft.
Just wish I could afford spending a summer there shooting. My last trip was the Paris Air Show in 1987!

 

[Viper28]

What is so cool about this thread is seeing all the European aircraft.
Just wish I could afford spending a summer there shooting. My last trip was the Paris Air Show in 1987!

Do it while we still have some variety over here Keith (before everything goes F35) July next year would be a great choice. You will get, RIAT (largest military show in the world), Farnbrough international and Flying Legends at Duxford (warbirds fest) all within 3 weeks. Fill the rest of the time between shows in the LFA of Wales or the Lake District which have stunning scenery

 

[Erik X]

Thanks Simon! Oh nice shots of 'Tunnan' J-29, the odd 2-seater SK-35 Draken and 37 Viggen
Unfortunately, 32 Lansen was missing in 'SAAB Historic Flight' this summer, I don't know why..
I spent the last four years at Saab in Linköping so I'm a bit fed up with 39 Gripen doing cuban eights above my head every day, or at least when prospective customers were visiting the site.. : All photography forbidden of course :-\
Here are some not perfectly sharp pictures.. that was my first airshow with 5D3/100-400II, I'm learning..

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Simon and Erik.
Lovely shots from both of you, the SAAB aircraft are distinctly unique. Nice shot of the Dakota too.
Kieth.
Interesting shots as ever.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Click]

Douglas C-47 A-60-DL USAAF 43-30732. First stationed in Algeria but then used in the invasion of Normandie.
Sold as surplus after the war to Scandianvia Airlines System. Flew in Norway 1948-57, in Sweden 1957-60 for Linjeflyg. Sold to Swedish air force 1960. Bought by Flygande Veteraner Stockholm 1982, SAS painting restored. Nickname 'Daisy'. I wish I had that finish on my car ;D (click on picture twice for full res)

I love that aircraft. A classic 8) Very nice picture of a beautiful plane. Well done, Erik.

 

[Roo]

Thanks for the SAAB shots guys! They have made some great planes over the years but the only time we get to see any here is the rare occasion when the Thais bring their Gripens for joint exercises. Unfortunately, even then it's in Darwin (minimum 4.5 hour flight from here).

A couple of our Eurocopter ARH Tigers in action along with the NHI MRH90 Taipan.

 

[Click]

Nice pictures, Roo. I like the paint scheme on those helicopters.

 

[Erik X]

More SAAB 39 Gripen from the official airshow at Såtenäs 2015-07-04 .. I know nothing.. ;D
Air refueling from a C-130 was also demonstrated. The Gripens did not go closer than this, I assume that you prefer to fly straight at reasonable altitude and not in circles above an airshow public..

 

[KeithBreazeal]

Here are some not perfectly sharp pictures.. that was my first airshow with 5D3/100-400II, I'm learning..

Nice shots. I especially like the last one.
Multiple aircraft formations are tricky for getting all tack sharp. As the aircraft pass, your autofocus is tracking one or multiple aircraft. Because each is a different distance from you, their relative speed is different- even if they are locked into a formation. Depth of field is always a factor, but in this case the shutter speed needs to deal with the aircraft moving at slightly different speeds. The closer they do the flyby, the more noticeable the effect.
This drives me crazy when I shoot heritage flights of prop and jet combinations. Having to increase shutter speeds means prop blur is being sacrificed. I shoot with the 5D III and 100-400 also. Having shot with the crop frame bodies, there is a slight difference in DOF, but the same factors exist. If using a center focus point, try to pick the middle of the formation for the average speed, then use the appropriate f stop.
In this example, I was shooting at 1/400th f11 and still got motion blur from the closest Sea Fury. I was tracking the outer one that was going slightly faster in the arcing turn.

Show & Shine Eagles Nest 31 May 2014 © Keith Breazeal-17 by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

 

[dhr90]

Some fantastic images posted here this past week! Those SAAB's are certainly unique looking. Always love to see a Vampire. 'Tickling Mach' and the shot of the Raptor 5 pages or so back are just brilliant! I need to up my game I think

 

[Erik X]

Thanks Keith. Yes multiple aircrafts indeed cause confusion about which one to set focus on :-\
The main problem that day was thermal turbulence, haze and sunlight straight in the eyes.. I tried to cope with turbulence by using short shutter time but maybe it just got worse, the air was simply boiling.. No such problems at the next airshow, crystal clear air What I have learnt so far is that nice prop blur is in direct conflict with sharp pictures, haven't found the perfect compromize yet.