Beginner Airshows,cheap setup?

I'm just looking for some advice because out there it seems an absolute minefield. In a nutshell, I'm looking for a camera that will allow me to take (or at least try to) half decent airshow pictures. I'm pretty new to photography and have been learning the ropes with a bridge camera over that last year or so. The issue I have is my wife won't let me spend big money (yet) on any gear (I've had a habit over the years with fleeting hobbies - high functioning autism) so realistically I'm only allowed to spend about £400-500…for now.

I do take lots of pictures of other things but the bridge camera (Sony hx400v) is absolutely useless at anything that moves - I reckon it would struggle at a steamroller show (if there was such a thing) or anything that is not in absolutely perfect, blinding light. My fixation at the min is using Gemini to check ‘is this camera good for airshows’ on literally every camera I see on eBay and going from there.

I'm becoming absolutely obsessed with finding a camera with ‘phase detection’ autofocus, it's becoming a bit unhealthy if I'm honest.
I looked at MFT systems (thinking lenses would be cheaper due to crop factor) but the only ones that use phase detection is the Olympus OM DE M-series and they are serious money.

Then looked at the Alpha A6000 but the 270mm lens is apparently terrible and does not give enough distance anyway ( was thinking high megapixels gives room to crop anyway but if the initial photo is rubbish that idea kind of dies a bit) and any other E mount lenses that actually focus well go into the £1000s.

Think it's the lens that is the sticking point price wise

I have seen other half decent cameras but again, lenses are ridiculous money.

Am I missing something? IE, do I REALLY need phase detection autofocus or an I getting unnecessarily obsessed with one feature that really doesn't matter that much?

Thanks in advance.

PS I probably have several other questions to pose in this thread, just can't think of
them right now.

Maybe look at a used Nikon 1 V2 with a 30-110mm lens. That should be in your budget and it has PDAF. The 1" sensor crop factor is 2.7x so the max equivalent FL is basically 300mm with that lens. There is also a more suitable 70-300 lens you could upgrade to later; I've successfully used this combo for birds in flight.


Ringbill by Steven Kersting, on Flickr

But using cropping/crop factor for reach is a compromise as it discards a lot of light... the Nikon1 V2 is not my main camera. And keep in mind that there are many third party lenses for the Sony E-mount.

Contrast detection does tend to be slow, but once focus is acquired it can track fine as long as the subject isn't too erratic.

Just had a look at them, my only fear is the 1 Inch sensor and its capability in less than perfect light. British weather is very rarely bright and sunny. The 300mm telephoto lenses are incredibly expensive.

Having said that, the seagull in the picture is crystal clear, be interesting to see (obviously I know it's impossible) what the perspective was from the eye, to get a vision of how much zoom you had ...if that makes sense.

In this vein I had a look at the NEX cameras but ruled them out due to (apparently) absolutely dire autofocus capability.

Mostly Harmless said:

Just had a look at them, my only fear is the 1 Inch sensor and its capability in less than perfect light.

Click to expand...

Yes, each step smaller is a loss of ~ 1 stop of light. So at 1" you're losing about 3 stops of light compared to FF... it's definitely limiting. And the lenses are not particularly fast either (f/5.6).

But your budget dictates some pretty significant compromises. While I have better cameras/lenses (far more expensive) so I don't need to use my V2 as primary; I find it does pretty well in most situations so long as it's not too dim.

Ideally I'd suggest a used Nikon D500 paired with a Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 but it would be outside of your budget.

What airshows are you looking to shoot at?

I'd successfully used a Nikon D7200 coupled to a Sigma 300mm f/4 at RIAT, Farnborough, Waddington etc plus loads of LAA events before the D500 was released. That set up should be within your budget.

GC

In my opinion, you can use any camera to record pictures of aircraft in flight, if it has a reasonable zoom lens. Here are two pictures of aircraft in flight, taken with the Panasonic TZ40 pocket superzoom...





They're far from perfect but they show the aircraft clearly. The Sony you have is capable of doing at least as well, provided it's working correctly. Perhaps, instead of trying to spend your way to success, you should go out and take a lot more pictures with the Sony and get to know it well. Only when you know it really well will you be able to work out whether you need something different.

My dad wasn't the world greatest photographer by any means, he took this on a Panasonic FZ50 years ago. As Andrew says, you don't need really expansive equipment to get aircraft shots, get to know the camera and enjoy what you've got.

.

Just to drive the point home, this was recorded with a Nikon S10...



The S10 was introduced around 20 years ago and has a 5MP sensor, yet it can help you to produce entirely satisfactory images for most purposes. For your information, here's a review of the S10...

AndrewFlannigan said:

In my opinion, you can use any camera to record pictures of aircraft in flight, if it has a reasonable zoom lens. Here are two pictures of aircraft in flight, taken with the Panasonic TZ40 pocket superzoom...

View attachment 473569

View attachment 473570

They're far from perfect but they show the aircraft clearly. The Sony you have is capable of doing at least as well, provided it's working correctly. Perhaps, instead of trying to spend your way to success, you should go out and take a lot more pictures with the Sony and get to know it well. Only when you know it really well will you be able to work out whether you need something different.

Click to expand...

That's a fair point. Although I have taken a lot of pictures with the Sony, some pretty impressive ones ( I should perhaps add some to Flickr) it's a decent enough camera for certain situations. It's just terrible at focusing on anything moving. I took a few shots from Liverpool airport, more to practice panning, but (like most airport viewing areas) the fence really gets in the way. I'm just not that impressed with them - they are fuzzy, perhaps due to having to either (it was a cloudy dull day) push the ISO up high, or slow the shutter speed down. Due to the sensor being so small (and the autofocus struggling against the sky) fast shutter speed and low ISO isn't really an option. Hence why I feel I'm 'ready' for something better.

Last airshow I shot was on a borrowed Nikon D5100 (or 5300) with a 70-300 VR Nikkor lens. That was the Dawlish air show about 10 years ago and we were sitting on the hill rather than being behind a barrier. Managed plenty of frame filling shots with a budget set-up.

For that budget a used DSLR will have better AF than any older mirrorless cameras. Take a look at MPB, something like a Canon 60D or Nikon D7000 will set you back under £200, add a 70-300mm lens for another £200.

To echo what people are saying above, any camera will do. My first airshow photography was at RIAT in 2022, with a Panasonic FZ2000 bridge camera, which has a 1" sensor, and I don't even know what kind of autofocus. These are all from that day:


NH90 by Kerry M, on Flickr


F-16 Fighting Falcon by Kerry M, on Flickr


Black Eagles - Republic of Korea by Kerry M, on Flickr

I've just had a look at MPB, and you can get an FZ1000 (which a lot of people rate over the FZ2000) for about £400. Maximum zoom on it is 400mm - to get anywhere near that with an interchangeable lens you'll be going way over budget, I'd say.

My suggestion would also be a mid-level mid-2010s APS-c DSLR plus a zoom up to 300mm

Choices are:

Canon 70D plus Canon EF 70-300
Nikon D7100 plus Nikkor 70-300
Pentax K3 plus DA 55-300

Other equivalent models available. 300 mm on crop frame camera is adequate for air shows.