Advice please

[Micro-four-thirds]

Morning all, I’m hoping you can help, this coming weekend being armed forces day there is a display of various aircraft, red arrows, Battle of Britain memorial flight etc going over cleethorpes seafront.
I am looking at going and would like to get some pics but I have never done any plane photography before.
I’m using my Olympus m4/3 with 14/150mm Panasonic lens.
Could anyone help me out with some advice on best settings etc. i normally shoot in aperture priority or shutter priority depending on the subject but have little experience in full manual.
Many thanks.

 

[Plain Nev]

It's been a long time since I photographed an aircraft in flight. I would think shutter priority would be just the thing. That and exposure compensation for the sky. I know a few people on here do it, so hopefully they will give you a more detailed answer.

 

[gcgraphs]

I'm normally in manual mode plus auto ISO for aircraft in flight.

For fast jets I'm using a minimum shutter speed of 1/1250th and for props/rotary between 1/80th and 1/160th, normally 1/160th is fine for the BBMF. Also + exp comp anywhere between 0.7 to 2 stops.

 

[Fuji Dave]

Shutter Speed so you can use the EC, for prop planes NO faster than 1/320 as it will give the props a nice blur and for the jets anything over 1/500 and do not use Electronic shutter as you will end up with the props looking crazy as I say.

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Thanks for the info I will make a note of those settings. And I must say that photo is brilliant.

I'm normally in manual mode plus auto ISO for aircraft in flight.

For fast jets I'm using a minimum shutter speed of 1/1250th and for props/rotary between 1/80th and 1/160th, normally 1/160th is fine for the BBMF. Also + exp comp anywhere between 0.7 to 2 stops.

View attachment 357942

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Shutter Speed so you can use the EC, for prop planes NO faster than 1/320 as it will give the props a nice blur and for the jets anything over 1/500 and do not use Electronic shutter as you will end up with the props looking crazy as I say.

Many thanks.

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Also with regards to tracking the faster jets is there anything I can do to help myself?

 

[Plain Nev]

Get ahead of them. By the time you've thought about it they will be there.

 

[Bebop]

Also with regards to tracking the faster jets is there anything I can do to help myself?

There are AF tracking facilities on many Olympus cameras but I think they are useless - unless you have the latest OM1, I would avoid them.

Set your Image Stabilisation to auto, and then if you are panning with slower shutter speeds for the prop planes, it won’t work against you.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

I’m using my Olympus m4/3 with 14/150mm Panasonic lens.

Unless the aircraft are flying very low, which I doubt they will these days, you'll find that the aircraft images are very small. I use a 100~400mm on my G9 and usually have to crop down to 1/8th of the frame or even less. This example is 400mm and is less than 1/6th of the frame...



The bigger groups are much easier to take with shorter focal lengths, of course...

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Unless the aircraft are flying very low, which I doubt they will these days, you'll find that the aircraft images are very small. I use a 100~400mm on my G9 and usually have to crop down to 1/8th of the frame or even less. This example is 400mm and is less than 1/6th of the frame...

View attachment 357958

The bigger groups are much easier to take with shorter focal lengths, of course...

View attachment 357960

Wow yes I see what you mean with the top image.

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

There are AF tracking facilities on many Olympus cameras but I think they are useless - unless you have the latest OM1, I would avoid them.

Set your Image Stabilisation to auto, and then if you are panning with slower shutter speeds for the prop planes, it won’t work against you.

That’s a great idea with the image stabilisation. Thank you.

 

[AMcUK]

You don't mention which Olympus body?
I use an OM-D E-M10ii and as above I wouldn't worry about using the C-AF or C-AF+tracking in my (limited) experience S-AF is quick enough.
I sometimes use the touchscreen and press to focus and shoot. Using the screen means you can see more of what's going on depending on the light so you can pan and click when you have the plane in the frame..
You can set shutter to Sequential-Low and get bursts, on my camera Sequential-High doesn't refocus between shots so risk a card full of blur if the first shot isn't in focus or the plane is moving too fast. I find culling images tedious so I'd sooner miss a plane than have 100s to go through as I'm not getting paid, but that's just me.
I have release priority set so that the shutter will only fire if the camera thinks it's got focus on something - otherwise card full of rubbish.

Keep an eye on the exposure - lots of old military planes will be murky if you let the camera expose for the sky. I generally just dial in exposure compensation and try not to worry about blown sky.

Finally as per the poster above with a maximum reach of 150mm (300mm equiv) you will not get very close images so set your expectations.
This is a crop and I was standing closer than the public are allowed during the airshow (this was a private event)
Using the Olympus 75-300mm lens on the M10ii is a challenge at the long end - the stabilisation is pretty good but at 600mm equiv. and on a little body it moves around.


NEBO Air Pipistrel Velis Electro in flight by NUNCATS, on Flickr

Enjoy yourself and don't forget to actually watch rather than struggle with the camera all day

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Hi all, just a quick update, I had a great day out yesterday at the armed forces day at cleethorpes.
Here is one unedited photo I took yesterday, I’m still trying to go through them all, over 500 in total lol.
For my first attempt at moving aircraft I’m impressed.

 

[woof woof]

Well done James

I'll look forward to seeing some more pictures.

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Here’s another I’m going to keep. It’s quite a big crop though.

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Well done James

I'll look forward to seeing some more pictures.

Thank you.