Off to RIAT... will I be OK with a 70-300 ?

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amnesia

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Hi all...

I am off to RIAT on Saturday and I'm wondering if my kit is adequate... :thinking:
I have a gripped D90 with a Nikkor 70-300 VRii being my longest lens.

Will a 300mm (450EFL) be enough or should I be looking at a TC, and if so, what strength ? Looks like a bright sunny day on Saturday so a reduction in max aperture shouldn't be too much of an issue.

FWIW my shots from last year's Bournemouth Air Festival are here - I would like to do a bit better with decent conditions.
Not having been to RAF Fairford before I don't have a clue how close the aircraft get to the general admission crowds.

Any thoughts ?

Cheers,
Daniel.
 
At Fairford you sit all along the runway edges behind ropes but it gets packed very quickly.

For an extra price, you can purchase a seat in one of the temporary stands they usually put up - I bought a ticket for one of these a few years back and as a result got many excellent photos of planes taking off and landing without having peoples heads in the way :)

Wouldn't hurt to put a TC in if you have one - as with the clear skies forecast the planes could well perform very high at times, and its better to have the option with you than regret not taking it along.
 
Modern regs mean its ALL a long way off. If I was going again Id stay off base.
Looking at your Bournemouth shots I don't think you'll get any better at RIAT, least not on site. Don't forget the static though. Wide angle and all those non aircraft distractions!
Biggest country show in the land with aircraft.
Sunscreen, water, hat, water, sun screen, Umbrella!
Whatever time your setting out, leave earlier. It can take ages getting in. Enjoy
 
Cheers chaps... looks like I'll be picking up a TC on the way home tonight then :)
 
Hmmm... was considering the Kenko DGX Pro-300 1.4x
I've found several reviews stating that it works with the 70-300VRii perfectly fine.

Will check one out later and report back ;)
 
You'll be fine with take off's and landings. Watch for people like the Dutch and Belgian F16's, they do low overshoots, sometimes up into a roll, and you're 300 end will probably be fine for that.
Some bits will be beyond the reach of your lens yes. But then some bits are beyond my 600mm max lens power too! There's also the issue of haze which plays havoc with very long lenes, at least you wont have too much of that to contend with.

There's a fair few big items, C17, VC10 and A400M, not to mention the flypast with the Red Arrows and A380. Your lens will be ideal for all of those. Good luck, at least for once, the weathers going to be good.
 
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I'm having the same dilemma.
Never been to Fairford before and I'm taking my 70-200 with 1.4x and also 2x teleconverters.
I'll try to stick with just the 1.4 though if I can I think.
I'm going to be leaving Gloucester at 5.30 so should be there in plenty of time (I hope).
 
Found 300mm to be limited last year. Fine for helos which display lower. Jets etc found it wanting unless take offs and landing
 
Well, turns out that the Kenko 1.4 TC works fine with the 70-300. AF and VR also work fine. Not as sharp as the lens on its own (obviously) but should be OK in good light.

The DXG version even reports the correct focal length, which is nice.

Will share some shots after the weekend...

Daniel.
 
I'm going with a 55-200, will let you know how I get on! I'm sure regardless of focal length you can get some interesting compositions, not every shot has to be frame-filling.
 
I have been the last two years with my 550d and 55-250 and have got plenty of usable shots. Admittedly I go into the enclosures for a better view (jubilee gardens last two years) but still had sufficient zoom for a lot of shots. I am taking the 550d again this year and will have a Tamron 70-300 attached. Will also be taking my new 6d but fear the 'non-crop' sensor won't have enough reach, but will be interested in how cropped pictures turn out as the sensor in the 6d is top notch, so should take a fair bit of cropping! I hope! If nothing else, the 6d will be great for the static planes.

Either way, the weather looks superb for it!
 
yeah weather looks good - apparently (according to the local news) there are plenty of places to refill water bottles for free too - think we'll need that:)
 
JulesP said:
yeah weather looks good - apparently (according to the local news) there are plenty of places to refill water bottles for free too - think we'll need that:)
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Excellent. I was wondering about that. :)
 
That is good news, we're probably going to be needing plenty of water!
I'm going with my Pana G2 & 45-200, a GF5 & 14mm for the statics, and my IR converted Sony P9! Travelling light then!! :)
First time I've been as a grown up too, last time I went I was around 12 or 13 so it was nearly 20 years ago!
 
Any suggestions for when to plonk yourself down at the crowd line? I live fairly close so will comfortably be there before gate opening, weighing up seeing the static stuff with bagging a half decent spot.

Weather looks ever so slightly cooler and a bit breezier this weekend, thankfully! 1 in every 350 people had to be treated at Yeovilton last weekend, so I hope everyone is well prepared!
 
We've got a long drive ahead of us in the morning so I doubt we'll get there before 8am. There will be 5 of us though so we're going to choose where we want to sit and a couple of us can stay there while the rest go for a wander. We'll just have to take it in turns to have a look around.
 
Last time i went in 2011 was strange. I left Gloucester at about 8am. I was on the airfield, parked and in the main area by 9.30. There was no traffic at all.

Previous years I've queued up for hours, albeit it was 10 years or more since I last went.

Leaving was the same, a very slight queue in the car park, but once on the road it was fine. They must have seriously altered the routing.

I had a 300mm prime with a 1.4tc, I was right at the far end of the flight line (next to the Gloster e38 and Meteor) as I was on my stall, but some ok shots. Had to crop a few but that's no issue for me.

Looks like the weather will much better this year than last time I went anyway!



Belgian F-16 RIAT 2011 by TCR4x4, on Flickr


Mini Hercules type thing?? RIAT 2011 by TCR4x4, on Flickr


A-10 RIAT 2011 by TCR4x4, on Flickr
 
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Lovely drive in this morning, 45 miles dispatched in less than an hour (my front door to being parked up), bit of a queue to go through security (20 mins) but not too bad, settled down at the front of the crowd line by 8am :) Drove straight out late afternoon as well...after eventually finding my car in the huge green car park (not grass, yay!)

Only had my 55-200 on my little Fuji, took about 100 photos but still got a few I was really pleased with. The A380/Red Arrows fly past was superb.

Also, who needs the USA when you have the crazy Italians, loved their commentator!


RIAT 2013 by Harry_S, on Flickr
 
We didn't have too much difficulty getting in either. It would have been better if my dad had followed the correct route and gone into the correct car park, but we didn't do too badly in the end. We should have gone to the green car park, but ended up in the red which meant we were the wrong end of the runway.
Really enjoyed the day though and will probably try to do both days next year so that I can spend more time going around the static displays and stalls.
I did find my kit severely lacking though and although I love my G2, I really hate digital viewfinders for this sort of thing. I may well have to seriously consider switching to DSLR now.
 
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We were straight in too. Arrived at 07:00, virtually no car park queuing and a small queue for entry. It was a superbly organised day and very enjoyable. The pilots were all incredible. Would love a 500mm prime for next years :)
 
Prize78 said:
Would love a 500mm prime for next years :)
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Funnily enough - that's exactly my thoughts at present.
Had a great day but my 70-200 with 1.4x teleconverter was way to limiting:'(
 
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JulesP said:
Funnily enough - that's exactly my thoughts at present.
Had a great day but my 70-220 with 1.4x teleconverter was way to limiting:'(
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I had a 70-300 on full frame and just know that I'll have to crop in on virtually every shot in PP!! Would be nice not to have to 'throw away half of every shot eh?! ;)
 
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