Sunderland Airshow Lens Choice?

[rpsmith79]

Right then, i'm off to Sunderland this weekend for the airshow, but trying to decide which lens to take/use as i'd rather not take everything as we are camping and space is limited

I will be shooting with a Nikon D7100 (crop sensor) and the lens choice i have is either my trusty 300mm f4 Prime, or my walkabout Tamron 70-300 f4-5.6 VR

I know full well the IQ will be better with the 300mm f4, but i'm wondering if it might be a bit limiting without the ability to zoom out, but having never been to the Sunderland Airshow before i'm not sure how close you actually are to the action, in fact the only other airshow i have been to was Cleethorpes last year, and i used by 300mm f4 back then, but i was shooting with a full frame D700 at the time, which gave a decent enough field of view

So....... thoughts please

 

[rpsmith79]

Anyone???

 

[rpsmith79]

Come on guys, i know there are plenty of aircraft photographers on here, or are you all too busy processing all your shots from RIAT

Oh and if any mods read this, could you please move it to the Talk Equipment forum as i don't seem to be getting any responses in here, cheers

 

[rpsmith79]

One last try....................... anyone....................... no one......................

 

[Tony101]

As you're not having any joy, I'll chip in and maybe it'll generate other responses (even if it's "you're wrong!").

One caveat: It's been many years since I shot at Sunderland's air show. Another caveat: I'm not particularly interested in this type of photography, to me it was merely one of the jobs of the day when I was staff for a regional newspaper.

Back then I would've been shooting on a Canon 1DII (1.3x crop sensor) with 400mm f2.8 and I don't remember the planes being too close! (But I also would've had a 70-200 on the other 1DII so not an issue I'd actually remember.) Probably too tight for whole formations of the Red Arrows complete with smoke, but otherwise not a problem.

So, my advice FWIW (it's worth exactly what you paid for it!):
- If what you're after is just planes in the sky then take the 300. If it's too tight (unlikely) it just means your pictures will be more dramatic. However, if you're interested in also including some context into the pics (crowds, landmarks etc), or also after some non-inflight photos take the zoom for versatility. (I prefer interesting images over ultimate pixel peeping quality.)
- If it was me, I'd take the 300 - a lens is as flexible as your creativity.

Now some unrequested advice:
- If your subject has a propellor use a slower shutter speed (something around 1/250, alter to taste). If the blades are 'frozen' by a high shutter speed it just looks wrong, and as if it's about to drop out of the sky!
- If the sky is a white, make sure your exposure is correct. Dial in some exposure compensation; or more simply, shoot on manual exposure. Not so much of a problem if the sky is a sunny blue or stormy grey.
- Look for other subjects, eg. interesting faces in crowds, bad weather shots, good weather shots, close-up details, colours, shapes, whatever - have some photo fun.

Have a great weekend. I hope the weather isn't as bad as it's predicted to be on Sunday!

 

[rpsmith79]

Cheers Tony, and i appreciate the advice, hopefully it will generate a few more replies, though as i am going to be setting off from Chesterfield in a few hours not much time left to decide

I'll probably take both as i have now booked seafront parking, so i could always leave the other lens in the car and reasonably quickly swap over if i find i have chosen the wrong one

Funnily enough, i was actually practicing some slow shutter speed panning at Donnington on Tuesday night for a Lotus Trackday, so that might help with my slow shutter speed panning of prop aircraft too, i was down as low as 1/90th at one point, though my hit rate was low i did manage to nail about 1 in 15 at that shutter speed, and those resulted in my best shots from the whole evening