Prep for Lancaster bomber flight next weekend (duxford - 14th sep)

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
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Hoping the weather will be good for this next weekend

It's a new thing for me this and I finally have all the kit needed

Would be taking

Tripod
Monopod - just in case I have to use this
60D
120-300mm sigma f2.8 (I have nothing as long and less heavy)
Half Gimbal head
SanDisk Extreme pro 95MB/s sd card

Apart from maybe buying a 1.4tc this week for the job does anyone have any tips/hints on practice or equipment?
Particularly anything about technique in regards to heavy lens

Due to the short notice I doubt I'll get any prior practice!

Apparently this is the two planes and may never happen again
 
I'd definitely use the monopod if you're using that lens and want some nice shots with a bit of prop blur. It'll be very difficult to hold that lens steady enough for 1/125 - 1/250th exposures.

Pace yourself with the shooting if you've only got the 1 SD card, don't take too many shots of stuff that's rather distant because it's quite easy to do (or at least it is for me lol).
 
Phal said:
I'd definitely use the monopod if you're using that lens and want some nice shots with a bit of prop blur. It'll be very difficult to hold that lens steady enough for 1/125 - 1/250th exposures.

Pace yourself with the shooting if you've only got the 1 SD card, don't take too many shots of stuff that's rather distant because it's quite easy to do (or at least it is for me lol).
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I've got a couple. My main sd card (32gb extreme non pro) fell apart at weekend. Just literally fell apart

Yeah it has to be on the Monopod or tripod for anything motion blur.
I've only tried a couple of times to get anything motion blur and failed.
I think I had trouble following the target properly.

Hopefully the day is bright enough to get some good high speed shots of (especially with the 2.8) but I really could do with a 400 prime + tc.
But.. These lenses are of course extremely expensive
Saw a nice canon 500mm 4.5L no IS for 1.8k..lol
 
It's good to have a few cards definitely and especially if they're all the same speed so you don't have to worry about running out of space. I've only got 2x32GB extreme pro cards and those filled up quick at the airshow I was at! I was left using a slower 30Mbit/s 64GB card I have for storage and that was very slow to clear the buffer :|


The bigger planes and helicopters are harder to get nice prop blur for because they spin slower :( I was experimenting at the airshow and even at 1/60 you don't get a full disc of prop blur and 1/60 is nigh on impossible to keep steady on a long zoom lens! If you want ideas of how much blur you get for different exposures on different planes then you can have a look at last year's album for my Shoreham airshow visit

https://www.flickr.com/photos/phal44/sets/72157635347151653/

Long lenses are all expensive unfortunately! The cheapest ones are like the Sigma 150-500 or 50-500mm and the Canon 100-400mm and the Tamron 150-600mm but the quality on these is far from the prime lenses worth a few grand.

There's a new Sigma 150-600mm that's rumoured to be getting announced soon so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. If it's anything like their recent lenses then it'll be sharp but it has the same F6.3 aperture as the Tamron so you need good light.
 
I'm going also next Sunday last chance to get both lancasters together for me,hope there are no more engine failures to disrupt ,shame that the Vulcan is only flying Saturday ,my choice is less limited than yours my only options are my 35-100mm f2.8 and 100-300mm f4-5.6 ,and 14-140mm 3.5-5.6 ,maybe a low light lens for indoor museum or wide angle on a x2 crop


I have given up trying to get prop blur on lancasters there engines rpm seem slow anyway to me
although I did manage prop bend due to shooting electronic shutter mode and rolling shutter ,that's a different scenario though.
Fingers crossed for a nice day might see you there,
 
paul10 said:
I'm going also next Sunday last chance to get both lancasters together for me,hope there are no more engine failures to disrupt ,shame that the Vulcan is only flying Saturday ,my choice is less limited than yours my only options are my 35-100mm f2.8 and 100-300mm f4-5.6 ,and 14-140mm 3.5-5.6 ,maybe a low light lens for indoor museum or wide angle on a x2 crop


I have given up trying to get prop blur on lancasters there engines rpm seem slow anyway to me
although I did manage prop bend due to shooting electronic shutter mode and rolling shutter ,that's a different scenario though.
Fingers crossed for a nice day might see you there,
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A little bit of blur isn't too hard to get but getting anywhere near a full disc is pretty damn hard if you're also after a sharp shot!
 
I don’t know how far the crowd line is at Duxford, but the Lancaster is a fair old size so you don't need too long a lens. For prop blur it depends a lot on the rpm's the pilot is pushing as well as your shutter speed. This was at 289mm 1/125 on a 7D:


RIAT 2011 by jj_glos, on Flickr

1/60 is likely to get you a full disc on take off.
 
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This is about as close as I got to full disc in flight! 1/60th on a low flyby with landgear out. This was one out of 7-10 shots and this was one of two that were fairly sharp but none of them were perfect.

1/125 seems like a good exposure for a decent amount of blur whilst letting you keep images sharp if you're tracking well

Avro Lancaster B1 by Phal44, on Flickr
 
Mine was taken last weekend at the Shoreham airshow and judging by the name of the pic above, that was at the RIAT airshow in 2011 :D
 
1/60..ugh that is asking a lot!

would be nice to see someone else there!

Im probably going to start out getting some high speed stills. then try slower speeds..i just know they will be a disaster!
im also going to see if i can get the 1.4x tc

edit.
ive just seen the ticket prices, i dont think i can justify it for 2 people!
Also, i didnt quite look into the scale of this, looks like if you dont get there early you dont get much.
I certainly wont be able to.
 
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Tbh as long as you're in the airshow somewhere you'd probably be able to get decent shots :) Obviously being at the front is probably better but I bet you can still enjoy it.
 
Phal said:
Tbh as long as you're in the airshow somewhere you'd probably be able to get decent shots :) Obviously being at the front is probably better but I bet you can still enjoy it.
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I don't think the gf can tolerate the amount of time we would need to be there for.
I am coming back from a wedding on Sunday morning so i can't even go on my own.

Last thing I want is to be getting nagged or have a grumpy gf after shelling out 60 quid
If I could get there on my own I would happily stay all day for half the cost

I think she wants to go but to see it but no way would she want to wait hours in advance
 
I'm tempted to go on the Saturday since there's a few extra aircraft doing that day but still not sure. It'll depend on the weather too I guess and whether there's any tickets left lol
 
Phal said:
I'm tempted to go on the Saturday since there's a few extra aircraft doing that day but still not sure. It'll depend on the weather too I guess and whether there's any tickets left lol
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For me has to be Sunday due to Wedding.. Boo
I'm trying to work out if it is even worth being outside the event and trying. I think that is my only option
 
al4x said:
For me has to be Sunday due to Wedding.. Boo
I'm trying to work out if it is even worth being outside the event and trying. I think that is my only option
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Not really sure on what the area is like so I don't know whether there's anywhere good for that.

When you shoot from outside display areas then you tend to need a longer lens or need to know the common routes in and out for the planes so again I can't really help :/
 
I was at the Prestwick airshow on Sunday and picked up these two pics. They are just snaps really, but I like them. I didn't have a lot of time to take them ;) I was using a D7000 and a 12-24 wideangle.

lanc1.jpg


But this is my fav. It flew right over my head.

spitfire1.jpg
 
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Might want to resize those a little :P If they don't fit on a 1080p monitor then they're a bit large lol
 
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