Airshow Advice
 

Hi all, I may be going to Duxford for the Autumn Air Show on Sunday 8th October 2006, Can you give me any advice on taking pics especially metering, which lens to use etc.
I have a D200, 300mm VR 2.8 and 70-200mm VR 2.8 and TC1.7

Cheers

I would take either lens, but if you take the 70-200 do take the tc. The tank bank is a good location as it is elevated and the aeroplanes taxi right past you and you also catch them taking off, or landing depending on which runway they use.

We are considering two of my preferred lens solutions. I have superb images from both. I find 70-200 with 1.7X TC (340mm f4.8) usable at effective f8 as the primary lens will be near f5.6, its sweet spot. However 70-200 at f2.8 is soft but sharpens quickly at f3.5/4 , using a TC at the point where the primary lens is poor is not a good idea. When I use this combination weather must be bright and I use aperture priority - not a good idea to get decent prop blur from those warbirds at Duxford. 300mm f2.8 is an excellent lens, I am sure this is already known however it attracts attention and maybe difficult to use in a crowd, 300mm will be adequate at Duxford but 340-400 perfect depending what you want and where you decide to set 'base camp'.

Be aware that Duxford has runway headings 24/06 and the crowdline will be on the North side so the sun will be in your face and lens until 4pm or so. On top of that the Autumn show will have the lowest sun so silhouette/backlit shots will be the order of the day. Please do read this wrong post 4pm the lighting will be good and excellent shots will result. As Ollie suggests the bank near the tank museum might be best for lighting as it you will be shooting to the East so sun will come round faster in effect.

Now, metering mode - with these lenses I find metering very accurate so matrix mode will be spot on.

Hope this help, dont forget to share your photos when you return!

Ollie and Stephen, thanks for you excellent advice. That's not good news as far as the lighting go's hopefully after 4pm there will be lots to see. Not sure what you mean heading 24/06 does that mean north/south?

Stephen do you mean the sweet spot for the 70-200 + TC1.7 is @ F8 or F5.6? I tend to struggle a bit with lens getting shots near to the 300mm VR sharpness. I know I cannot expect the same sharpness though.

Cheers

24/06 is the direction of the runway is if you where a compass i believe. Stephan will be able to give you a better anser, he does fly himself.

70-200VR f2.8 is soft at f2.8 but increases in sharpness quickly at f4, by f5.6 the lens is very sharp on a par with 300VR f2.8. If a teleconverter is put behind any lens sharpness will decrease and CA (chromatic aberration) will increase. If you operate the camera in aperture priority aiming at f5.6 for the primary lens (effective f9.5 shown on the camera with 1.5 stop loss on TC17) then you will achieve nice results but life is a compromise so I suggest aperture priority at f7.1 where the primary lens will be approx f4.5 - sharp enough.

Airfields that have a single strip tarmac or otherwise offer two runways and the numbers are magnetic headings to the nearest 10 degrees. Runway 24 (240) is the magnetic heading of one runway and as the prevailing wind is from the west (270) this is the most likely to be in use on any day but if conditions favour 06 (060) then the will use the opposite direction as 060 is the reciprocal of 240 on a compass.

Now, back to Duxford. The display line (A-axis) will run along 240/060 degrees and the crowdline is on the North side of this line. As the sun rises in the East and sets in the West travelling through South the sun will be in your face and force back-light conditions until such time when the Sun travelling through South to West goes beyond 240 degrees, at that point approx 4pm lighting will be favourable. In July the Sun is not as great a problem as in Autumn as the Sun is higher in July but becoming low in October. Therefore directly in your eyes until 4pm or so.

Hope this helps.

I have never been to an Autumn show at Duxford but I have been to the September show once or twice and lighting was becoming a problem for photography.

I used just a 70-200 F2.8 without any converter at DX for Legends back in July and got some good results. The bank adjacent to the Land Warfare museum is the best spot to shoot from using your 200mm. The aircraft tend to take off and do their display run in over this point, and they pass close enough for the either the 70-200 or 300 to be more than adequate without the converter, but don’t expect to be able to see the pilots tonsils.

Unless the weather is very dull I use an ISO of 100, set the shutter speed at 1/90 in TV and pan with the target. You’ll get good “disc” prop blur at this shutter range.

Good luck

Thanks for all you help on this, hopefully I will get some nice sharp pictures with the 70-200.

Cheers

Good luck with it. I look forward to seing some results.

I may go to Old Warden Airshow coming up on the 23rd Sept or 1st Oct for a tester. I guess the planes will by travelling at a considirably slower speed so probably be good practice?

Cheers

Old Warden is good not only for practice. Old Warden is the home of a number of unique aeroplanes in airworthy condition. There will be slower aeroplanes but quicker like Spitfire, Hurricane and some of the faster bi-planes. Photographically with better light than Duxford with no anti-social behavoir that Duxford seems to suffer with such as wind breaks and pushing/ shoving on the crowdline. The 300VR can be used in total freedom. Old Warden seems to have a great atmosphere with people pic-nicing on the crowd line and everyone respecting one another.

Beware - airshow photography is seriously addictive.

I would agree Old Warden is a good location to practise. The aeroplanes are in general slower and many of them are totaly unique.

A 300mm lens is more than enough for Old Warden 99% of the time. You dont get windbreak city on the fenceline and no step ladders blocking your view. The walk from your car to the flightline is at worst about 5 mins. The food and drink places are aout 3 minuites walk away to.

Nick, it's best to get to OW as early as you can so that you can have a good nose around the hangars and book yourself on a flightline tour before the show. For £4 you'll get about half an hour to wander along the flightline with a guide and this will get you closer to the planes than any other show that I can think of.

We often get some really good light at evening shows and the photographic opportunities can be absolutely stunning. The crowdline's very close to the action and there are spots that can give you an unimpeded view of the take-offs and landings for some very nice slow shutter work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...6/_OB_6520.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...6/_OB_5230.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../MB7P8592a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...5/MB7P8643.jpg

Thanks for the advice, Unfortunately I use a wheelchair to get around! is the flightline grass or is there a path. Grass is not usually a problem if is not to boggy. Do you know if there are concessions for disabled?

Excellent pics.
Cheers

The flightline is grass at Old Warden. As there are a number of airshows throughout the year the grass is short and compacted so I imagine it would pose no problem to wheelchair users.

I am not sure about concessions for disabled at OW, Rob (wheeler) is your man who would know. At Duxford concession is approx 50% with a tarmac disabled car park very close to the crowdline. The disabled car park at Duxford is at the Eastern end of the airfield and a 3/4m trek to the Western end to take advantage of best light. At the Western end there is a grass bank which is the perfect place with a flat grass walkway near the fenceline.

If Rob cant produce an anser i would ring the Shuttleworth collection up and ask.
I would say it is very good for wheelchair acsess apart from when it has been realy wet. The flying programme has some interesting items, ive copied it from the site and here it is:
Supermarine Spitfire TR9 Twin seater Spitfire belonging to Carolyn Grace

Hunting Jet Provost

Percival Piston Provost

Avro 504k

Avro Tutor

de Havilland Tiger Moth

ANEC

Hawker Cygnet

Barnstorming feature as follows:

de Havilland Chipmunk

Miles Magister x 2

de Havilland Tiger Moth

Ribbon cut & ribbon pick up

de Havilland Chipmunk

Southern Martlet

Comper Swift

North American Sabre Jet

Ryan PT22 x 2

Gloster Gladiator

Hawker Hind

Hawker Sea Hurricane

Bleriot or Deperdussin

Blackburn Monoplane Type - D

Bristol Boxkite

Avro Triplane

This tread reminded me of a post on another forum on which someone mentioned that they was going to Old Warden for the first time. It made me smile origionaly so i thought i would post it here:
The step ladder, padlocked chairs, windbreaks, getting their early to get a good spot,needing a big lens, long walk from your car, toilet probs, location of foodstalls etc are problems we all have at Duxford amongst many other things.

I think we are painting Duxford with a bad light. Duxford in Britain's moremost aviation museum that holds regular airshows throughout the the year, many thousands attend air shows at Duxford and I am sure 90% really enjoy the experience.

I agree Duxford is a great place, without it we would not have many aeroplanes flying today. I just think the airshos could be better. They are fine for anyone not wanting to take photos.

Nick, I'm not aware of any disabled gate concessions, there aren't any listed on the website http://www.shuttleworth.org or an any of the show flyers that I've got. If you give the office/shop a ring (01767 627927) they'll confirm this either way.

There's a separate disabled parking area at the top of the field near the beer hut. It's grass not tarmac but if you're happier parking on the tarmac then I'm sure you can find space by the camper vans. The disabled area gives you a good view from the top of the field and it's not too far from the loos, hangars, restaurant and shop. You can watch the show from the side of your car, there are good views from anywhere on the field, which slopes down towards the airstrip and therefore provide a natural arena, but if you'd prefer to get closer then you might want to site yourself somewhere on the crowd fence. The large gate to the track which runs across the field to the farm opposite is a pretty good spot as is the small gate at the apex of the crowd line or a spot by the tower often yields good shots. Very few people make use of the excellent opportunities at the far right-hand end by the ticket booth as you enter the airfield. This spot allows you to catch the planes as they turn in for a run along the display line and you can get some cracking shots. I'm surprised that more people haven't worked this out for themselves.

If you've got any questions on the day then ask any one of the security staff or volunteers, I'm sure they'll be very helpful. I'm a member of the liveside photography/security team, my name's on my hi-vis jacket (Rob Leigh) so say hello if you see me.

I hope you have a great time, fingers crossed for some lovely golden lighting.

Rob

Ollie, I wish you'd think a little more before posting about the woes of Duxford. None of the things you've stated were a problem for you at Flying Legends since you chose not to pay and freeloaded from a field. Why just jump on the bandwagon when none of these things affected you? Lots of people read the content of what's posted here, they probably go away with an opinion about you rather than one about Duxford.

Rob,
You have also expressed your opinion on Duxford before on other forums. I have only once freeloaded, i have been going to Duxford since i was knee high to a grasshopper and every time i went i payed to get in.

Thanks Rob,

Its not a problem for me getting around as long as the ground is firm, you have given me many options on best vantage points thanks, is the crowd line the best place?

Cheers

Nick, the crowd line along the fence is the best area to take photos from during the show. If you arrive with plenty of time to have a look around you can make your own mind up about which spot you prefer. Because of the downward slope on the carpark towards the fence-line, you can get a good view from pretty much all of the field but the fence line gets you that bit closer to the planes. If you spot me wandering around I'll run you through the merits of each of my favourite spots.

Enjoy the show,

Rob

Hi All, I had a great time at Old Warden yesterday, It was good to meet up with Ollie, Rob and Ian, thanks for all the advice given by all. I have uploaded a few pics in my gallery, please let me know what you think, I don't mind any critique.

Cheers

Nick

It was a pleasure meeting you and your nephew and glad any advice we were able to give was of help. I hope the bike racing went off OK and look forward to seeing you at DX or Old Warden again in the furutre.

Nick,
It was great to meet you. I hope you come back.