Dwhart24

Ummm.... ok.... I started out with a point and shoot, so I know the difference when it comes to "still" photography and in-flight shots. We weren't even talking about video. So I'm not sure where that came from. My statement above has nothing to do with being wrong or right.

Dwhart24

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Don't want to argue BY,BUY, BYE

Dwhart24

See ya!

Back to scale photos....

NeilHutch

Thanks, Guys for the comments.

I enjoy taking photos of all types of aviation. I'm lucky that I can afford the kit I've built up over the years. I just did a quick tot up of how much the value of my camera kit is ............ A frightening £21K. That, to my way of thinking, is way out of most peoples pocket. So, that's one of the reasons I'm not hyper critical of some of the pictures which appear on here. I love taking pictures of the model aircraft you guys fly and it gives me pleasure to know they're appreciated, as I'm sure the likes of Mark and David, two of the very best model aircraft photographers on here (or anywhere else for that matter), are too.

Fletch, you need to take control of your shutter - no good in TV mode. Set the shutter for about 1/1250 sec or whatever your preferred shutter speed is and work everything out around that.

TTFN,
Neil

ROGER RUSSELL

My Feedback: (12)

Since we are on the topic of photography and equipment, and IF it is not illegal to talk about here and NOT to far off the thread topic.

What are some of the equipment used?

What are your shooting aperture and speeds that you LIKE to shoot at and WHY?

I'll start.

I only have a Canon Rebel (Had in film days and when I shot sports for the local newspaper a EOS 1 and two EOS 620 bodies) with 100-300 f5.6, 28-55, 35-105.

When conditions permit I like shooting at a aperture priorty of f7-f9 with the long lense as that gives me a little bit more depth of field on focusing for the high speed passes, etc...........I do like to shut it down to 5.6 or so for that blurred background. Whatever ISO can get me to that is what I shoot at.

I like the f9 setting as that also gives me a decent shutter speed to blur the prop so the plane does not look like it is just sitting in mid air.

I am a ameture photographer, and would love to hear from all of you experts!

I also do very little optimizing of my jpeg pictures-reasons are I am old school and believe what I take is what I get, and I do not have a very good software package-some cases just dont have or take the time to mess with enhancing my photographs

Comments?

If this is out of line for this thread please let me know and I will take it down!

joebahl

My Feedback: (2)

WOW i did not expect that ,reminds me kid on the playgrounds and he took his toys home too. I did not see any one realy argue with him ,if he thinks he was getting bashed here he should go to the AMA forums and realy see what arguing is all about. lol joe

abufletcher

What I was saying (even if the numbers in my example might not be quite right) is that with a "slow" lens (my zoom is f5.6 at the long end) you're going to run out of shutter speed before a guy with an f2.8 lens. People tend to think that "fast lenses" are for high shutter speeds. But most of the time, it's to get that extra f-stop or perhaps to keep shooting at a lower ISO instead of cranking that up.

My in-flight shooting technique is pretty crude. I set my Nikon 300s for (S)hutter mode, continuous spot auto-focus, and then just try to keep the spot on the model. Even at 300mm (which is equivalent to 450mm on the smaller sensor) it takes a really close pass to fill the frame so I'm almost always cropping. I also crop to put the model off-center to achieve more dynamic framing.

*****

Note: At one point I had well over 30 cameras at the same time, including a 4x5" field camera, a Leica M6TTL, a Rollicord, a Russian panorama camera, and my main "working set" of 6 Nikon bodies and a dozen or so fixed focal-length lenses and another half-dozen zooms. That's a lot of gear and a lot of bucks. But I was also a part-time professional photographer, mostly doing travel photojournalism shooting, for example, stories on Kamtchaka, Yemen, Oman, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Most of my photography involved wide-angle lenses (with the 24/2.8 being a big favorite). I rarely used anything longer than a 105mm. Now, I've gotten rid of most of that equipment and just shoot for my own enjoyment. I like taking photos at the field, but I'm more of a people photographer.

Dwhart24

First I would like to thank you Neil for the kind words. Your photos are stunning and I strive to take photos like yours.

I am not the arguing type, but I will stand up to what I believe is factual through my experiences.

As for camera equpment and the expense, it is A LOT of money for the average income. I bought my first beginner DSLR 3 years ago and am now on my 3rd body that I just got 2 weeks ago. My excuse to my wife for buying the equipment is that I get paid to use them. Unfortunately the pay doesn't quite cover the cost for a while. I will probably not buy another body for a few years. Unless I come in to a bunch of money somewhere.

I like to shoot in Aperture priority 90% of the time. I agree with Neil that you want a shutter speed around 1/1000-1/1250 for RC prop planes. On a good sunny day you can achieve those speeds at ISO 100 (I shoot Nikon) and in Aperture priority. If I notice the shutter speed getting low because of a cloud rolling in, I will bump up the ISO. The reason I shoot in Aperture and not Shutter priority is when the plane gets below a tree line or something with a dark background, you could end up with an under exposed photo, unless you have Auto ISO on. I don't like to do that because sometimes the model is moving so fast, the ISO may not get it right all the time. With Aperture mode, the shutter speed may drop but you will most likely still get the shot and still not have the higher ISO. You may not get he right prop blur (insert matter of opinion here), but you still got the shot. That being said, now that I have a camera body with better ISO performance, I may try Shutter priority more.

My 2 cents.

NeilHutch

Hi Fletch,

Just read David's post and couldn't agree more - the D300 is an excellent camera - way ahead of it's time when it first came out, in my view. It still comes near the top of the class even though there's a lot of newer stuff around. I have my ISO level quite high most of the time because my cameras are very good. ISO 800 is usually the norm, rather than the exception - I'll explain below.

As for my kit, I'm a Canon user. My camera's are the new 1DX and a the 1D iv. The 1DX is a fantastic camera - everything us Canon user have wanted for years. The 1DX's low light performance is exceptional. I usually shot at ISO 800, but even ISO 6400 or higher doesn't worry me. I know that even at ISO 800 the noise level will be less than just about any other DSLR at ISO 200. As for lenses - my favourite is the Canon 300mm f2.8. I also use the 100-400mm L lens; 24-105mm L lens and the 17-40mm L lens. I also have x1.4 and x2 Extenders and an assortment of other bit and pieces. There is one other piece of kit that we often forget - what you use to sort the picture out - I take all my pictures in Ma RAW and use Photoshop CS6 to sort everything out. Canon's program is very good, but I've used Photoshop right from it's early beginning - CS2. So, a good bit of software like Photoshop can improve your pictures, too.

I hope these snippets of information help and that it hasn't detracted the thread because I hope the likes of myself and David passing on our knowledge will enable others to improve. If this has upset anyone my apologies. Anyone want any help either post here or PM and I'm only to happy to try and help.




TTFN,
Neil

SDCrashmaster

Wow Neil, that last shot on the bearcat is a stunner. Dupe that 2-blade prop blur 90Ëš and it's as good as it can possibly get.

Annnnd...the thread heats up. I must say that when on the playground as a kid, whenever someone "took there ball and went home", it was always kinda sad...unless...
THEIR SPELLING WAS PAINFULLY ATROCIOUS! Then we were happy to see them go. Seriously, that hurt my eyes as much as my brain.

And a paint ball laser sight on an archaic standard def video camera? If you can't compose in your brizzain what you're seeing in the viewfinder, a red light dot isn't going to solve your issues.

Now list gat htis thrid bakc on treck!

Dwhart24

Where's the like button? LOL.

Daniel-EL

My Feedback: (9)

My DPM Super Cub.

abufletcher

I like it. But sometimes a little judicious cropping goes a long way.

planedriver_2

Look Close at the top of the rudder surface on the Big Balsa USA D VII, I think you may see my finger prints on there, Don J will be happy to see his airplane making it on a blog with this many views. That is one very impressive aircraft, I have even had the priviledge of flying it.

Great photo's

Planedriver

planedriver_2

Very nice photo of my friend Don's Balsa USA D VII

planedriver_2

My version of a scale aircraft, The Nieuport 28 C-1 at Paradise Field, likely on the same day or weekend as the D-VII above.
I hope it is worthy.

Planedriver

planedriver_2

Took this photo of a Cessna 152 at our field a week prior to TOP GUN then i saw it fly at that event also.

Planedriver

Dwhart24

Planedriver,

Thanks for the kind words. I believe I took the photos of Nieuport too.

I sat across from Don during dinner at Bonefish the weekend of Monster Planes. Not sure if that was you I was sitting next to as well. Sorry I don't recall your name. See you guys at Top Gun.

mark fadely

Hi Guys,

For the past couple of years I have shooting all prop planes at a shutter speed of 1/200th or less. I really like the see a full disk of prop blur if possible. This means getting down to shutter numbers as low as 1/50th for full scale, and 1/125th for RC. I always use manual mode and it is almost a necessity to use a lens with image stabilization when shooting at those low shutter speeds. The downside to shooting this way is your keeper rate will go down dramatically because it requires near perfect panning technique to capture a crisp, sharp shot. The upside is that you can shoot at very small apertures, which will really benefit less expensive lenses and camera bodies. Lower shutter speed means lower ISO and apertures in the f9-16 range. For example, I shoot with a 1D MKIV and a 300 2.8 IS($8,000 for the combo) most often, but using this technique you can produce the same quality shots with a 1D MKIIn and a 300 f4 IS lens($1,500 lens+camera). So if a photographer has $1,500 available for gear he/she can produce action aircraft shots that are as good as any in the world. 300mm is good for shooting our models, and for panning work it becomes more difficult as the focal length increases. As you learn to skillfully pan you will notice the backgrounds become very pleasing as well. They are blurred along the path of flight. Showing the motion in this way more effectively relates the dynamics of flight to the viewer. That's why professional racecar photographers generally use panning for all of their best shots. The plane does not have to be against a terrain background for good panning effect either. Even clouds will take on a new and unusual appearance with slow shutter dragging.

Here's an example of a full scale plane shot at 1/50th shutter speed. 300mm, f10, iso50. A lot of lesser expensive lenses are going to be sharp and have nice image quality when shot at f10.

Jaybird

I would think the hardest part about getting a "scale" photo of any rotary engine aircraft is that the engine itself should be a blur along with the propeller. The one of the DR I is beautiful, but the engine is sitting still and should be almost unseen...unless it's a scale model of a current reproduction aircraft that has a stationary radial engine instead. Just saying.

Jaybird

abufletcher

Mark, that photograph is pure ART and really stands apart from virtually every other photo on this thread. The blurred background, the tack-sharp aircraft, the light! It's all perfect!

Fs one

These are a few shots of my Corsair

SDCrashmaster

Wow Mark, I could stare at that photo all day long. Absolutely stunning.

chasrb

I agree mark - Brilliant!