55-200mm for an airshow?

doublem1

doublem1

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I have a 55-200mm VR lens on my D90, so DX format. There is an airshow near me soon and I was wondering if this lens would be ok to use? I.e for getting close enough.
 
If you are talking about fairford, then if you can get close to the flight line, you should get a few decent shots. If you are talking Yeovilton, again, close to the fence and you should be good.
I shot both with a 300mm on full frame last year and I didnt want for more reach very often.
 
markmullen said:
If it's what you've got then go for it.

I shot an airshow in the past with a 70-200 on a 1.3 crop body so with a 1.5x (?) body you should get some good shots.
Click to expand...

TCR4x4 said:
If you are talking about fairford, then if you can get close to the flight line, you should get a few decent shots. If you are talking Yeovilton, again, close to the fence and you should be good.
I shot both with a 300mm on full frame last year and I didnt want for more reach very often.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the prompt reply guys. It was Yeovilton I was refering to. Not so sure if the Vulcan will be there though. They are currently replacing both Port-side engines! Which is a shame :(
 
I sold my 70-200VR mainly because i found 200 too short. Sometimes it was fine but I think 300 needs to be the min really.
 
To be absolutely honest, you need more than that. Minimum of 300mm for air shots. That lens will be fine for static shots and maybe if you can get near to where they taxi.
But due to the safety distance for spectators, you will need more.
Hire one for the weekend. :thumbs:

Kev.
 
I haven't been to a show in a while, but I used my D40 and 55-200 at East Fortune a few years ago (Vulcan woo!) and was very happy with the shots I got, with a bit of cropping. I know EF is a fairly small show, so maybe it was easier for me to get close up, but any issues I had with the shots were down to my lack of technique at the time, as opposed to not being able to get close enough... frozen propellers and rotors, anyone? :bonk:

I'd say you'll be fine :thumbs:
 
I had a Tamron 28-300 VC last year for the Waddington airshow and that was long enough for most shots although I borrowed a Canon 100-400 L off a guy next to me in the crowd and got some great closeups with it. This year I'm off armed with a Sigma 120-400 OS on my 60D and a Sigma 150-500 OS on my 5D3 so I really can't wait for it TBH.
 
How about getting yourself a 1.4 teleconverter to go with your 55-200?
 
Adding a teleconverter to the cheaper DX zooms isn't normally recommended and I think you would also lose autofocus
 
Here's a few unedited EF2009 JPEGs straight from my D40 with 55-200 as mentioned earlier, purely to give an idea of how close I was able to get...

DSC_2951_Large_.JPG


DSC_2387_Large_.JPG


DSC_2343_Large_.JPG


EDIT: I resized these to get them under the forum size limit, hence some of the wierd artefacts (esp. around the wing walkers)... Every day's a school day!
 
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Thanks for all the help guys. I will be attending RIAT this year so will take it with me and try it out. Some cracking shots here too.
 
By the way. Would it be ok to use this setup hand held?
 
Looking back at some shots I did a couple of years ago when I was using a 100-400 I found that I covered a range from 200mm right up to 400mm.
Last week at Yeovilton I found the 500mm was almost perfect except for larger craft like helicopters that came quite close.
Occasionally the 500 was also too long for a large jet like a Hunter flying close near the crowd line.

By the way. Would it be ok to use this setup hand held?
Click to expand...
I used the 500 hand held and I'm old, but I did have to sit down and rest my arms frequently. I saw some photographers using long lenses on tripods and at times they were almost falling over their gear to get a shot.
 
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