Airshow Shutter priority

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telscossie

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Dean
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Hi , this maybe a silly question but if I am shooting in shutter priority at an Airshow say for talking sake 1/200 my f/number could go up to say f13 or higher but my lens sharpness is at say f8 surely this will impact on IQ if so what can I do about it , thanks
 
You could fix shutter and aperture and let auto ISO take up the slack??

Perhaps you'll need a ND filter on really sunny days?
 
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It will have a marginal impact, generally my f number will be f8-f11, drop ISO if needed.
 
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Your D800 works well at 64 ISO and you should go
aperture priority set at ƒ8 and let the speed take it! :cool:
 
What fine details exist on an airplane/at an airshow that would be lost due to diffraction? IMO, it's not worth worrying about.

However, I would be in aperture priority 90% of the time. The other times I would be in manual (i.e. to force a slow SS). And I would have auto ISO enabled/set appropriately in both cases.
(although full manual could work and be even easier in some instances).
 
I always shoot anything with blades (prop or rotor) in shutter priority, I have this as Photo Shooting Bank custom setting on the D500 with a starting point of 1/160th and ISO100. Aperture does go up to f11 or f13 in bright conditions but this has never caused any issues.

GC
 
telscossie said:
Do you shoot in aperture even with prop planes
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No, that would be one of the few times where I would be in manual, probably with auto ISO (i.e. forcing a slow shutter speed as noted).
I shoot w/ Nikons and I absolutely hate how shutter priority behaves, w/ or w/o auto ISO. I literally never use it.
 
telscossie said:
Sk66 what metering and auto focus modes do you find work best with nikons
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None... it's entirely variable/situational, especially with the new 153pt system. I can say that I am almost always in one of the dynamic modes (usually with the max AF points available). And matrix metering/scene recognition is surprisingly good... although I'm more often using spot or center weighted metering (with +/- EC as needed for all of them).

For something like an airshow I would probably choose group AF (maybe the horizontal line version with the newer cameras) and matrix metering (highlight weighted w/ newer cameras)... as long as were talking open sky type shots w/ nothing too dominant/variable in the BG (+1-2 EC likely).
 
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On a very bright summers day like Cosford this year, I only used two settings, both shutter priority; 1/160th for props and 1/800th for jets, base iso, let the aperture do it's thing.
 
sk66 said:
No, that would be one of the few times where I would be in manual, probably with auto ISO (i.e. forcing a slow shutter speed as noted).
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I can't believe that anyone can shoot full manual at a typical airshow with any degree of success. Tracking a fast moving object is hard enough in itself, without the added complication of adjusting shutter speed and eyeing metering at the same time. You might manage it with a Feiseler Storch or the Edwardians at Shuttleworth, but the majority of UK displays are much more dynamic.
 
dom71 said:
I can't believe that anyone can shoot full manual at a typical airshow with any degree of success. Tracking a fast moving object is hard enough in itself, without the added complication of adjusting shutter speed and eyeing metering at the same time. You might manage it with a Feiseler Storch or the Edwardians at Shuttleworth, but the majority of UK displays are much more dynamic.
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Used to do it all the time and also focus before the days of AF etc. Took a bit of practice but got good hit rates using an MF 300mm on an FM2!

GC
 
dom71 said:
I can't believe that anyone can shoot full manual at a typical airshow with any degree of success. Tracking a fast moving object is hard enough in itself, without the added complication of adjusting shutter speed and eyeing metering at the same time. You might manage it with a Feiseler Storch or the Edwardians at Shuttleworth, but the majority of UK displays are much more dynamic.
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As long as the lighting is fairly constant, full manual is probably the easiest method one could use... set it and forget it, until the lighting changes significantly.

But that's not how manual mode with auto ISO works... not all cameras have that capability.
 
snagsanger said:
On a very bright summers day like Cosford this year, I only used two settings, both shutter priority; 1/160th for props and 1/800th for jets, base iso, let the aperture do it's thing.
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I don't get this... there is never a case where I don't care what the aperture is set to. Maybe w/in a small range, but there is no control over that with shutter priority... I guess if you monitor the aperture closely enough and reset the ISO as required (might as well be in manual IMO, which is what I do).
I will always choose to give on ISO before aperture/SS... up to a limit of course. Aperture and SS define what an image is/conveys... ISO noise, etc is trivial in comparison.
 
'Ding Ding - all aboard the "lets ignore the P setting" function...'
For me, at airshows it works great.
It offers control of the ISO, allows exp comp so often needed and uses only one function to change SS or Aperture, in line with the shift value.
It also changes the shift value on brightness and uses data from the lens to offer the best for shake free shooting.
Everyone uses what works for them.
 
dom71 said:
I can't believe that anyone can shoot full manual at a typical airshow with any degree of success. Tracking a fast moving object is hard enough in itself, without the added complication of adjusting shutter speed and eyeing metering at the same time. You might manage it with a Feiseler Storch or the Edwardians at Shuttleworth, but the majority of UK displays are much more dynamic.
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I do, with great success (in terms of exposure, less so at panning!)

It’s really very simple. Depending on the light you set iso to 100 or 200 (occasionally this will go to lo3 or 7 or 400 or even 800 on a Shuttleworth evening). Set the shutter to 1/200 (mostly I shoot props) and the. Use aperture as the variable. This will typically be f8 to f11.

If you need to change it’s a quick flick of the finger, all done without moving the viewfinder from the eye. If light changes drastically then a quick change to the iso.
 
sk66 said:
I don't get this... there is never a case where I don't care what the aperture is set to. Maybe w/in a small range, but there is no control over that with shutter priority... I guess if you monitor the aperture closely enough and reset the ISO as required (might as well be in manual IMO, which is what I do).
I will always choose to give on ISO before aperture/SS... up to a limit of course. Aperture and SS define what an image is/conveys... ISO noise, etc is trivial in comparison.
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The area of the display is maybe 3 or more miles. Sometimes one end of the runway can be in perfect sunlight, the other end cloudy shade.
By choosing a shutter speed that suits the aircraft, you are ensuring that the shot has a good chance of being usable, the aperture and DOF are not the main concerns with this type of photography.

Remember, some of the fast jets exceed 600mph and they are gone in a split second, there is no time to change manual settings or think to yourself, "let's open up and get a nice blurred background with this one".

Motor sport is more forgiving as you have a whole lap before the cars return, so you can easily set up an aperture to get a silky smooth panned background.
But not with fast jets, capturing a decent well exposed shot is more desirable to being artistic.
 
I do the Blackpool air show most years. For jets I use aperture priority and set the iso to get me up to 1/2000. For props I go to manual and look for 1/320. Again use the iso to get the exposure
 
snagsanger said:
The area of the display is maybe 3 or more miles. Sometimes one end of the runway can be in perfect sunlight, the other end cloudy shade.
By choosing a shutter speed that suits the aircraft, you are ensuring that the shot has a good chance of being usable, the aperture and DOF are not the main concerns with this type of photography.

Remember, some of the fast jets exceed 600mph and they are gone in a split second, there is no time to change manual settings or think to yourself, "let's open up and get a nice blurred background with this one".

Motor sport is more forgiving as you have a whole lap before the cars return, so you can easily set up an aperture to get a silky smooth panned background.
But not with fast jets, capturing a decent well exposed shot is more desirable to being artistic.
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Or if your in the UK its grey cloud at one end and grey cloud at the other end :)
 
snagsanger said:
The area of the display is maybe 3 or more miles. Sometimes one end of the runway can be in perfect sunlight, the other end cloudy shade.
By choosing a shutter speed that suits the aircraft, you are ensuring that the shot has a good chance of being usable, the aperture and DOF are not the main concerns with this type of photography.
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I don't see this as a reason to let the camera compromise the aperture (sharpness/diffraction) if it's not necessary.
snagsanger said:
Remember, some of the fast jets exceed 600mph and they are gone in a split second, there is no time to change manual settings or think to yourself, "let's open up and get a nice blurred background with this one".
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If your camera has the ability to use auto ISO/EC combined with manual SS/Ap settings you can quite easily, at least with my cameras which have a dedicated control for SS and aperture when in manual mode. But the only time I find this necessary is when I want to force a slow SS... otherwise A/Av mode can be set to work perfectly (w/in a range of settings).

I do realize that DOF/Ap is not really critical with this subject/situation. But in S/Tv mode SS is really the *only* thing you are in control of. But SS is not really even a variable of the exposure you need, and therefore you're not really in control of anything... you have no options because you have no exposure variable immediately available.
I suppose if you select S/Tv with auto ISO enabled *and* your camera has a setting like "easy ISO" as some Nikons do, then you can force the aperture to operate w/in a desired range by quickly changing the ISO... but I always prefer to let the ISO wander first (w/in set limits).
 
cambsno said:
It’s really very simple. Depending on the light you set iso to 100 or 200 (occasionally this will go to lo3 or 7 or 400 or even 800 on a Shuttleworth evening). Set the shutter to 1/200 (mostly I shoot props) and the. Use aperture as the variable. This will typically be f8 to f11. If you need to change it’s a quick flick of the finger, all done without moving the viewfinder from the eye. If light changes drastically then a quick change to the iso.
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So fixed shutter, fixed ISO and variable aperture. Basically, shutter priority, only with a less reliable processor ;)
 
my interest when at an airshow is the military jets i always set the camera to manual and my aim is to have a shutter speed of at least 1,000th of a second and an aperture of F8 i set the iso to suit those settings
this year at RIAT it was clear skies with little cloud the settings that worked for me most of the day was 1,125th F8 ISO 400 to 800 ( mostly around 400 )

my hands arn't the steadiest and getting prop blur hand held at 400mm isn't something i'm any good at so i tend to stick to fast shutter speeds
iv'e tried aperture priority / shutter priority and the results can be unpredictable ( for me ) even auto ISO can vary a little too much for my liking i just find it easier and get better results sticking to manual

if i set my camera manually to my desired settings and take a photo of something on the ground and the exposure is good the chances are the photo's i take of the aircraft in the sky will also be correctly exposed and that's pretty much how i go about it

works for me
 
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