Aviation photography

ancient_mariner said:
I suspect a key difference between using a phone in the car and the cockpit is that when flying, most of the time there's nothing to drive into.
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Yeah, basically. Even though the plane I fly is from the 1980's, once it's in level flight and trimmed correctly, you can pretty much let go and let it do it's thing. Unlike a car that would veer off and hit something.
 
LTurner1 said:
Dave, I think I've committed myself to buying the body new, just for total peace of mind, warranty etc. Still leaning towards the D750 over the D850 because I just don't think I need even more than what I'm going to get with the D750.

Would you go for the body only at £1129 then buy separate lenses OR would you go for the the Body + 24-120 lens at £1599?

Seems like you're getting a good deal on the 24-120mm if you get the kit, but I feel like it's possibly not going to be enough zoom for telephoto work around airfields/race tracks, so I'd need a telephoto on top of that. Can't decide if I'd be better with a 35mm prime, and 70-200 (or similar)?

-Lew
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Look at used, almost 2 years ago sold my D750 for around £600 (cant remember exact price). The 24-120 seems like a good all round lens. But your right, not for airshows.

I have used a 150-600 over the last few years, 2nd hand the Tamron version is around £500 from memory, a Nikon 200-500 as well as the Nikon 300mm prime. Often you will never have enough zoom but the 150-600 was great, but as I was always shooting props my shutter speed was low so the aperture was often f8-f13. If jets I would want faster so an f4 or similar may be better.

Yes, the 300 was better IQ wise and a lot lighter, but the 150-600 is perfectly fine and once you get to know how to use it (panning) it will be fine.

At shows like Old Warden you can get away with less, at Duxford you do need 500+
 
Well after weeks of reading, and the days chatting in here I have ordered some parts.

I've gone for a second hand D750 from Jessops as it only had 16k on it and condition looked outstanding, and also second hand 24-120mm lens from MPB, again I went for the best condition one described "as new". Overall I've saved about £350 over the new 'kit'. All arriving tomorrow.

Also ordered myself a Lowepro 150 bag from Argos as it looks ideal for me to shove some flight gear in too for day trips, again arriving tomorrow.

Looks like I'm in for a fun weekend.

Now it gives me time to read up on tripods, and filters, and time to save for a Sigma 150-600 too.

Very excited, thanks all for your opinions, soon you'll be able to laugh at my terrible photos :D
 
LTurner1 said:
Well after weeks of reading, and the days chatting in here I have ordered some parts.

I've gone for a second hand D750 from Jessops as it only had 16k on it and condition looked outstanding, and also second hand 24-120mm lens from MPB, again I went for the best condition one described "as new". Overall I've saved about £350 over the new 'kit'. All arriving tomorrow.

Also ordered myself a Lowepro 150 bag from Argos as it looks ideal for me to shove some flight gear in too for day trips, again arriving tomorrow.

Looks like I'm in for a fun weekend.

Now it gives me time to read up on tripods, and filters, and time to save for a Sigma 150-600 too.

Very excited, thanks all for your opinions, soon you'll be able to laugh at my terrible photos :D
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Enjoy mate.

Looking forward to the images.

Especially the ones from the 150-600 mounted on the tripod in the cockpit :cool:
 
Loving the camera so far but there’s an incredible amount to learn. Blasted my way through some of the recommended D750 books to uncover some tricks.

Instantly realising that I need to get a tripod sorted For the landscape shots. A little reading suggests the Manfrotto 055 is a good range to look at with the 410 geared head on top. Any opinions?
 
LTurner1 said:
Loving the camera so far but there’s an incredible amount to learn. Blasted my way through some of the recommended D750 books to uncover some tricks.

Instantly realising that I need to get a tripod sorted For the landscape shots. A little reading suggests the Manfrotto 055 is a good range to look at with the 410 geared head on top. Any opinions?
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A tripod is only needed for landscape if you need to use slow shutter speeds or graduated filters.
 
ancient_mariner said:
A tripod is only needed for landscape if you need to use slow shutter speeds or graduated filters.
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I want to play around with all sorts tbh. Light painting, bracketing, Astro stuff.

Unfortunately i can’t enjoy any flying stuff atm so I may as well mess around with other stuff I can do.
 
Well I'm getting slightly carried away with buying stuff at the moment.

I've gone and bought a Nikkon 50mm 1.8G because it was a really good price on MPB. Instantly love that lens but I've only had chance to mess about at my desk so far. Unfortunately with lock down and work I've not had any spare time to get out.

Quick little picture with it though, this is as close to a plane as I can get so far, a little gift from my goddaughter.

50855985663_2e7e94c110_h.jpg
 
Peter123 said:
For telephoto also consider the Nikon 200-500.
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Right well if I had a quid for every article or thread I have read on the Nikon 200-500 vs Sigma/Tamron 150-600 I'd have... like a tenner or something.

But seriously, it seems like a really difficult choice to make, all three lenses have pro's/cons.

The Nikon appears to have some soft edges but a lovely sharp centre, which works for me because my subjects of planes/cars will always be central, I wouldn't be getting the telephoto for landscape work so I don't need to worry about that.

The Sigma however, is considerably cheaper, somewhere like £400 difference new?, and an extra 100mm of reach, which I imagine is quite substantial in practice.

I've already got some requests from pilots I know to try capturing some unique photo's of them on the runways etc. My main airfield is Blackpool, and at the end of the runway where planes are taking off to the West which is typically the case, there are some sand dunes that elevate you above the runway, with the runway dead ahead, so it has the potential to get some excellent shots from there. It's a shame with COVID at the moment, otherwise I'd try and use the two lenses and see how I feel with both but I think I'm ultimately just going to have to take a gamble with one of them.

Anyway, I started a Flickr account, which is going to end up a complete mish mash of all sorts of stuff: FLICKR
 
It's a while since I checked these options out (I own none, saved for a 500mm PF instead - but in your case a zoom would be more useful IMO).

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind someone did a comparison ref. sigma/tamron 600mm at 6.3 v. Nikon 500mm @ 5.6. Crop the Nikon to 600mm equivalent and I think the Nikon
came out sharper. So the reach argument may not be as important.

Also, both Sigma and Tamron have 100-400 lens offerings, A lot lighter and a little bit cheaper.

As ever, budget plays a part in all this too.
 
Peter123 said:
It's a while since I checked these options out (I own none, saved for a 500mm PF instead - but in your case a zoom would be more useful IMO).

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind someone did a comparison ref. sigma/tamron 600mm at 6.3 v. Nikon 500mm @ 5.6. Crop the Nikon to 600mm equivalent and I think the Nikon
came out sharper. So the reach argument may not be as important.

Also, both Sigma and Tamron have 100-400 lens offerings, A lot lighter and a little bit cheaper.

As ever, budget plays a part in all this too.
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Yeah that's similar to what I'd read somewhere. I think I'm leaning towards the Nikon lens ever so slightly, even though I was quite prepared to go for the Sigma initially.

Another outcome was that although the Nikon is slightly slower to focus, it's much more accurate than the Sigma at moving objects, which is pretty much what my use cases will be.
 
I'm late to this thread, sorry...

I would have suggested a Lumix G9; it's not a small body so handling is DSLR like.

If you're serious about aerial photography though, C150/C152/C172 are worth getting checked out on. You can fly with the windows open, and the high wing is easier to shift out of the way. Make sure you use a camera strap!
 
I’m well late too. If you haven’t seen him already, take a look at Trent Palmer on YouTube. So of the shots and cinematography is stunning. As far as I can tell he uses gopros and a small mirror less type camera.
Sorry if it isn’t your thing.
 
F70100 said:
I'm late to this thread, sorry...

I would have suggested a Lumix G9; it's not a small body so handling is DSLR like.

If you're serious about aerial photography though, C150/C152/C172 are worth getting checked out on. You can fly with the windows open, and the high wing is easier to shift out of the way. Make sure you use a camera strap!
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I did my training on a C150/152 so I can technically get checked out on those again, and yes they do have nicer views because of the high wings. But I now fly the Piper because it's just a better deal at my school, and that matters when it comes to paying afterwards lol.

Serieslandy said:
I’m well late too. If you haven’t seen him already, take a look at Trent Palmer on YouTube. So of the shots and cinematography is stunning. As far as I can tell he uses gopros and a small mirror less type camera.
Sorry if it isn’t your thing.
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I will have a watch of his videos cheers, I do have a GoPro so I will be using that for some video stuff, but I've already got a D750 now which I'm loving so far, the size won't be too much of an issue with the smaller lenses on, really loving the 50mm on it tbh. Starting to think a Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART might actually be perfect at some point.
 
Managed to sell my Audi the other week, and I'd promised myself a telephoto lens when it had gone, so I went and bought the Nikon 200-500 after a lot of reading. Really happy with it so far (this morning).

A mate of mine is a TUI pilot and told me he was jetting off to Detroit this morning so I shot over to the airport and grabbed a few shots. Got a lot to learn with this lens as with everything, and get much better at panning but I think for a very first attempt these shots aren't too bad considering! Looking forward to the summer and all the flying/motorsport stuff I can get to with this. Hopefully try my hand at wildlife stuff in the mean time too.

https://flic.kr/p/2kBdwuW
View: https://flic.kr/p/2kBdwuW


https://flic.kr/p/2kBdwxb
View: https://flic.kr/p/2kBdwxb


-Lew
 
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