RAF Lakenheath Winter shots F-15 Eagles

[Craig_85]

1.
F-15E Strike Eagle 98-0134 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

2.
F-15D Eagle 84-0044 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

3.
F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0331 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

4.
F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0131 wide by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

5.
F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0331 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

6.
F-15C Eagle 86-0171 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

7.
F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0131 tight by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

8.
F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0302 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

 

[Craig_85]

9.
F-15E Strike Eagle 98-0134 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

10.
F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0131 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

 

[rick448]

Superb shots, thanks for sharing.

 

[gcgraphs]

Great shots Craig, good to see the old C's and D's still slugging away.

GC

 

[jpgreenwood]

Awesome. How'd ya get so close?

 

[Mick616]

As plane photies go, these are some of the best for sure Craig. Excellent.

 

[holty]

brilliant shots

what lens got them ?

 

[huffy]

Great shots and I like the golden side light on the taxing shots.

Details of the lens are on the flickr details

 

[Craig_85]

Superb shots, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Rick.

Great shots Craig, good to see the old C's and D's still slugging away.

GC

Thanks GC, yes it is, I love them.

As plane photies go, these are some of the best for sure Craig. Excellent.

Thanks Mick, very kind.

Awesome. How'd ya get so close?

brilliant shots

what lens got them ?

Great shots and I like the golden side light on the taxing shots.

Details of the lens are on the flickr details

Thanks all.

Like Mark says the EXIF data is intact on Flickr. But to answer your question here Holty it is a Sigma 60-600mm on a Nikon D500 (1.5x crop).

This kind of answers Jason's question too, as the lens gives 900mm equivalent FOV reach. Take shot 1 for example, that has only had a few pixels off the edges to tidy it up taken at 600mm. But along with good reach that shot only worked because of the wind direction/light and the fact the aircraft had crossed over the runway threshold to hold on the northern side near the perimeter fence. Right place, right time...

 

[jpgreenwood]

Viewing area or over the road, runway end?

 

[Craig_85]

Viewing area or over the road, runway end?

So, from the viewing area walk down the lane that leads to the Church

 

[holty]

how do you rate the 60-600mm ?

 

[Craig_85]

how do you rate the 60-600mm ?

I think I really like it. It's heavy, but no issue to be honest, they have used lighter materials further out so balance is fairly good.

It's hard, because when I last done aviation photography it was using fast primes, 300mm/400mm and extenders. This lens is sharp, but it does not have that final level of mind blowing sharpness the primes do.

But there are a lot of benefits of zooms, especially ones that go to 600mm. Being able to back off slightly to acquire the target then zoom in, or frame wider is great. The lens does suffer with CA really badly at the wider end, and I find it needs to be stopped down to f7.1 for best sharpness. Strangely it is better, at or closer to maximum aperture at the long end, and benefits more from stopping down at 200-400mm.

The AF is fast, especially after tweaking the dock. It tracks really nicely, but the D500 is a freak of a camera for AF tracking anyway. I just need to spend more time with the lens to really fall in love with it. But already the zoom is getting me shots that the primes didn't. Same dilemma with landscapes and wider lenses to be honest!

I'm undecided on the OS. It clearly works, but then other times I don't really trust it. Or, to put it better after switching it off again I've struggled to get a shot fully in focus at settings that would clearly not be motion blurred. Then switched everything off, cleaned contacts and back on again for the lens to give good results again...

It may go to Sigma for a professional MFA and calibration with the D500. But for now I'll keep using it. In summary, great lens for the money.

 

[robmac]

great work!