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- #81
Grumman-Cats Photo Album
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- #82
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
evangilder
"Shooter"
Photoshop rocks. 8) The helos are nice. I do notice a little chromatic aberration in the second shot though. That's where the highlight is kind of purple instead of white. I have had that before with the D-50 and my Nikkor 70-300. I haven't determined if it was the camera body or the lens. I may experiment with that over the weekend.
ccheese
Member In Perpetuity
"chromatic aberration"...... Now there's a phrase, dear hearts, that will
warm you on a cold winter's eve !
Charles
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- #85
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
Problems.
As you can see from the photo below, the dog is moving at a high rate of speed and I cannot get a clear photo. The wife does what they call flyball and I was trying to photograph her team and the lighting in the building was so poor that I could only get to 100 on the shutter speed. I couldn't use a flash since that would distract the dogs. So is there a different lense out there that would allow for poor lighting conditions or is this just a problem that I will have to deal with.
As you can see from the photo below, the dog is moving at a high rate of speed and I cannot get a clear photo. The wife does what they call flyball and I was trying to photograph her team and the lighting in the building was so poor that I could only get to 100 on the shutter speed. I couldn't use a flash since that would distract the dogs. So is there a different lense out there that would allow for poor lighting conditions or is this just a problem that I will have to deal with.
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evangilder
"Shooter"
Looks like your autofocus also focused on the pylon that the dog was jumpong over. Are you using a tripod? What is the F-stop rating for your lens? If you are using a lens with an F-stop range like 4-5.6, that's part of the problem. That range of F-stop is great for outdoor and airshow shoots, but it doesn't allow enough light into the camera body for indoor shots. You may look into a lens that goes lower, like f2.8. Just bear in mind that f2.8 lenses are bigger, heavier and more expensive. But you can always look into renting one.
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- #87
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
Eric, thanks for the info.
My smallest lense get down to a 3.5 but that still didn't get enough light into the photo. as far as me focusing on the jump, I did that on purpose becouse my lense focusing isn't fast enough. I'm not sure of the servo rating or speed of it. I'm sure they make faster ones out there but when I bought it I didnt' think I would need it to be so quick. you know that old saying, Hind sight is 20 20. I still would like a wide angle lense so maybe I'll have to put a little thought into the purchase of that one.
My smallest lense get down to a 3.5 but that still didn't get enough light into the photo. as far as me focusing on the jump, I did that on purpose becouse my lense focusing isn't fast enough. I'm not sure of the servo rating or speed of it. I'm sure they make faster ones out there but when I bought it I didnt' think I would need it to be so quick. you know that old saying, Hind sight is 20 20. I still would like a wide angle lense so maybe I'll have to put a little thought into the purchase of that one.
evangilder
"Shooter"
One thing you want to make sure of is the autofocus. Most SLRs have the option of AF-S or AF-C, where AF-S is auto-focus, static. Once you press the shutter it maintains the focus until you shoot. Great for things that don't move, like flowers or buildings, landscapes, etc. But that doesn't work for airplanes, dogs, children, etc. AF-C is auto-focus, continuous. That is the setting you definitely want to use. It keeps the servo tracking the subject as long as the shutter is depressed half-way.
My D80 has a setting called AF-A, which is auto-focus, automatic, that switches modes on the fly. If I could completely disable that function and banish it forever from my camera and from future cameras, I would. AF-A only causes the camera to hesitate or go out of focus as you have the sweet shot lined up. After a day of frustration fighting that stupid AF-A, I came home and figured out how to put it to AF-C. If it hadn't been settable, it would have gone back to the store. (Can you get the feeling that I hate AF-A?!)
You might try playing around with camera and shutter/f-stop/ISO settings and see if you can clear it up without spending any money too.
My D80 has a setting called AF-A, which is auto-focus, automatic, that switches modes on the fly. If I could completely disable that function and banish it forever from my camera and from future cameras, I would. AF-A only causes the camera to hesitate or go out of focus as you have the sweet shot lined up. After a day of frustration fighting that stupid AF-A, I came home and figured out how to put it to AF-C. If it hadn't been settable, it would have gone back to the store. (Can you get the feeling that I hate AF-A?!)
You might try playing around with camera and shutter/f-stop/ISO settings and see if you can clear it up without spending any money too.
Hi Grumman-cats,
>So is there a different lense out there that would allow for poor lighting conditions or is this just a problem that I will have to deal with.
Hm, I'd say without panning, the dog is going to end up blurred with any lens.
I think pre-focusing on the pylons is fine as you're trying to capture the dog "in flight". However, you should try to follow the dog with the lens smoothly before and during shooting.
Even with 1/100 s, the head and body of the dog are probably going to be sharp if you pan correctly (be prepared to shoot five pictures for every sharp one
, the legs are going to be blurred dynamically, and the background and the pylons are going to be blurred evenly.
If everything turns out just right, this can yield very dramatic shots
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
>So is there a different lense out there that would allow for poor lighting conditions or is this just a problem that I will have to deal with.
Hm, I'd say without panning, the dog is going to end up blurred with any lens.
I think pre-focusing on the pylons is fine as you're trying to capture the dog "in flight". However, you should try to follow the dog with the lens smoothly before and during shooting.
Even with 1/100 s, the head and body of the dog are probably going to be sharp if you pan correctly (be prepared to shoot five pictures for every sharp one
, the legs are going to be blurred dynamically, and the background and the pylons are going to be blurred evenly.If everything turns out just right, this can yield very dramatic shots
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
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- #90
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
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- #91
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
Here's a couple of aircraft that I seemed to have a real hard time focusing on. Not sure why. I have to manual focus when using the 2x magnifier but it usually isn't that tough and with the bright colors of the planes I wouldn't have thought it to be a problem but it was. I know that the lighting conditions were not the greatest for gene soucy but earlier in the day it was clear blue skies and I still had problems. Maybe I just need more practice at more airshows.
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Heinz
Captain
excellent
evangilder
"Shooter"
Actually Jim, the focus issue may not be you, but the multiplier. Many years ago, when I shot film, shots with the multiplier came out soft every time. The problem with multipliers are a higher f-stop and now you are shooting through yet another piece of glass. Add to that you are shooting moving objects and you have a tough formula.
I ended up ditching the multiplier and going for closer shots. Your shots aren't bad, just a bit soft on focus. The white/red bleed that shows on the top wing of the Oracle Challenger looks like it is most likely your multiplier. If you need longer reach for shows, rent a lens. It's much cheaper than buying, plus you can get a lens to try and to see if you really like it or not before shelling out the big bucks for a killer lens.
I ended up ditching the multiplier and going for closer shots. Your shots aren't bad, just a bit soft on focus. The white/red bleed that shows on the top wing of the Oracle Challenger looks like it is most likely your multiplier. If you need longer reach for shows, rent a lens. It's much cheaper than buying, plus you can get a lens to try and to see if you really like it or not before shelling out the big bucks for a killer lens.
Wildcat
Major
Very nice Jim! Love the P-47 shot.
Hi Grumman-cats,
>I have to manual focus when using the 2x magnifier but it usually isn't that tough and with the bright colors of the planes I wouldn't have thought it to be a problem but it was.
Auto-focus needs a lot of light to work correctly, and the magnifier actually increases your effective f-stop value which does not help.
(I have shot pictures at airshows with manual-focus lenses for years, and it's not easy even with a lot of practice.)
Judging from the only slightly blurred propellers, you can still increase your exposure time without fear of camera shake in order to gain some field-of-depth.
I don't know if you have already cropped your pictures, but if not, it might be worth it to leave out the multiplier and shoot with the basic lens only.
That will improve the pictures for two reasons: You will have the benefit of autofocus which is more reliable than manual focusing, and you will have sharper pixels - due to more accurate focusing - even if the plane doesn't fill the frame completely.
In the end, it's not the number of pixels that counts but the number of sharp pixels
Of course, it depends a bit on your camera system, but you could just give it a try at the next airshow for an hour, then use the multiplier for the rest of the show, and compare results. Then decide what works better
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
>I have to manual focus when using the 2x magnifier but it usually isn't that tough and with the bright colors of the planes I wouldn't have thought it to be a problem but it was.
Auto-focus needs a lot of light to work correctly, and the magnifier actually increases your effective f-stop value which does not help.
(I have shot pictures at airshows with manual-focus lenses for years, and it's not easy even with a lot of practice.)
Judging from the only slightly blurred propellers, you can still increase your exposure time without fear of camera shake in order to gain some field-of-depth.
I don't know if you have already cropped your pictures, but if not, it might be worth it to leave out the multiplier and shoot with the basic lens only.
That will improve the pictures for two reasons: You will have the benefit of autofocus which is more reliable than manual focusing, and you will have sharper pixels - due to more accurate focusing - even if the plane doesn't fill the frame completely.
In the end, it's not the number of pixels that counts but the number of sharp pixels
Of course, it depends a bit on your camera system, but you could just give it a try at the next airshow for an hour, then use the multiplier for the rest of the show, and compare results. Then decide what works better
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
DBII
Senior Master Sergeant
I did not know that lens could rented. thanks
dbII
dbII
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- #97
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
evangilder
"Shooter"
Hey Jim, what are you using for your photo editing? One thing you might want to consider is doing a little sharpening after you resize. The tanker shot would probably look real good with some sharpening. If you use photoshop, you might want to use the clone stamp tool to get rid of the dust spots.
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- #99
grumman-cats
Airman 1st Class
evangilder
"Shooter"
Nice! 
