Trackends Picture Post

[trackend]

First set of pictures are all from this years (2006) Flying Legends at Duxford
Just to keep everone happy all of my pictures may be used by anyone who wishes to make copies, I am placing them in the public domain.
Don't expect anything as good as Eric's super snaps guys but some are acceptable.

 

[pbfoot]

nice work

 

[trackend]

Cheers PB
new camera only had it a few days so need a bit more practice

 

[Gnomey]

Nice pics Lee!

 

[trackend]

Thanks GN

 

[Glider]

Very good indeed. In particular the amount of blurr on the props

 

[trackend]

More by luck than judgement Glider lol

 

[pbfoot]

nice one of the Dak

 

[Wildcat]

Cool pics!

 

[Nonskimmer]

Outstanding pics!

 

[evangilder]

Alright, Lee! Prop blur on your first outing, well done! That very first pic with the 2 pilots talking is an interesting shot. That would probably look cool in black and white too.

 

[trackend]

cheers guys

 

[evangilder]

I knew you would do well with the D50, Lee. 8)

 

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need alot more practice Eric and the 300 mm lens is far too short as the distance that the crowd is kept from the flying over here means i will need a 500mm (seen a 180-500 sigma) the weather was not ideal either loads of bright white flat cloud so i really need some exsposure (and panning) practice
It was a good show though seeing three Bristols in the air at once was a very rare sight.I found the 300mm lens a little on the soft side so im not overly impressed with it's performance. quite good for portrature though.

 

[evangilder]

The 300 works best with a lot of light. Because it has a higher f stop number, it is not ideal for lower light conditions. One way that helps with the soft focus is to set the camera for aperture priority and step the aperture down. A lot of lenses are soft at full zoom with the aperture wide open.

A 50mm would be nice, but they will set you back a good bit. You might look into the 80-400 with VR also. They aren't cheap either, but it is a good all around lens that once you are used to it, can give good results as well. But the more expensive lenses do produce better pictures. But when you get into good glass with low f stops (like a 300mm F2.8) not only do they get expensive, but they get heavy!

 

[trackend]

Thanks for the tips Eric the 180-500 is f6 and the cheapest I found it is £652
My old man uses a Rollie with a Planner lens which is mega bucks as you know
Perhaps I should give it a bit more time before buying another lens, what do you think Eric?
Trouble is if I stop down shutter speed gets slow and I start getting unsteady shots most of mine at Duxford where around 150th-200th

 

[Glider]

I think your being a bit hard on yourself. Nope, make that very hard on yourself. You can only do what you can with what you have and I would be more than happy with these.

 

[pbfoot]

I like em but I'm no expert looks like the sky you were shooting against was tough

 

[evangilder]

One think to remember, Lee, is when you size an image down, you will lose some of the information and thus, some of the clarity. If it looks better full size than resized, there are a couple of slick photoshop trick that can help a bunch. That being said, the clarity in that JU-52 shot above is very good.

f6 on that lens is going to be a tough aperture, especially with the often cloudy skies in England. If you have a bright sunny day, it will do well, but overcast and hazy may prove a tough catch at that aperture. One thing that you also have to watch with lenses that size is heat shimmer. Even at 300, I have had heat shimmer totally obscure the focus on shots.

 

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Thanks for the tips Eric I must admit other than a bit of cropping and resizing I am not that good with photo packages I use microsoft photo premium 10 paint shop pro
what I'm after is Ariel shots with a bit of bite somthing along these lines
oh and by the by PB you're right it was not ideal strong back light through white blanket cloud