First time Canon user

[jingernut]

Having been a Nikon user for many years and now only owning a bridge camera, I am borrowing a friends Canon 450D for this years RIAT and renting a Sigma 50-500mm.

Any advice on general settings for airshow use?

[AFC]

For jets I use AV f/9 (and set ISO to auto, if shutter speeds are below 1/500th, then I up the ISO manually, the highest ISO i use is 400)
For propeller planes I use TV 1/320th (decent amount of prop blur and easy to hold steady meaning high keep rate normally)
For helicopters I vary between 1/250th and 1/80th on TV mode
For panning shots of take offs I vary between 1/60th and 1/160th on TV mode
If I use a teleconverter I put it on M mode and shoot at 1/320th and f/11 for props

Some sample shots:


1/320th, f/9, ISO 100


1/500th, f/9, ISO 125


1/320th, f/11, ISO 160 (with TC)


1/160th, f/10, ISO 100


1/160th, f/14, ISO 100


1/80th, f/14, ISO 100

All of the above shots were taken in Jpeg and then edited using lightroom

Hope that helps, sorry if this is considered thread 'hijacking', however I just wanted to post some images taken at these settings to give the poster an idea of what kind of shots are achievable with those settings mentioned above.

[jingernut]

Thanks. Appreciated.

[AFC]

No problem, I hope you enjoy RIAT, looking like it could be a brilliant show

If you get a chance, take some test shots with the gear, changing the aperture just to try and find the sweetspot of the lens. My old lenses sweetspot was f/9, hence why I recommend that setting, even since upgrading my lens, im still reluctant to use below f/9, I guess I just stick to what I know. Creatures of habit etc.

[wallace]

It's a camera, it takes pictures just like your bridge camera did, the same exposure triangle rules applies.

Best get out there now and have a damn good play with it before RIAT, making your mistakes when it does not count than when it does!

[alans895]

Your photographs are outstanding!

I doubt if I could achieve the same results with the speeds you shoot at. Because of this I won't even go below 1/500 with props because of motion blur (aircraft, not background), especially if shooting with my 100-400 mm Mk 2 canon lens at distances up around 400mm.


Regards,


Alan

[AFC]

Your photographs are outstanding!

I doubt if I could achieve the same results with the speeds you shoot at. Because of this I won't even go below 1/500 with props because of motion blur (aircraft, not background), especially if shooting with my 100-400 mm Mk 2 canon lens at distances up around 400mm.


Regards,


Alan

Thanks

It just takes practice, a lot of it. Just practice shooting at low speeds and practice panning, you will get better at it. Maybe try some shots at speeds you're comfortable with and then once you got that one bank shot, try slowing down the speeds and see how low you can actually go. Yes you're keep rate will suffer, but so long as you get one or two good images of every aircraft, then its fine.

Cheers,
James

[GeorgeP]

Some excellent advice has been already given, but I'll add the following. If you choose to use one of the semi-auto settings (Tv or Av) be sure to dial in some exposure compensation if there is cloud cover that could potentially fool your camera's metering system. I hope you have a great time at RIAT and I look forward to viewing your images.

Edit Forgot to add this : Ditto for James' images.

[AFC]

Some excellent advice has been already given, but I'll add the following. If you choose to use one of the semi-auto settings (Tv or Av) be sure to dial in some exposure compensation if there is cloud cover that could potentially fool your camera's metering system. I hope you have a great time at RIAT and I look forward to viewing your images.

Overexpose if there's grey skys I presume? I know how to do it, but my photos whenever I do it never seem to come out any good, any tips on how to solve this?

[wallace]

Expose to the right.
Read a histogram and give manual +EV adjustments.


I should have said that getting out and having a play with a new camera gets you familiar with the functions of the camera, you can learn how to make it do what you want and above all develop that all important "muscle memory" so you can get to the functions quickly.

[AFC]

Expose to the right.
Read a histogram and give manual +EV adjustments.


I should have said that getting out and having a play with a new camera gets you familiar with the functions of the camera, you can learn how to make it do what you want and above all develop that all important "muscle memory" so you can get to the functions quickly.

I'm guessing you want a histogram that is slightly shifted towards the right then?

[GeorgeP]

Yes, over-expose the sky so that your subject (the aeroplane) is correctly exposed. Some shadow / highlight adjustment and possibly a slight contrast boost may be needed when you perform your post-processing. Wallace's suggestion about using the histogram is also important. I always use the histogram and expose so that the histogram is pushed to the right. I also enable the "blinkies" to show over-exposed areas of the image. If you need further explanation, feel free to send a PM. Hope this helps.

[wallace]

There are plenty of ETTR tutorials out there. This is just one of them
https://www.martinbaileyphotography.com ... dcast-381/