tredway

Have a D7200/28-300, suggested settings please??

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

ISO 800 and a shutter speed of 1/2500. Lower the ISO a little if you can but make sure you can maintain 1/2500th on your shutter.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I would go with a ISO of 1100 while maintaining the 1/2500 shutter.

Dewey8

+1 on the shutter speed. The higher the better, especially when shooting toward the long end of the lens.

tredway

Thanks.I suppose I should have bought the ( 70-200/2.8 )

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Are you going for the whole show? fast shutter is good for the jets, but 1/125 - 1/250 is good for the propeller planes.

tredway

Yes, be there all day.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Shoot at at least 1/2500 sec.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Good Advice since most likely you'll want a small amount of propeller blur of the rotary engine planes when flying and sharp for the airplane's body. It just looks better in my opinion. If you really want to get picky, the older WW1 type planes have a slower motor RPM's than the WW2 planes but I doubt that will make much of a difference to you.

Also don't forget if you are more towards the 300mm side of your lens, you might try a little faster shutter, (like maybe 1/400to 1/500). Really slower shutter speeds can be used if necessary when they are flying nearly directly towards you and faster when flying sideways to you. When I covered an air show, things were nearly non stop. I just found a good middle-of-the-road shutter speed for my location and stuck with that one.

You've got some great beginning ideas. Now go there and play around with shutter speeds. See what suits your taste.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...great advice here. I do alot of panning and experimenting when doing airplanes in flight, but my shutter is not all that fast. Panning with a *faster* shutter (like a 500th) and back button focus will keep you pretty dang sharp. Oh, last one I shot was with my 200-400 f4, it's big and heavy but on a monopod easy to manipulate...even going with slower shutter (125th) trying to get the props to look right had a good keeper rate...

buldog216 Loc: Boynton Beach, Florida

I used a D70S with a 70-300 F 4.0 - 5.6 , ISO 200 @ F 5.6 shutter 1/2000 Shot on the beach on a sunny day.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/buldg216/17906706179/in/album-72157653027128539/

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Not for an air show. You will find the lower mm useful for some configurations and the 300 mm necessary for close ins of one or two aircraft.

If you use VR and track 1/1000 will yield sharp images at 300mm.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

When I was an Air Force Base Photographer in the 60's, I had the opportunity on multiple occasions to photograph the Thunderbirds when they visited our base (Kingsley Field) in Klamath Falls, Oregon. That allowed me the freedom to actually go out to the runway during a performance. I used my Nikon F Photomic with a 135mm lens using Ektachrome film with the highest shutter speed. Because Jet fighters in formation present a rather big target, the 135mm lens proved to be long enough. I even got an exposure from the middle of the runway with an F100 coming directly toward me at over 200 MPH and trailing a cloud of vapor. The plane came toward me so quickly that I only had time to get off the shot, drop and spread eagle on the ground as the jet passed over me. The photo was spectacular, but afterwards when I showed the photo to the Thunderbird Pilots, they told me that even though the plane was 50-feet in the air, I could have been sucked into the the F100's turbin had I not hit the dirt. That was the first and last time I ever photographed the Thunderbirds from the middle of the runway. The photograph won the 4th Air Force photo contest that month. Unfortunately, I can't locate the photo in my collection so I can post it. When I find it, I will post it.

Since you will be photographing the Blue Angels from a public area, I would say that a 200mm to 300mm lens and a very high shutter speed should do the job for you unless you are at a base where the runway is a very long distance from the public viewing area. Remember that during an airshow, all performance maneuvers are usually centered over and in line with the runway that is use for the takeoff. That usually optimizes safety for the public and also puts the planes in line with the runway in case an emergency landing is required.

tredway

Thanks,that was amazing,I was wondering if the 70-200/2.8 lens would do a better job??

Drip Dry McFleye

I used a 70-200 f2.8 at the Selfridge Air Base show this past fall. I had mistakenly left my 1.4III TC at home and then cursed myself many times over for not having enough reach at 200mm max. Pretty much agree with all others on shutter speeds for the prop jobs and jets but I think you can get by with a bit lower s. speeds than 1/2500 on the jets if you're up on your panning skills. Good luck on the day of!