On Sep 12, 2005, at 10:09 AM, Fred wrote:
Hi. I'll be attending my first ever air show in a couple of weeks
(Sept.
24), and I've got a couple of questions for air show veterans:
1. What's a good shutter speed for showing "blurred but visible prop
blades" in a "fly-by"? I'd like the blades to show a little (not
just be a
total blur), but not to "stand still" in the photos either (I've
already
got some of those pictures from previous airplane attempts on film,
and
1/250 sec just doesn't do it - <g>.) I'll be using my new DS, so I
guess I
should be able to adjust the speed when I view the first shots in
the DS's
display window, but "Murphy's Law" would probably have my first
botched
attempts be of one of the two planes that I really want the photos
of the
most - <g>, so knowing a little ahead of time might be very helpful
to me.
I haven't done prop planes recently, but helicopters generally need
something in the 1/60 second range to get a decent feel for the main
prop in motion.
2. What sort of focal length range would be most useful for a "fly-
by"? I
could use a 70-210 zoom, or a 100-300 zoom, as some examples. I
also could
use a 500mm mirror, say. Using the DS, of course, means that these
would
approximate 100-300, 150-450, and 750mm "effective focal
lengths" (35mm
format). (I could probably carry 3 or 4 lenses, I suppose.)
Unfortunately, the needs for getting good motion blur on the prop
fights with focal length selection and hand holding/panning. How long
a lens you need depends upon how far away the planes are relative to
your viewpoint. I'd certainly bring the 100-300 as that is about the
longest lens I can hand hold or pan with, with enough range to get
decent results if the planes are closer to you. A monopod and one of
the Manfrotto FlexHeads we were talking about recently helps a lot.
Godfrey
