Lenses for Flightfest - fast or long?

Ben D Bus

Weather permitting I might head into town to get a few shots of the flightfest tomorrow.

I'll be carrying other stuff with me so I only want to bring a camera with one lens attached. I've never photographed aircraft before and from the ground I'll have nothing but sky in the background in many cases.

I have a 55-200 which goes from f/4-f/5.6 (it's VR but don't see that being much use) or a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. I'm using a crop sensor (D90)

Which lens would be better?

inkedpt

If it's any help they will be flying about 250mt/800ft high from the Liffey. I'm up for the long lens.

magicbastarder

you'll be photographing the planes from underneath, so use plenty of fill in flash.

Nforce

Weather sealed equipment might be a good choice!:)

Homer

Anybody got any suggestions for a good location? I'm guessing the quays will be pretty packed and not offer anything out of the ordinary? I was thinking further down near Dublin port towards the end of their run down the Liffey?

Paulw

Homer wrote: »

Anybody got any suggestions for a good location? I'm guessing the quays will be pretty packed and not offer anything out of the ordinary? I was thinking further down near Dublin port towards the end of their run down the Liffey?

They're coming in from the sea, going down the Liffey and then turning out over the city (heading south).

I've been wondering myself where might be best to go, but haven't made a decision yet. A lot will depend on the weather tomorrow. Not looking good right now.

karmaan

inkedpt wrote: »

If it's any help they will be flying about 250mt/800ft high from the Liffey. I'm up for the long lens.

nah, the big boys cant go below 2000 ft

Ben D Bus

magicbastarder wrote: »

you'll be photographing the planes from underneath, so use plenty of fill in flash.

Yeah, probably too breezy to use a reflector

Effects

Along the Liffey seemed to be a bad place to view the planes. All you could see was the bottom. Decent view from Eastwall by the bridge at the freight yard. Gaps between planes was pretty boring so I didn't stay long. Had a decent view out the window at home in Clontarf though.

andy_g

Effects wrote: »

Along the Liffey seemed to be a bad place to view the planes. All you could see was the bottom. Decent view from Eastwall by the bridge at the freight yard. Gaps between planes was pretty boring so I didn't stay long. Had a decent view out the window at home in Clontarf though.

The "gap" you speak of was to keep aircraft at the minimum safe separation distance of 3 miles unless flying in formation.

Also the commecial traffic was down to 800ft AMSL minimum display altitude for today.

The smaller aircraft were cleared to 600ft AMSL.

kelly1

magicbastarder wrote: »

you'll be photographing the planes from underneath, so use plenty of fill in flash.

LOL It's amazing how many people were using flash!

MarkN

Effects wrote: »

Along the Liffey seemed to be a bad place to view the planes. All you could see was the bottom.

+1 I was on North Wall Quay and it was very hard to get much apart from directly underneath. I used a Canon 70-200 F4L, would've liked a bit more reach but it overall was perfect.

Paulw

I was out in Spencer Dock park, and had a fairly good view. You could see the planes coming straight in, and they were not directly overhead, so you could get a fair side shot.

I used a Canon 100-400mm lens with a 1.4x TC.


Flightfest 2013 by PaulWa, on Flickr



Flightfest 2013 by PaulWa, on Flickr



Flightfest 2013 by PaulWa, on Flickr



PWPX3420.jpg by PaulWa, on Flickr

Happy enough with what I got.

Effects

That last one of the fighter is really nice

Paulw

I was thrilled with that shot. He banked the right way for me to get it.

Nforce

Would have killed for a better (higher) vantage point...and a 500mm lens would have been sweet

andy_g

Nforce wrote: »

Would have killed for a better (higher) vantage point...and a 500mm lens would have been sweet

Mwhahaha i was up on buildings a bit back from the liffey would have killed for a bigger lens although my 75-300 did ok from where i was, will have pics up soon.

If you head over to the aviation and aircraft forums you'll see some great shots too

OldGoat

andy_g wrote: »

Mwhahaha i was up on buildings a bit back from the liffey...

I saw a few shots taken from the air and I was wondering if they were yours or if you had managed to hitch a lift on one of the attendant helicopters.

Nforce

Well known aviation photog Frank Grealish was in the helicopter photo ship.

andy_g

OldGoat wrote: »

I saw a few shots taken from the air and I was wondering if they were yours or if you had managed to hitch a lift on one of the attendant helicopters.

Oh how i wish i was lol wind was too high for me to go up. But had a great view from google dock

Nforce

Nforce wrote: »

Well known aviation photog Frank Grealish was in the helicopter photo ship.

There's a couple of his pics on The Gathering's Facebook page..

https://www.facebook.com/thegatheringireland?ref=stream&hc_location=stream




I love this one...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1167322_702631443097815_969246108_o.jpg