Flying Legends 2015, 12 July 2015, Duxford

[xpatUSA]

I remember Duxford, having driven by it a lot, almost 50 yrs ago. It was disused back then, some sort storage place, IIRC.

I used to do airshows in early 80's England with a Praktica MTL3, 200mm tele, oft. with 2X converter, 400 ASA film (strictly amateur snaps) and never got anywhere near the quality in the OP. Excellent!

[pedant alert] re: #29, it's "Griffon", not Griffin. [/alert]. Sorry.

[deetheturk]

Hi Phil, one thing I forgot to ask was did you shoot these handheld? as I have noticed a lot of reviews on this lens saying how heavy it is?

[dubaiphil]

My bad, Richard - it is a P36. P38's to be processed and coming up tonight

[dubaiphil]

Hi Phil, one thing I forgot to ask was did you shoot these handheld? as I have noticed a lot of reviews on this lens saying how heavy it is?

It was quite heavy! Hand held and panning constantly for 3 hours - my shoulder has just recovered!

[dubaiphil]

Great images Phil,

My personal favourite (as things stand with 30), is probably the Bristol Blenheim (#3) because of the revealing lighting.
Of course the B&W Corsair (#25) is something special - and we don't often see the Ju-52 (#7).

I like that you haven't blown the skies - a rookie mistake I often make in this type of weather to get detail in the shadows/undersides.

I have added this thread to our list of excellent examples of the genre, not just for the pictures, but the time you took to explain the whys and wherefores - and add the EXIF data on the first 10.

The question; 'what shutter speed to shoot an air show' is perennial, so now I have a thread to refer people to with great examples.

Thanks, Dave

Thanks, Dave. I didn't discuss metering modes. I went with centre weighted as well as +2/3 EV, which generally gets you in the right ball park. After using only manual focus lenses for the past 18 months, I was a little unsure as to how the Sigma would perform but it did well. Occasionally it hunted but it generally locked on and maintained focus well. I used the AF-on button, AF-C and 51 point area focusing.

[rpcrowe]

Phil wrote: "It was quite heavy! Hand held and panning constantly for 3 hours - my shoulder has just recovered!"

I can relate to hand holding a heavy camera/lens all day long. I often used 16mm motion picture cameras hand held and it was a bugger to work all day. However, I was a lot younger at that time.

I don't own a really heavy lens. The heaviest that I have is the 400mm f/5.6L which is relatively easy to hand-hold at 2.75 lb (about 1.25 kg.). But, on a crop camera, this gives me a 640mm equivalent...

I built this rig (linked below) when I expected to get a heavier lens (which I never did). It distributes the weight across my shoulders and also stabilizes the hold quite a bit. The rig weighs only a little over a kilogram without camera and lens attached; so it is relatively light in weight even with a 400L and a Canon 7D attached...



http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Photograp...For-Long-Lens/

However, I seldom use the rig since I like shooting with my 400mm f/5.6L but, because that is a prime lens, I often need another focal length. I like to carry a pair of cameras; one with the 400L and the other with either my 300mm f/4L IS or my 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses.

I am thinking that I could mount a pair of cameras on this rig. I may try it one day! I could attach a cable release for each camera to the two handles.

Something along this line might make a day of shooting with the Sigma zoom a bit easier.

Another rig which might work is this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Video-Camcor...item58bd9d6774

[dubaiphil]

Mainly for Greg's benefit (!) here's a video I've found which has just gone up, showing the Spitfire opening to Flying Legends 2015 - just to give a taste of what the show was like.



And then, to continue, here are a few more stills from the show:


31. - 35. Some American metal:


31.




32.




33.




34.




35.

[dubaiphil]

And a few more:

36. Taxiing Spitfire




37. Bristol Blenheim




38. Hurricane and ground crew




39. Spitfire take off (around effectively 1200mm, cropped heavily from 600mm image)




40. DeHavilland Rapide (one of two which were operating pleasure flights before the air show)

[gregj1763]

Thanks Phil, what a great start to a Saturday morning, they sounded awesome
Cheers, Greg