airshows

I had some reasonable results when I tried spot metering last week at Bristol airport, but yes, I think you're probably right that I will get more consistent exposures using exposure compensation.

I think the main point is that the aircraft is within the general ambient lighting, and so a wider metering would take that into account. Any part of the aircraft, especially if it is a very small part of the total frame, is unlikely to reflect an average amount of brightness of the total scene ... the metal and shadow areas are likely to reflect more extreme differences from an average brightness value.

(Well, thats what I'm thinking anyway ..... if true then any compensation would need to be even more extreme than if you had metered much more of the total frame ...)

I'll bow to the opinions of experienced airshow shooters on this one though !

I like the advice for shutter speeds on propeller planes. Useful to check.

Much is old school technique too. Panning with the object etc. Turning off SR if panning, but remembering to have it on for other shots, unless the shutter speed is really high anyway etc. This is where direct buttons for metering modes, autofocus modes and shake reduction on/off would be really useful and would avoid menu diving to change.

Expect lots of purple fringing if against a bright sky and some +exposure comp is definitely worth a go.

It depends on the airshow and the subjects you want to capture. Big shows with fast jets are completely different to smaller or bi-plane shows. For props anything faster than 180-250th leads to static props which look awful. Zooms are much more flexible, a large aircraft or the Reds in formation often need a wider lens than you'd expect - even more so on APS-C sensors. A 150-500 zoom is much longer on APS-C than many people realise (a 750mm equivalent requires special handling - especially if you're trying to point it up into the sky for a large part of the day). I mostly use a 70-300 which I feel is a good range for most shows.

If it's a popular show you'll see the stepladder brigade in abundance (shooters perched on 5 foot stepladders with 400 or 600mm lenses). Trying to keep these (and Tannoy speaker stands) out of the frame is usually your biggest problem. Framing is my next problem - making sure you have the whole of the aircraft with enough space around it in the frame (it's easy to cut-off wingtips and tailplanes).

As far as exposure goes, I usually use HyperManual and spot-metering off either blue sky or green grass - as long as you check it every few minutes (the light doesn't usually change that quickly). Spot-metering & HyperManual combined with AE lock is a perfect solution - the green button sets your exposure, pressing AE lock then allows you to shift the aperture & shutter speed as you require. In my Kodachrome days I used to wave my incident meter over my head - looks quite weird but it works.

As far as AF goes, I usually use single shot AF using the centre-point only recomposing as required (anything over 100ft is pretty much infinity and at most shows the aircraft are much further away than that). In my manual focus days I used MF without problems, I still use my MF Tamron 500 mirror occasionally.

Lastly, the ground shots are often more interesting, either of aircraft or of the FF Canikon brigade trying not to fall off their stepladders with their 400 or 600mm lenses.

John.

More an more shooting birds in flight. I'm taking a base exposure in manual exposure mode (grass, telegraph pole, etc). Make any adjustments needed. And leave it at that. Only done one airshow - Sunderland last year. And that's the method I used there too. Just need to be mindful of light changes, and re-calibrate when necessary

Some great tips there John, thank you . I knew about the AE lock hyper-manual thing but have never tried it .... You have got me set on having a go now. So the AE button fixes the exposure value, and the aperture and shutter can be moved with the opposing one compensating each time to hold the EV ..... Very neat!

When I spoke about spot metering before, I was imagining the metering being taken from the aircraft , which I figured could be a bit hit and miss. But I see the sense in your approach of going for a mid tone, which I suppose should come out fairly closely to an incident reading.

The main exposure issue I've noticed in people's air show photos is caused by the body of the aircraft changing from being in bright sunlight to the underside being deep in shadow ... And of course this can change very quickly.

Pretty much, you need the green button to set the selected 'program line' (either normal, action, depth, MTF as set in the menu) first, then hit AE lock (to get the '*' symbol) which locks the EV value. Spinning either dial then goes into Tv or Av (depending on the dial) with this locked EV. On it's own in HyperManual, AE lock will hold the manually selected EV value but won't 'correct' it.

The routine is: Set HyperManual & Spot metering, point the spot meter at a mid-tone, press green, press AE lock and then spin either dial as required (at airshows I prefer the Tv dial for props) and leave until the light changes. As an aside, setting 1/3 stop shutter speeds gives more options for props.

Light doesn't usually change that quickly - it changes slowly during the day as the sun moves across the sky unless there are fast moving clouds about. Trying to spot-meter a fast moving fast jet can be a struggle. Against a blue sky is easier than a white cloudy sky.

I've seen that with birds too. Body ok coming towards you but suddenly in the shadows when turning.

Lots of very useful tips and information from everybody - many thanks to you all

I will have to try that Hyper-manual & AE lock myself....
I'd always shied away from spot metering on MikeP's advice, as it can overemphasize changes in contrast on the subject, particularly when the target plane is doing aero's!
Also worth noting is that light cloud is much brighter than a flat blue sky........
I wonder if MikeP is following this thread...his results are always pretty good, as is his advice.....

As an aside if you really want a clear view at Duxford, then invest in at least a "Silver" ticket, more expensive, true, but much more space, better loos and supplied seating, all fenced in from the throng!!!!

If you don't want to pay for the Silver ticket, then I think the next best place is the raised bank between the Land Systems Museum and the crowd line, at the Southern end of the site, because you can then look over the heads of the Canikon monster shooters, and also that's where the end of show Balbo usually breaks. (It's a long way from the static exhibits and the cafes, but there are loos in the Museum behind you).

PS: to the OP, sorry missed your early post mentioning that you are visiting Throckmorton, but can't help on that venue.