Aviation photography

Hi everyone, i've just joined the forum so not sure if I'm even doing this right! I have a Pentax K10D DSLR and one of my hobbies is avaition. I do quite a few airshows every year in the UK. I have a SIGMA DG 70-300mm lens which is great. However, I do feel very restricted when trying to get decent aerial shots when aircraft are performing above the flight line - I just don't seem to be getting in there! Due to the safety restrictions distances from crowd to the action is quite restrictive. Does anyone out there have similar frustrations and if so how do you deal with it? Bigger lens? which one? where best to buy it?
Thanks. Chris B

Welcome Chris - there are people here shooting at airshows, so they will be able to assist.

In the meantime, if you had some specifics about why and how things are not working out the way you'd like, they will come in handy for a more focused response I'm sure.

You'll want to include details of the lens focal length you use for it, and your camera settings.

All the best.

Hi Chris and welcome to the forum.

I have done a couple of airshows and understand your predicament.
300mm at times is not enough.

However for new lenses, at the moment there are only two which would fit your bill, and both are Sigmas.

The 150-500mm and the 50-500mm (aka the Bigma)

The Bigma will give more flexibility due to it's focal range, however it is up to 50% more in price, and a lot heavier.

Both have SDM drive too.

Second hand you might find MK1 Bigmas (which are EX) and 170-500mm Sigmas which are perfectly fine for Aviation shooting.

Hope this helps.

I do quite a lot of aviation photography. Although I don't have one, your best way of getting closer is to buy a 'Bigma', a Sigma 50-500.

Dave

I use a Sigma 50-500mm and others use the 150-500mm but this is one area where Pentax is lacking (not having a quality zoom lens capable of 300mm +).

To be honest Pentax is rather lacking in the AF department up until the K-7 when it got a lot better and the K-5 has since improved even more.

That's not to say the K10D isn't capable of good aviation shots, it just means it needs a lot more work.

Hi Chris - welcome.

Nothing to do with the BMFA?

I do some aircraft photography too. I use the 150-500 and the DA*300 and much more occasionally the DA*60-250 on my K20 - oh yes, and another camera.

Welcome Chris

Welcome to the forum.

Your limitation is not your camera, it's your lens. The Sigma 70-300mm in it's various forms can be quite soft at 300mm. It's not terribly fast either, f5.6 at 300mm if I remember correctly.

I used to use a Sigma 135-400mm which wasn't too bad, but their newer 50-500mm (Bigma) is reckoned to be quite good.

One option you have to extend the range of your existing zoom is a teleconverter, the best of which is probably the SMC Pentax-F 1.7X AF TC. The penalty in using a TC is loss of light, you lose almost 2 stops so your 300mm f5.6 lens would become a 510mm f8 lens which is less than ideal.

Can you be a bit more specific? Where, when? Exactly what problems are you experiencing?

Typically it might be difficulty achieving sharpness and/or detail, and/or getting the exposure right against a bright sky.

Not quite sure what you mean by "flight line" - typically the aircraft orient themselves with respect to the runway in use, with which the front of the crowd is usually parallel. And of course the aircraft are always above that.

Of course, distance is key. Getting up really early and being right at the front is a major benefit. And of course there are limitations of having 300mm as the maximum focal length at your disposal.

As Mike says, the K10D isn't ideal, but with determination, it can produce good results.

I use it with the Pentax DA 55-300, and occasionally get some decent enough shots.

I use the Sigma 100-300 f/4 with the sigma 1.4x TC. This adds up to the equivalent of about 630mm focal length. At f/5.6 autofocus is still working, but the reach is still a bit on the short side unless the aircraft are flying close by. I have the Sigma 2x TC as well, but with that AF is a non starter, which is hopeless for moving targets.

Probably the 50-500 is the answer, but holding it steady must be a real problem.

I would suspect some sort of chest pod/grip would be needed with the Bigma. I remember seeing the white drainpipe and Canon brigade at RIAT armed with assorted pistol grip and stock type things.

While most airshows ban tripods (and they can't be moved around fast enough anyway) there's nothing to stop you having something to brace the camera against your shoulder. With more DSLR video shooters around there seem to be a decent number of camera steadying devices turning up.

As a newbie who enjoys aviation photography, I've been following this thread with interest. I'm considering a longer lens for this (I'm presently using a vintage Tamron 80-210 redeployed from my old film kit, with a x2 - which really isn't up to it) and looking at the Pentax 55-300, or possibly the Sigma or Tamron 70-300. What do people recommend? Is 300 long enough? Or would a longer prime be better? Advice from those with wisdom and experience please!

Alan

I have found that a monopod with a released ball head works pretty well and is not likely to cause a traffic jam. Just enough to give some stability.

As ever, it depends how close you can get. Airshows can be rather restrictive and so you may struggle with 300mm. These were taken the other week with a Tamron 70-300:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/not-bad-for-a-cheapo-lens--24882

Dave

On most airshows in UK for photos of planes taking off or landing less than 300mm will be ok (providing you would be able to get through the crowd and get nearer to the barriers), for single planes flying display - 300mm will be not enough to get nice pic without heavy cropping. On the other hand if you photograph formations then sometimes much less will do (sometimes I use 60mm ish for this).
Your other limitation when using Pentax kit will be AF speed of the camera and lens, if you get jet taking off in front of you, and you will track it with your camera trying to shot pics on the way, expect rather low number of "in focus" ones, having said that - I haven't tried K5, but I'm still not sure if there is any long lens for it that would focus quick enough (Canon users will hav no problems at this stage - saying that Canon is better than Pentax (at some bit) is not a crime here John? ).
I.e. if you look at pic no.7 in here:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/piotro---farnborough-24th-sat-21631

I possibly tried to take 4-5 while this F16 was taking off, on 3 occasions AF was too slow (unfortunately for a very nice closeups), but again, this was using 60-250mm which is rather slow focusing lens.