Free Halton Air show!

We were out and about on Sunday shooting for last weeks competition when we drove past a 'Halton Event', so thought why not stop for a bit and have a look.

This was my first time shooting aircraft, so was mainly practising tracking and focusing skills, and the only lens I took there was the 50-135, but thought I would share some here as I am neglecting this part of the forum!

Was funny to see all the C & N crowd looking at what I was shooting with, but I did see one other Pentax there, wonder if you are lurking on here!?

Nothing special PP wise, just some cropping and auto levels here & there.

You got some cracking shots there!

I was at the steam rally in Weston Turville (also with the compo in mind but no rusty wrecks to be seen) and saw some of the biplanes flying over en route. I should have come over to Halton by the look of it.

I especially like the way the (Tiger Moth?) in #2 looks like it's about to crash land and the formation in the last photo is fantastic against those clouds. Reckon you had the right lens with you!

Must admit, will have to check the local papers more often as we do seem to miss these events! Perhaps we should all announce what event we are going to in local groups and outnumber the C & N crowd!

That 2nd one did end up hitting the ground, as you can guess, they were flying under the rope for stunts, with even a husband and wife competing against each other. Was good fun to watch!

Forgot to mention, also used it for practise using continuous focus, and AV mode. For once I thought that I would trust the camera to see what it could do, put it back to JPEG, AFC, and AV mode and fired away. Normally I shoot in TAv mode, it's great when you have time to adjust, but may not work well for the wedding thats coming up!

Great job!

I'm intrigued by the twin engine in #4.

Is that a production plane?

Good eye in the last two shots as well.

Looks to have been a great time!

Thanks Mac!

Wish I could help you, but I have absolutely no idea what it is, sorry!

They were doing charity flights as well for £65, but we didn't have enough cash, and they didn't take card either, otherwise, I could have got some more interesting shots!

Was actually quite surprised it was a free event, which made it even more of a great time!

The twin in #4 is a DeHavilland Dragon Rapide.

It certainly used to be a production aircraft, and there are a handful still flying. I had a ride in one once, around the Cambridgeshire countryside - it was part of an event at Duxford.

If you're interested in a bit of its history, there's a Wikipedia article on it.

Some good captures in that series of pictures. Exposures particularly good, I thought, with good detail visible underneath - hard to achieve sometimes against bright skies.

Lovely crisp photos and nice sky. Can I ask the question I notice these were taken with your k10 you also have the k20 from your llistings, do you see a great deal of inprovment in picture quality with the k20 over the k10. I ask this as I will at some point be upgrading from the k100 D and not sure if the k 20 warrants the extra money as yet.

Was only bought yesterday, and only taken a few indoor shots, so no conclusions yet I'm afraid! Hopefully I'll get a chance to give it a run over the weekend and I'll let you know!

Great shots, I like the shot of the yellow plane with the white cosses on the wing, Was he doing a loop :

That looks like a pretty risky stunt flying through those flags

It amuses me, a friend of mine currently has a Canon 400D and is thinking of changing brands to Nikon so he can get 7 fps with the D300. The reason for this? .. he does a lot of air shows and needs the extra speed to capture the planes in flight.

Looking at these I cannot see why he would need a Nikon.

Thats definately a case of a poor workman blaming his tools! I was quite pleased with these as a first time shooting at an air show, and I would presume they would only get better with practise!

The more and more I think about technology, the more I realise I don't care about the specs, and thats coming from a gadget freak! Did I buy the K20d just because of the specs? No, I bought it for better picture quality. Do I want the new iPhone because it has a high spec sheet, no it just does what it does better than anything else and is just easy to use. Which is better the PS3 or the Xbox 360? I don't care, I bought them both for the games, not the gigaflops of processing power. Americans saying their cars have more power than ours, but ours go round corners properly etc.etc.

Tell him to stop worrying about his 'tools' and learn how to take photos!

(Right, off my soap box now!)

Thanks for the article on the Dragon, Chris!

There is something about how it blends the bi-wing past with the more modern shapes that really grabbed me.

Cheers

http://www.sunderland-airshow.com/

Great 2 day event the place is always packed and last year there were loads taking photos saw 2 with pentax users were I was standing. I look forward to hereing what you think of the k20 when you get a chance I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Just ordered my 50-135 from Chris yesterday. Can't wait to get it.

These pictures are very good. Be proud of them.

I always love to be out among the C & N crowd. The always watch you when you are shooting pictures with the pentax gear. They can't understand the quality

I posted this on another thread on this forum today, it seems just as valid here as well.

"I've covered many sports events over the years, both indoor & outdoor events of various types and have come to the conclusion early on that "brand" is not the important thing, and especially the brands around you that other folk use.

Believe me I have jostled with all manner of elbows and equipment and still managed to raise the odd eyebrow of the competition.

Capture the “great image” is what it's about; my Pentax kit has always delivered without drama, even in some of the most adverse conditions."