Planes and Propellers

Going to the Shuttleworth Collection Flying day on 1st Sept with my new (off the classifieds herein) 55-300 DA.

http://www.shuttleworth.org/

Anyone got any tips on shutter speeds for propellers? I guess they freeze at 1/500 and there must be a tradeoff with clarity of the airframe through the air if slower (Although I know the planes I'm going to see are not that fast )?

Thanks

There is a complicated formula with which you can work out the ideal shutter speed due to prop blade no and rotation speed but 1/250th or below works for slow moving prop aircraft, like biplanes and transports. You can get away with about 1/350th for later mark spits/mustang when they are romping about etc.
Choppers your looking at 1/125th in order to get good blur...
That should see ya ok...

If you haven't been to Shuttleworth before then weather permitting you'll see a good show. My photo of the BBMF Spitfire in the photos section of the forum was taken there, and at 1/500 as well. Try ISO 320 & no faster than 1/500 and you should be okay, those are the settings I use on occasions.

Don't be caught out by everything being slow at Shuttleworth, the Sea Hurricane if flying is quick and even the Lysander can pick up some speed!

The 55-300mm is an ideal lens to use and the display line is close to the crowdline - enjoy and looking forward to seeing some photos

Thanks Jules and Rob that's a great help.

Weather forecast not looking too great at the mo but there's time enough for that to change yet.

Will try and get something worth posting!

Thanks again gents.

I'd limit my shutter speed to 1/350th or less (more prop blur always looks better than not enough).

My biggest problems with aircraft are exposure and framing:

Exposure against a blue sky isn't too much of a problem, but a white cloudy sky is a real problem if you're not careful. My preferred way to work is in manual having spot metered off grass lit in the same way as the aircraft, checking frequently that you're getting the results you expect (the exposure doesn't usually change too much). I find this works better than trying to spot meter the aircraft itself.

With framing, I often miss wingtips or tailplanes if framing close to the edges of the frame, most often with silver/grey airliners with slender wings.

Another problem are other spectators' heads or loud speaker stands etc. that get into shot when panning across the crowd line which can cause problems with the AF trying to focus on them as you pan.

John.

Seen that too many times. People try to zoom in to maximise the size of the aircraft in the picture and end up with a clipped wing or tail or them very close to an edge.

I always suggest zooming back a little and then cropping afterwards - with modern sensors and software you loose very little.

The other problem is when panning they STOP as the shutter button is pressed but the aircraft continues on the same trajectory. It may only be a fraction of a second between pressing and capture but in 1 second an aircraft flying at 300kts moves 500 feet. There is a need to practice panning and not stopping when the shutter is pressed.