1. 1st group on take-off




2. The other half up




3. Over the Top




4. Nobody's perfect!




5. Solo R-L




6. Solo L-R




7. Diamond 9




8. And another




9. 'Smoke-on!'







Unfortunately the smoke was so intense and long lasting that it partially obscured
the aircraft for much of the display! Made focusing difficult as well.

You'll be pleased to read that thats it for now although I might have a go at PP on some images i've not shown already...only if I can get time..you've been warned!

Thanks for looking.

Karlo

1. "Steady on old chap...you've just skittled the Trolley Dolly"




2. Crikey!




3. Just passing




4. "Look! No Harness"




5. Breitling L39C 3-ship again




6. Breitling Pair




7. Polish Turbo Orliks on takeoff




8. Orliks in formation




Just the Frecce Tricolori to go ...hopefully tomorrow.

1. BREITLING L39s




2. and again...




3. and again...




4.PATROUILLE SUISSE flying NORTHROP F5E TIGER IIs




5. 5-SHIP FORMATION THIS TIME




6. ROYAL JORDANIAN FALCONS WITH EXTRA EA300L AIRCRAFT





7. IT'S CHAOS UP THERE!




8. RED ARROWS IN THEIR 50TH YEAR




9. ALL 9 OF THEM




10. AND AGAIN




11. AND AGAIN...




12. BREITLING WINGWALKERS USING BOEING STEARMANs




13. THEY WERE GOOD




14. SOME MORE ORANGE




Some very grey backgrounds unfortunately. I'll post a few more tomorrow.

Hi Mike,

yeah, it does seem to be a minor issue (in the grand scheme of things) with the autofocus not being able to cope at times. Sometimes as well its partly me if the lens is at max length (300mm) or close to this as it is hard to acquire a fast moving target in the first place with small Field of View so it might try and lock onto nothing more than a fleeting glimpse! When I was following the aerobatic teams i did try when I remembered to manual focus so at least I had more control and more success with focus when multiple aircraft in the frame.

Framing was a bit tight on a few of them as I tried to fill the screen without going obviously over and often it was hard to see or I forgot about nose probes and things! On the more obvious overspills this was a deliberate artistic decision! (mainly)

Cheers for your comments.

Karlo

Nigel, Thanks again for taking an interest. I agree, the more colourful planes
make for the better imagery...just have to persuade the World's armed forces to do away with camouflage and low visibility paint jobs now! I was actually about halfway down the runway roughly 250m or so from the centreline (sideways on) which was great for the helos and props as they flew that bit slower and closer but wasn't as good for the fast jets as they tended to turn, with afterburner at either end (or just past)of the runway and tended to manoeuvre further away for safety reasons...300mm just wasn't long enough.

David, thanks for your comments. Appreciate what you are saying. I will have a go at some PP over the next few weeks to see what difference it could make. Overall though using exactly the same equipment as last year I've definitely got more 'keepers' and this despite the poorer weather. I took about 480 or so shots all day last year and had probably about 15-20 that I was happy with to varying degrees...although some last year suffered from sensor marks/debris (since cleaned it). This year I took 601 and will probably end up with about 40-50 that i'll be happy with..so i'm heading in the right direction.

Camera was a K-x matched with the basic Tamron 70-300 f4-5.6 (£129 new) so i'm quite pleased when you consider how little the kit cost. I might upgrade the camera
soon but didn't want to before the event as the learning curve might have lead to worse results than last year.

Stuart, Thanks for your comment...much appreciated.

Vic, BOAC..they were the days eh? I never realised that the Comet had some rear facing seats as well as the VC10. Must be a very British trait. On the face of it it seems quite a sensible idea particularly if you were sat aft of the wing, watching where you had just been! From a safety point of view as well if the seats were well anchored..no face whiplash into the seat in front.

Nutter, Thanks for your kind comments. No12 does seem to have been the best received. I know what you mean about having to switch between fast and slow shutter speeds...I went through that last year...exactly the same thing. This year I was determined to remember to select a slower speed if it had a blade or prop. For the planes with props I found 1/200th-1/400th to be an ideal range whereas the helos needed even slower...about 1/100th - 1/200th. I actually took some as slow as 1/50-1/60th but it was nigh impossible to get any detail in the body of the helo although the blade blur was very satisfying.

Brian, thanks very much for your remarks..glad you liked them. I take it you were into Oil?

Brilliant shots Mike...as ever. That lens sure is sharp.I'm not sure i'd want to go the whole hog and lug the 50-500 about all day but I could do with an upgrade to a 120-400 or something similar!

Where the 50-500 does gain though is in having the low zoom range covered as well for the aerobatic stuff. Some of the togs with large 400 or 500 lenses had a second body with a smaller zoom strictly for the teams..hate to think what their necks and backs were like after a 12 hour day!

Going back to yours...particularly like the Polish Turbo Orliks. The Italians, Poles and Swiss pretty much stole the show this year.

Post a few more once you've tweaked 'em.

Karlo

1. BREITLING L39'S TAXYING




2. SWISS AIR FORCE F18C HORNET, 'HANGIN' AND DANGLIN''




3. POLISH AIR FORCE SUKHOI SU-22 'FITTERS' ON TAKE OFF (very loud and smoky)




4. ...and again




5. ...and again!




6. SU-22 approaching for 'touch and go'




7. SU-22 underside




8. SAAB GRIPEN, SWEDISH AIR FORCE LOW SPEED PASS




9. EUROPEAN AIRSHOW DEBUT OF SCORPION LIGHT ATTACK JET. COMING SOON TO A WAR NEAR YOU!




10. ITALIAN AIR FORCE EUROFIGHTER




11. AND AGAIN...






12. 'SOLOTURK' F16




13. AND AGAIN...




14. ITALIAN AIR FORCE AMX




15. AMX INVERTED




16. RED GNAT




17. LASTLY 'YELLOW' GNAT




Phew...took a while assembling that lot. Have tried to show some less popular jets that don't usually get shown. Also partly out of necessity as many of the best fast jets were displaying in the worst of the dull, grey and often wet weather. Have got quite a few shots out of focus due to moisture on lens!

Blimey Vic...DAN AIR? You really aren't kidding about your age! I remember their HS748s and Comets that used to operate from Manchester.

Nigel,...yes, I really liked No.12 as well as it is very sharp and as you say a bit more interesting perspective wise. Also the weather was better then as well which helped on what was a very grey day (with plenty of showers) for about half the time. I'm sure you are right that selective bits could be improved..I may get round to experimenting when I get the time but for now i'm just picking the best of the bunch straight from the camera to get them out as soon as possible after the event!

Thank you both for your comments.

karlo

1. HURRICANE




2. Spitfire




3. Lancaster




4. Past and Present




5. Swiss Air Force Super Puma




6. Super Puma (2)




7. Army Lynx




8. Dakota




9. Dakota (2)




10. C27J Spartan Italian Air Force




11. Airbus Military A400M




12. A400M banking




13. RAF Merlin




14. Merlin (2)




That's the best of my props and blades. Was experimenting with slow shutter speeds on these. Ended up with some lovely blade imagery but body was blurred!

I'll post some jets tomorrow.