Nellis AFB "Aviation Nation 2014"

[chuck540z3]

For those who missed the F-22 and F-35 fly past.

Man! Now I'm even more cranked about the ridiculous parking lot cluster%%%$! Thank you for the pic.

[seafuryfb]

On the Saturday we were early only saw the F22 take off when we waiting for the bus, the schedule sucked 10:00 gates opened flying at 11. When they opened the show it was like total surprise F35 & F22 flypast. But sunday we got in the base about a1hr early caught F35 taking off so I will put more pics up soon. And the roomer is correct no airshow next year.

[chuck540z3]

Love these pictures! Would you mind posting the F-35s here too:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=245753&st=40

Really sharp stuff :thumbsup:/>

Done!

[Ken Cartwright]

Hey Chuck, I hope you don't mind, but I thought it might be easier to keep all the 2014 Nellis photos in one place, so I'm posting some of my photos here instead of starting a new topic.

[chuck540z3]

Hey Chuck, I hope you don't mind, but I thought it might be easier to keep all the 2014 Nellis photos in one place, so I'm posting some of my photos here instead of starting a new topic.

Absolutely! Bring it- and thanks.

Great pics BTW, which brings me to couple of photography questions if you don't mind. What do you pros use for camera settings most of the time at air shows? I suck at aerial photography and I'm always struggling with getting a shutter speed high enough to stop the action without goosing the ISO too much and getting a bit of a grainy pic. I also am not sure of focus. If I leave the camera on auto-focus, it hunts too much and I sometimes miss the shot. If I go with complete manual focus, I'm usually close, but just enough off to blur the image a bit. I also overexpose about 1 stop on purpose, because the aircraft don't always hit my meter center and I get too much bright background most of the time, so this tends to help.

BTW, I have a full frame Nikon D810 with lots of bells and whistles, so it's definitely user error on my part if I don't take good pics with it.

[Ken Cartwright]

I'm hardly a pro, but I'll share what I know - which isn't much :)/>

I use Canon equipment, so I'm not sure how the terminology translates between the two systems. I usually shoot Shutter Priority, so I can quickly change shutter speeds to either stop the action or get some prop blur. During bright, sunny days like that, I usually shoot 160ISO, because I've heard that's where my camera (a 7D) has the least noise, and I don't usually have any problems with going as high as I needed on the shutter speed. For prop planes, I try not to go over 1/320 to get at least some prop blur, and for jets I'll go up to 1/1000. I set the exposure adjustment to over expose by 1/3 of a stop when shooting against the sky to keep the planes from being too silhouetted.

For focus, I use a tracking mode, and have it set to start with the center point, but expand to others as needed. I hold the shutter button down half-way and it tracks, then I push it the rest of the way when I feel it's worth taking a photo. I have it set to auto-advance, so I take several photos per pass. It helps catch the action, and for slower shutter speeds I think it reduces camera shake since I'm not pushing and releasing the button several times, I just press once and hold it.

I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions, let me know. I have a friend who is a landscape photographer and he uses a Nikon 800, so he might be able to suggest some settings for your camera and use Nikon terminology and settings.

[dylan]

I might be able to help with the autofocus Chuck.

for anything moving I use AF-C and single point. despite the advanced technology in the D810, the computer in the camera will almost always choose the wrong thing to focus on.

also what lens are you using for airshows? I HIGHLY recommend using the 70-200 2.8. its expensive but worth every penny.

also you can shoot iso 1000 with that camera without getting too noisy.

the settings I typically shoot with

Aperture priority, this allows me to choose a shallow depth of field if I want, or bump up the shutter speed on a cloudy day.

AF-C, which will continuously adjust the AF to keep the subject in focus

single point AF, you can use the arrows on the little hat switch to move the selected AF point around the frame (you can lock it in place by moving the lever over to "L"

full matrix metering, you should not need to use center weighted or spot metering on an airplane flying in daylight.

typically I try to keep the shutter speed for airplanes upward of 1/500sec.

I have set my D800 so the front dial adjusts the aperture and the rear dial is the iso, that way I can fiddle around without taking my eye off anything.

hth

Dylan

[PlasticWeapons]

I'll also add to Dylan's reply by saying that you can set the camera's AF-ON button to lock focus on your target with AF-C and then pressing the shutter button to take the shot. Turn off VR (IS) if your lens has the feature and setting your shot burst to your camera's max frame rate. On mine (Nikon D3S), I set it to 6-9fps.

Edited November 18, 2014 by PlasticWeapons

[Camus272]

It will be strange for there to be no home show for the Thunderbirds next year. I'm guessing the base inspection has something to do with Area II and Secretary Hagel's current review.

[chuck540z3]

Thanks guys for all the tips. By the time you figure out your camera, the air show is over!

I might be able to help with the autofocus Chuck.

for anything moving I use AF-C and single point. despite the advanced technology in the D810, the computer in the camera will almost always choose the wrong thing to focus on.

also what lens are you using for airshows? I HIGHLY recommend using the 70-200 2.8. its expensive but worth every penny.

also you can shoot iso 1000 with that camera without getting too noisy.

the settings I typically shoot with

Aperture priority, this allows me to choose a shallow depth of field if I want, or bump up the shutter speed on a cloudy day.

AF-C, which will continuously adjust the AF to keep the subject in focus

single point AF, you can use the arrows on the little hat switch to move the selected AF point around the frame (you can lock it in place by moving the lever over to "L"

full matrix metering, you should not need to use center weighted or spot metering on an airplane flying in daylight.

typically I try to keep the shutter speed for airplanes upward of 1/500sec.

I have set my D800 so the front dial adjusts the aperture and the rear dial is the iso, that way I can fiddle around without taking my eye off anything.

hth

Dylan

Thanks for that Dylan. I have a 28-300mm Nikon VR zoom, which might not be as good as the 70-200 you recommend, but it should be good enough for most things. As for ISO, I use 64 as a minimum and let the camera "Auto" the higher end up to 3000 or so. Your single point auto focus just might be the ticket I was missing, because the Group and other matrices were all over the place.

I'm hardly a pro, but I'll share what I know - which isn't much :)

I use Canon equipment, so I'm not sure how the terminology translates between the two systems. I usually shoot Shutter Priority, so I can quickly change shutter speeds to either stop the action or get some prop blur. During bright, sunny days like that, I usually shoot 160ISO, because I've heard that's where my camera (a 7D) has the least noise, and I don't usually have any problems with going as high as I needed on the shutter speed. For prop planes, I try not to go over 1/320 to get at least some prop blur, and for jets I'll go up to 1/1000. I set the exposure adjustment to over expose by 1/3 of a stop when shooting against the sky to keep the planes from being too silhouetted.

For focus, I use a tracking mode, and have it set to start with the center point, but expand to others as needed. I hold the shutter button down half-way and it tracks, then I push it the rest of the way when I feel it's worth taking a photo. I have it set to auto-advance, so I take several photos per pass. It helps catch the action, and for slower shutter speeds I think it reduces camera shake since I'm not pushing and releasing the button several times, I just press once and hold it.

I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions, let me know. I have a friend who is a landscape photographer and he uses a Nikon 800, so he might be able to suggest some settings for your camera and use Nikon terminology and settings.

Thanks Ken. What's a Canon? :P

Your tips point out another screw up I made. I was shooting mostly 1/2000 shutter speed, which was overkill that goosed the ISO unnecessarily.

[seafuryfb]

those are some great pics here are afew more.

[TomcatFanatic123]

It will be strange for there to be no home show for the Thunderbirds next year. I'm guessing the base inspection has something to do with Area II and Secretary Hagel's current review.

Huh? No Aviation Nation next year? :o

[Camus272]

Huh? No Aviation Nation next year? :o/>

I've seen that mentioned in this thread and on Facebook, and they already have the 2016 dates announced but not 2015. One blog post said it was because a base inspection in November would interfere.

Brian

[cag_200]

Excellent photography! I fancy the F-35 more and more, I do not underestimate the capabilities these aircraft (+F-22) hide for everyone.

A Work of Art.

[Ken Cartwright]

Here's a few more of mine:

[TomcatFanatic123]

I've seen that mentioned in this thread and on Facebook, and they already have the 2016 dates announced but not 2015. One blog post said it was because a base inspection in November would interfere.

Brian

That stinks! Oh well :(