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We had a overdose of aircraft at the Newcastle safari recently. I was lucky enough to borrow a 75-300 at short notice from a Flickr sundance forum.

I have never used a lens longer than 85mm and this was certainly a very interesting experience. The lack of food and drink made my concentration waver and towards the end of the show...

My main problem was that I didn't know much about the aircraft so couldn't appreciate the whole thing fully.

Anywhoo... Here are some images for your critique.

I would have preferred the F111 to dominate the first with the flags smaller but I guess you cant get it all.....

#2 and #3 are great images of some nice formation flying......I'll bet that they put up a good show!

#4 is a nice snap, great lighting....ID on the plane type Gerry?

not too shabby at all considering I could still hear that lens focusing after the aircraft had gone past

Nice context on the first image, as Cam mentioned a bit more F111 and less flags woulda been nice, but still nice nonetheless.

Nice work on the roulettes, good composition on the first, I would look at dialling down the exposure a bit to get a deeper blue in the sky - that however is a personal prference thing.


Nice sharp shot in the last, you have done the lens justice!

aim54x wrote:ID on the plane type Gerry?

L39 'Albratross' training aircraft - you can do joy flights in these since there are a number of civil service ones now (experimental category). I personally would not - getting in a clapped out 30 year old eastern block training aircraft ain't my cuppa tea

aim54x wrote:I would have preferred the F111 to dominate the first with the flags smaller but I guess you cant get it all.....

Cameron, you wil have to wait for Peters images to see this... I believe he got a few. I was struggling to get anything in my viewfinder half the time!

biggerry wrote:not too shabby at all considering I could still hear that lens focusing after the aircraft had gone past

Dude it was still trying to focus from two days ago, when I put it in my bag to take it back to the owner. Nah seriously it was an adequate lens to get a feel for the whole thing. My keeper rate was high as I wasn't able to take a shot without focus + burst was a maximum of 4-5 RAWs....

biggerry wrote:Nice sharp shot in the last, you have done the lens justice!

Thanks! Although, It was a struggle to give context, show movement, scale etc.. just taking the photo of this sort of hunk of metal was kinda boring after a while...

surenj wrote:

aim54x wrote:I would have preferred the F111 to dominate the first with the flags smaller but I guess you cant get it all.....

Cameron, you wil have to wait for Peters images to see this... I believe he got a few. I was struggling to get anything in my viewfinder half the time!

I can't wait!

{quote}

biggerry wrote:not too shabby at all considering I could still hear that lens focusing after the aircraft had gone past

Dude it was still trying to focus from two days ago, when I put it in my bag to take it back to the owner. Nah seriously it was an adequate lens to get a feel for the whole thing. My keeper rate was high as I wasn't able to take a shot without focus + burst was a maximum of 4-5 RAWs.... [/quote]

hahahahhaha that is some lens...focusing without power! Great to see that you enjoyed the trip out (pretty annoyed i didnt make it though).

biggerry wrote:Nice sharp shot in the last, you have done the lens justice!

Thanks! Although, It was a struggle to give context, show movement, scale etc.. just taking the photo of this sort of hunk of metal was kinda boring after a while...

Not for a plane geek it wouldnt be boring!

aim54x wrote:Not for a plane geek it wouldnt be boring!

Fair enough.

aim54x wrote:(pretty annoyed i didnt make it though).

There is always next time. Although I don't know when there will be an Airshow. Maybe you will need to goto Melbourne for the Avalon show.

surenj wrote:

aim54x wrote:I would have preferred the F111 to dominate the first with the flags smaller but I guess you cant get it all.....

Cameron, you wil have to wait for Peters images to see this... I believe he got a few. I was struggling to get anything in my viewfinder half the time!

Hate to disappoint you guys. This is my best version - not a great image IMHO as the plane lacks detail:

stubbsy wrote:Hate to disappoint you guys. This is my best version - not a great image IMHO as the plane lacks detail:

Thanks for sharing Peter. One thing bothers me a bit....the Pig's wing looks like it is infront of the flag pole....your not using some digital trickery are you?

aim54x wrote:

stubbsy wrote:Hate to disappoint you guys. This is my best version - not a great image IMHO as the plane lacks detail:

Thanks for sharing Peter. One thing bothers me a bit....the Pig's wing looks like it is infront of the flag pole....your not using some digital trickery are you?

Cameron. While my photoshop skills are good that would be too difficult given the flame goes behind the flag as well. Interestingly some of the flame appears to be in front of the pole too, but I assure you this is real. If I was faking I'd have used a sharp, in focus F-111

stubbsy wrote:

aim54x wrote:

stubbsy wrote:Hate to disappoint you guys. This is my best version - not a great image IMHO as the plane lacks detail:

Thanks for sharing Peter. One thing bothers me a bit....the Pig's wing looks like it is infront of the flag pole....your not using some digital trickery are you?

Cameron. While my photoshop skills are good that would be too difficult given the flame goes behind the flag as well. Interestingly some of the flame appears to be in front of the pole too, but I assure you this is real. If I was faking I'd have used a sharp, in focus F-111

hahahahahahaha

Must be a Shitma special effect

aim54x wrote:Must be a Shitma special effect

Nope. This is a Shitma special effect:

 PS Suren - Apologies for the thread hijack.

stubbsy wrote:PS Suren - Apologies for the thread hijack.

No problemo Peter. That pasta definitely overrides this!  BTW I love that last one! The fire is doing something funny though on the flagpole... Is that due to diffraction? Anyways it would be simple to fix if required.

surenj wrote:BTW I love that last one! The fire is doing something funny though on the flagpole... Is that due to diffraction? Anyways it would be simple to fix if required.

The flame on the flagpole is a diffraction effect I think. This last image is a fake (I photoshopped in the plane and the start of the plume of flame), but the flame around the flagpole is from the original (real) image that Cameron thought may have been a fake. Hopefully that makes sense. I think diffraction also explains why the original seems to show the plane's wing in front of the pole.

stubbsy wrote:I think diffraction also explains why the original seems to show the plane's wing in front of the pole.

I guess diffraction is much more prominent in the OOF areas? You are only using f8!

stubbsy wrote:This last image is a fake

It would appear that you need to use PS to get a bad picture out of this lens!
Seriously I think you are going to be fine in Antarctica with this lens...

hahahahaha good pic there Stubbsy!