Photography noob here. Have a K100D (6 weeks now) with the DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 "kit" and DA 50-200mm f/4.0-5.6 lenses, 52mm polarizing filter, etc... Used an airshow Saturday to play with various program, shutter priority and other settings (although I should have jacked up my ISO to beyond 200 at times) -- took about 600 JPEG and 400 RAW. Prior to this I largely took just JPEG (I have little free time to process much).

Anyhoo, here's my blog article to start ...
BS' Blog: What a cheap lens can give you (and not)

And the Flickr set ... which includes descriptions of what I used/learned/etc... (comments under each) from taking the shot ...
Rhode Island National Guard Airshow (2007Jun23) - a photoset on Flickr

Further comments in each photo on Flickr (as well as here) are always, greatly appreciated. I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself even an "amateur."

[codiac2600]

Awesome shots and I'll remember to leave you some comments on flickr as well! You definitely don't shoot like a noob, someone has been practicing!

[bjsmith]

Awesome shots and I'll remember to leave you some comments on flickr as well! You definitely don't shoot like a noob, someone has been practicing!

I'm now 6 weeks into my K100D and have taken about 3,000 shots -- these were the most recent 1,000.
I was shocked how "easy" it was to keep the objects on the K100D "in-frame" at the full 200mm (306mm equivalent) focal.
At at 1/1,000 shutter, I wasn't getting blur except when some of the solos were pushing 500 knots -- 250-350 knots were captured.

I bought this K100D with the DA 50-200mm f/4.0-5.6 largely for American Football, being frustrated with Point'n Shoots.
Again, I was shocked how "easy" it was to turn up the shutter priority and get good shots (although I probably should have jacked the ISO to at least 400).
I wasn't expecting to get much out of it for aerial photography.

All of the Point'n Shoot guys -- even a couple of those $400+ "prosumer" models -- around me were utterly frustrated with not merely capturing the objects in-frame, but all the blur (even with their image-stabilized sensors/lenses).
There was an APS-C sized Canon guy near me with a non image-stabilized 250mm lens, and he wasn't getting the shots I was.
There was also a full-frame Olympus guy with a 200mm lens, but I don't know how his turned out.

BTW, I put that slideshow together hastily and only converted a few RAW shots to JPEGs without any other processing.
I plan on getting big into Cinepaint and LightZone (I'm a Linux user), and UFRAW does the job for viewing/conversion at this point.
I was at work literally 90 hours last Monday - Sunday (my client is pushing something through by 6/29), including taking 8 hours off for the drive to, stay at and drive back from that airshow Saturday.

[Toshi]

Ah, the Blue Angels. Love it when they perform in San Francisco. Hopefully their recent crash doesn't stop them from performing here since they fly so close to the city. Anyway, those are some great photos Bryan. Lovely color saturation and sharpness. The 'kit' lenses really do perform in the right hands.

On a side note, time to clean your sensor

[bjsmith]

On a side note, time to clean your sensor

Yep. Unfortunately, both of the local photo shops blew me off (long story). Need to find a better shop.

[daacon]

I think you did the 50-200 proud - some really great pictures there and even the not so great ones are pretty good. And I hear ya loud and clear on the PS - took me years to convince myslef I 'needed' a DSLR - went with the K100D then about a month later rean into a great deal and now own the K10D. There is no looking back now for us former P&S guys

[Eastern Shore Charlie]

You are too harsh on yourself. Really nice shots. My sister sent me a couple shots of the same air show from her P&S. Now I can actually see the planes and details of the planes. Good job.

[bjsmith]

You are too harsh on yourself. Really nice shots. My sister sent me a couple shots of the same air show from her P&S. Now I can actually see the planes and details of the planes. Good job.

Tell her $500 for the K100D + DA 50-200mm f/4.0-5.6 after rebate (I just got my $150 check yesterday, 5 weeks after sending it in), possibly including the DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 "kit" lens as well for that price (depending on the deal you find).
With $400+ "prosumers" not having anywhere near the ISO and shutter, it was a no-brainer -- and I'm shocked I even got such solid aerial photography.
I was only expecting somewhat slower sports capability out of such a cheap dSLR with such a cheap f/5.6 lens at ~300mm equivalent.

[barbosas]

Very nice photos..

i added you as a contact on flickr, i'm barbosas at flickr.

cheers from Portugal

[Alvin]

Great shots bjsmith! I have to mention though that I see some dust spots in a few of your shots. Most visible in the F15 solo and the ThreeGenStack_200_750 shot. You'll see them (3) at the lower right quarter. Looks like those can be easily blown off with a rocket blower.

[bjsmith]

Great shots bjsmith! I have to mention though that I see some dust spots in a few of your shots. Most visible in the F15 solo and the ThreeGenStack_200_750 shot. You'll see them (3) at the lower right quarter. Looks like those can be easily blown off with a rocket blower.

Yep, I'm well aware of them. I tried to get them cleaned off before the airshow, but the local places wanted several days notice.

[SCGushue]

Bryan,

At these resolutions I have to say that the images look exceptionally well done.
These are some of the best airshow photos that I have seen in a long time. I'm not sure whether or not the rich blue sky was responsible or whether you opened up a stop or so on the EV compensator, but the shadow detail in the planes is fine.

This is quality work. I hope that they are this sharp full blown. If so, you are doing a fine job.

Keep posting.

Stephen

[bjsmith]

Bryan, At these resolutions I have to say that the images look exceptionally well done. These are some of the best airshow photos that I have seen in a long time.

I just fired away with the K100D, taking about 600 JPEGs and about 400 RAWs. I haven't made it through even 50 of the RAWs yet, and I only glanced at half the JPEGs.

I'm not sure whether or not the rich blue sky was responsible or whether you opened up a stop or so on the EV compensator, but the shadow detail in the planes is fine.

I did several things throughout the day.

First off, I was using the circular polarizing filter on any stills, and even some of the early aerial shots, like the F-22. 80% of my F-22 shots came out blurry as I couldn't get more than a 1/250-350 shutter with the cir-pol on. Once I took it off, less than 10% were blurry, even at the full 3008x2000, as I got 1/1,000.

Secondly, I used shutter priority. I really should have jacked up the ISO to at least 400. It was in Auto and all of the pictures were auto-metered (is that the term?) and came out ISO 200. Then again, they might have had more noise if I used 400, let alone 800. After all, I can't expect a lot out of a f/5.6 lens, although this set does prove that the DA 50-200mm f/4.0-5.6 is a cheap but "good enough" lens for a lot of things -- at least with ample light.

Third, I started with an EV +0.0. But as I started bracketing, I found everything was never any good at EV -0.5, and sometimes best at +0.5 or even +1.0. So I set it to +0.5 and just bracketed at a 1/2 so I was getting +0.0, +0.5 and +1.0. I just "let'er rip" as I shot.

Lastly and luckily, about 75%+ of my photos "centered well" so I could keep almost all of them -- very, very few times were the planes not completely in the frame. It seems the 200mm focal length, 306mm equivalent 35mm, was ideal for most of the altitudes and other distances at the show.

Oh, of one, additional note. I got 500 shots with each set of Energizer NiMH 2500mAh batteries -- so 2 sets did me the day (1000 shots). They were still "full battery" on the LCD, and the AF didn't slack off at all. I just discharged-charged both sets (as well as a 3rd) within the previous week, each battery went to around 2700mAh. When I got home, I discharged each set, and 1500-1700mAh were discharged, meaning the batteries only used about 1000-1200mAh, although much more and I would probably lose the current and AF speed. I cannot stress enough that one must "respect" NiMH for the PITA they are -- not only buy well regarded NiMH batteries (Energizer, Sanyo, etc... -- the All-Battery.COM/Tenergy 2600mAh won't give you that, and fail to read full battery when inserted, likely because they can't deliver the current the K100D requires), but you must do the full discharge-recharge cycle to get maximum effect, and no "memory effect" (which is still an issue for NiMH, although less than NiCD). I still carry a non-rechargeable Lithium set as a "backup," should I run into any issues with my NiMH.

This is quality work. I hope that they are this sharp full blown. If so, you are doing a fine job.

At 1/1,000 shutter, they are pretty good. I probably need to play with the JPEG contrast/sharpness, I was using the base 0/0 (+1/+1 next time?), although I thought they were still pretty sharp at the full 3008x2000. It was bright, but not too bright. I stupidly left the ISO at 200. Had I not, maybe I could have gotten a little better shutter and/or used a polarizing filter.

I can send people full-sized 3008x2000 copies via YouSentIt.COM or another site for closer inspection.

Keep posting.

Oh, when the American football season starts, I'll make you guys at least "indirect" fans of my Alma Mater! That's the main reason I bought my K100D, for football. Booster on the 48 yard line bay-bee! We can go 0-12 and I'll still be there. In fact, we went 0-11 a few years ago, but no one was getting my season ticket!

[RoxnDox]

Wow, those are great shots you took. I have been trying to decide between the Pentax 50-200 and the Tamron/ProMaster 70-300 myself, with a goal somewhat similar to yours... My goal is getting good photos of the Marching Band, not necessarily the football games they insist on holding before & after Band performances :-)

You got enough reach with the 200 that I might go with that lens. Quality looks really good to me. And on the 70-300 it felt a bit odd when the front bits of the lens housing moved as it focused. Nothing I couldn't adjust to, but felt funny...

So - UCF? You can post football pics, I'll post the ISU Band pics <GRIN>. They always have a great showing, regardless of the scoreboard.

Jim

[bjsmith]

Wow, those are great shots you took.

I wasn't expecting to capture that fast of motion. Again, if I could capture arm and other movement equivalent to maybe 100mph (161kph), that was enough for me. The fact that all but the highest speed aircraft were directly shootable at 200mm f/5.6 (ISO200) using a 1/750-1000 shutter shocked me.

I have been trying to decide between the Pentax 50-200 and the Tamron/ProMaster 70-300 myself, with a goal somewhat similar to yours...

The DA 50-200mm f/4.0-5.6 has a $50 rebate, bringing the price down to $170 typically. I bought it with the K100D, so I got an additional $50 off ($150 rebate -- normally you only get a $50 on the K100D and $50 on the lens on its own). So that heavily influenced my decision.

I have no idea how good/bad the Tamron/ProMaster 70-300 is. I guess if I'm going to drop any more money, it will be for the DA*60-250 (possibly with an upgrade to the K10D at some point), or maybe just the DA 55-300mm next year (especially if I stick with the K100D for awhile, and the 55-300 is inexpensive but still f/5.6 at 300mm).

My goal is getting good photos of the Marching Band, not necessarily the football games they insist on holding before & after Band performances :-)

I love to get shots of the bands, the entertainers, etc... as well -- before game, half-time, etc... I love [American] college football because you still have bands -- wind, percussion, etc... and not over-hyped, synthesizer rock. The themes of various schools are a story in themselves.

My Alma Mater, despite being the 6th largest university in the country (almost 50,000 students, 400 acre campus with 1000 acre research park), is fairly young (1963, opened 1967). It was started to pump out engineers for the space program, although the engineering college is now the smallest (although our engineer graduate programs are well regarded because our research facilities and the companies located there). So while we don't have much tradition yet, we are still better than schools much older than us in how we travel, our fight songs, etc... E.g., our chant and fight songs are from the movie Excaliber, not original but it "just stuck" right after the movie came out in the early 80s. A lot of people seem to like them (as well as our band) when we travel.

Our cheerleading squad has taken the national crown several times as well.

You got enough reach with the 200 that I might go with that lens. Quality looks really good to me. And on the 70-300 it felt a bit odd when the front bits of the lens housing moved as it focused. Nothing I couldn't adjust to, but felt funny...

The internal focus is very nice when I'm using the 52mm circular polarizer. And I should still be able to get a 1/250-350 shutter outside, which is sufficient for most sports. The DA 50-200mm is so damn and well uniform, corner to corner, compared to the DA 18-55mm (especially when wide) -- at least IMHO. I'm sure it has its flaws, I just don't see them.

So - UCF?

Yep, "U Can't Finish" as we call it. As I always say, I graduated "Summa Damn Lucky."

You can post football pics, I'll post the ISU Band pics <GRIN>. They always have a great showing, regardless of the scoreboard.

We've had our up years and our down years. But I'm there regardless.