[arnold]

Rolleiflex 2.8C Carl Zeiss Planar 80/2.8 Kodak New Portra 400 Epson V500

Very humorous Norman Rockwell style picture that tells a story.

[Jonathan Mac]

These were taken in the beautiful train station in Seattle.

MZ-5N, M 50mm f/1.7, Portra 160


Seattle, MZ-5N, Portra 160 026a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


Seattle, MZ-5N, Portra 160 025a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


Seattle, MZ-5N, Portra 160 024a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

[LaHo]

Is it possible to shoot an airshow with a (medium format) film camera? Well, before the millenium, you did not have many other options, but today a modern digital camera with AF and high frame rate would be the obvious chioice. Still, it could be fun to try. So I did. Some weeks ago there was an airshow in Roskilde, Denmark, with an evening show on Friday and a regular show on Saturday and Sunday.

For the Friday event I brought my trusted Pentax 645N and three AF lenses: the smc Pentax-FA 645 45mm, 75mm and 200mm. Even 200mm is a bit short for those exciting flying shots, so I also brought along an smc Pentax 67 300mm F4.0 together with a Fotodiox Pentax67 to Pentax 645N adapter.

I started out with Fomapan 100 Classic - I had an unfinished roll in the camera. Then I switched to Fomapan 400 Action, and when the sun was setting around 9 pm, I also shot a roll of Ilford Delta 3200. All flying shots were done with the smc Pentax 67 300mm F4.0 together with the Fotodiox adapter. Those shots were all manual focus, of course, and on aperture priority. Shutter priority is not possible with 67 lenses on the 645N.

The evening flying program was a bit short - no Spitfires, Mustangs, Yaks or Messerschmidts in the air - but it was still a fine event.

Is it possible to shoot an airshow with a medium format film camera? If you are an ardent pixel peeper, you will probably say no, but if you (like me) care more for the ambiance and look than absolute sharpness I think you might answer yes.

I have posted an album on Flickr: Roskilde Airshow on film.

Anyway - here are some samples:

[Archimedes the Dog]

My first shots in medium format have been disappointing...I used an old Super Ikonta III and most of the shots came overlapped and in any case the frame was irregular, plus out of 18 exposures I just got 9 (for 3 of them I assume I made an error in the exposure), so I couldn't make shots as good as Colton.







The lens is a Novar and the film XP2, I was thinking about getting another folder like the Iskra but I'm not totally sure at this point.

I've been trying to shoot just half as good as Colton for a couple years now and I think I'm halfway there (on a good day, if the wind is right, and I took my vitamins).

Super Ikonta III is a nice camera, a good vintage camera expert might be able to help you out with that. I was looking for one when i stumbled over my beloved Contessa folder.

---

Last edited by Archimedes the Dog; 09-04-2015 at 01:05 PM.

[stevebrot]

One more from our recent road trip, but with the Franka... Just above the Columbia Gorge at Davies Pass in Washington.

Franka Solida III / Radionar 80 2.8 / Provia 100F

I have been at this location so many time, but never knew it had a name.


Steve

[LesDMess]

Is it possible to shoot an airshow with a (medium format) film camera? Well, before the millenium, you did not have many other options, but today a modern digital camera with AF and high frame rate would be the obvious chioice. Still, it could be fun to try. So I did. Some weeks ago there was an airshow in Roskilde, Denmark, with an evening show on Friday and a regular show on Saturday and Sunday.

For the Friday event I brought my trusted Pentax 645N and three AF lenses: the smc Pentax-FA 645 45mm, 75mm and 200mm. Even 200mm is a bit short for those exciting flying shots, so I also brought along an smc Pentax 67 300mm F4.0 together with a Fotodiox Pentax67 to Pentax 645N adapter.

I started out with Fomapan 100 Classic - I had an unfinished roll in the camera. Then I switched to Fomapan 400 Action, and when the sun was setting around 9 pm, I also shot a roll of Ilford Delta 3200. All flying shots were done with the smc Pentax 67 300mm F4.0 together with the Fotodiox adapter. Those shots were all manual focus, of course, and on aperture priority. Shutter priority is not possible with 67 lenses on the 645N.

The evening flying program was a bit short - no Spitfires, Mustangs, Yaks or Messerschmidts in the air - but it was still a fine event.

Is it possible to shoot an airshow with a medium format film camera? If you are an ardent pixel peeper, you will probably say no, but if you (like me) care more for the ambiance and look than absolute sharpness I think you might answer yes.

I have posted an album on Flickr: Roskilde Airshow on film.

Anyway - here are some samples:

I know that must be a rhetorical question because it's been done very well for years and your current results continue to prove it . . .

I enjoy shooting airshows myself and long reach and good panning technique are the important requirements in order to capture good prop blur. Auto focus not needed since most of the flying captures are done at infinity anyway.


Larger version -> Wright Flyer replica on Fuji Press 800

If pixel peeping requires smooth grain then use slide film.

Larger version -> Reno Air Race on Fuji RVP100F

---------- Post added 09-04-15 at 09:08 PM ----------

These were taken in the beautiful train station in Seattle.

MZ-5N, M 50mm f/1.7, Portra 160

I really like that first shot.

[cooltouch]

I'm also an airshow fan, going back over 30 years now. Most all of my airshow shots are 35mm slides, although a few of the most recent shows I've been to, I've split between digital and film. But still 35mm for the action shots. Honestly, though, if I secure a long lens, say 300m to 500mm, for either my Bronica ETRSi or my Pentax 6x7, I'll be showing up with those rigs at airshows, yep.

As for the original question, my answer is an unequivocal "Yes" especially for static displays. Following are some shots I took at a few airshows back in the 1980s with a Yashica Mat 124G I used to own. Film used was Tri-X, developed in D-76. Esposures unrecorded.

Try as I might, I could not position myself where I wouldn't show up in this AT-6's spinner's reflection:


"Mangia Pane" (eats bread), an immaculate P-51D owned by Bill "Tiger" Destefani, who is also the owner of the multiple Reno Air Race winner "Strega".


Mangia Pane in Profile:


An equally clean Hawker Sea Fury in Royal Navy colors (use your imagination :-) ):


Front view of the Hawker Sea Fury:


Yes, I could have cropped these squares -- I've just never bothered.

[LaHo]

Very nice, it looks as Iceland has only "muted" (pastel) colors.

---------- Post added 09-04-15 at 09:50 PM ----------



You certainly did a great job. I'm a P67 shooter but for action I grab my autofocus 35mm cams. But maybe a good P645n with a nice long reach lens is doing the same job. Could you compare the P645 AF to a AF 35mm (pentax/Nikon/Canon) camera? Slower or on par?

Thanks. AF on Pentax 645N is typical of late 90'ies screw drive - not slow, but can hunt. About on par with Pentax MZ-5/-3 I would say. But all my flying shots were made with a manual focus Pentax 67 300mm mounted on the P45N via an adapter.

[LaHo]

I know that must be a rhetorical question because it's been done very well for years and your current results continue to prove it . . .

I enjoy shooting airshows myself and long reach and good panning technique are the important requirements in order to capture good prop blur. Auto focus not needed since most of the flying captures are done at infinity anyway.


Larger version -> Wright Flyer replica on Fuji Press 800

If pixel peeping requires smooth grain then use slide film.

Larger version -> Reno Air Race on Fuji RVP100F

---------- Post added 09-04-15 at 09:08 PM ----------

Yes. Nice flying shots on colour slide film. It's true that slide film can be quite sharp and grain free.

[LaHo]

I'm also an airshow fan, going back over 30 years now. Most all of my airshow shots are 35mm slides, although a few of the most recent shows I've been to, I've split between digital and film. But still 35mm for the action shots. Honestly, though, if I secure a long lens, say 300m to 500mm, for either my Bronica ETRSi or my Pentax 6x7, I'll be showing up with those rigs at airshows, yep.

As for the original question, my answer is an unequivocal "Yes" especially for static displays. Following are some shots I took at a few airshows back in the 1980s with a Yashica Mat 124G I used to own. Film used was Tri-X, developed in D-76. Esposures unrecorded.

Try as I might, I could not position myself where I wouldn't show up in this AT-6's spinner's reflection:


"Mangia Pane" (eats bread), an immaculate P-51D owned by Bill "Tiger" Destefani, who is also the owner of the multiple Reno Air Race winner "Strega".


Mangia Pane in Profile:


An equally clean Hawker Sea Fury in Royal Navy colors (use your imagination :-) ):


Front view of the Hawker Sea Fury:


Yes, I could have cropped these squares -- I've just never bothered.

Nice shots of those propeller driven classics. The Mustang is a very sleek machine and sounds great in the air.

[Clarkey]

It was lovely to have a good sized viewfinder again! A walk down to the river that I don't do often enough. Straight from the Noritsu, border added in post.
Fuji Superia 200, SRT-200 and MC 100mm F3.5, MD 50 F1.7

Helper by Aaron, on Flickr


Afternoon sun by Aaron, on Flickr


Late Summer by Aaron, on Flickr

[cooltouch]

Nice shots of those propeller driven classics. The Mustang is a very sleek machine and sounds great in the air.

It's a one-of-a-kind sound . . . well, maybe a Spitfire sounds about the same . . . But yeah, you're right. The Mustang definitely belongs in its element.

Chino California Airshow, 1991.


San Antonio Airshow, 2009.

[Eyewanders]

Is it possible to shoot an airshow with a medium format film camera? If you are an ardent pixel peeper, you will probably say no, but if you (like me) care more for the ambiance and look than absolute sharpness I think you might answer yes.

Pixel-peeping be damned. I'd hang those shots of yours any day. Glorious looking series. (I particularly love the side shot of the Mustang P-51D)

---------- Post added 09-05-15 at 11:48 AM ----------

I have been at this location so many time, but never knew it had a name.
Steve

Yup - not much of a "pass" by today's standards I guess, but back in the day if you had to trek from The Dalles up to Goldendale, that's one heck of a rise.
It'd been a decade or two since I drove up that route over Satus Pass into the Yakima area. Forgot how pretty it is. I'm working on a shot taken from Davies looking back the other direction, Southeast toward the Gorge - about to post it.

---------- Post added 09-05-15 at 12:01 PM ----------

Here we go. Yet another with the Franka. I can't get enough of this thing.

[Cuthbert]

Nice shots of those propeller driven classics. The Mustang is a very sleek machine and sounds great in the air.

Beautiful pictures of beautiful birds...unfortunately this is all I can offer at the moment:



Super A, A 50mm f1.4 and Precisa 100.

[gofour3]

Beautiful pictures of beautiful birds...unfortunately this is all I can offer at the moment:



Super A, A 50mm f1.4 and Precisa 100.

Ah yes the Seagull dive bomber!

Phil.