Photographing the Vulcan bomber in flight before it retires

[rich888]

OK then, I've been reading up in the press that the last flying Vulcan bomber is apparently going into retirement at the end of this year so will have precious few dates to take photographs of this truly sensational aircraft in flight before it retires.

I have a RX100 which is absolutely fine for taking photographs on the ground, but its zoom lens isn't very good for long distances and I assume I need a decent metering system to ensure I don't photograph a blurred black blob flying across the sky.

So I need to buy a camera with a zoom lens to take some half-decent photographs before this opportunity is lost forever.

Can anyone recommend a decent DSLR and zoom lens and any tips and tricks that would enable me to achieve this without going totally overboard on the spending.

I'm looking to be using this camera afterwards to take portrait pics of the family and fast moving kids, as well as photographing cars at various classic car meetings so it's unlikely it will be unused after this event.

As always, any help and advice is much appreciated because I don't have a lot of time to familiarise myself with the purchase

[Turn7]

It will be either Canon or Nikon, whichever feels better in yuor hands tbh.

Canon have a wider (more confusing?) range of glass and Nikon are the best... (!)

Just buy a basic DSLR and it will be fine.

[V8Wagon]

Agree with above. Any basic Nikon or Canon will suffice.

I took this pic a few years ago with my Olympus E500 which is positively ancient compared to current DSLR's and it did the job.


Avro Vulcan by André Jardinière, on Flickr

[rich888]

V8Wagon said:

Agree with above. Any basic Nikon or Canon will suffice.

I took this pic a few years ago with my Olympus E500 which is positively ancient compared to current DSLR's and it did the job.


Avro Vulcan by André Jardinière, on Flickr

Wow, now that is a stunning pic of the Vulcan and it's not burned out, blurred or out-of-focus, which is precisely what I'm looking for.

So what lens would you suggest to use bearing in mind I won't have much control over distances or where to stand, or indeed much time to compose the pic?

As regards to make of camera, I was an avid Canon customer for over 30 years till a warranty incident a couple of years ago, when they basically washed their hands of the well known lens problem, so am leaning more towards Nikon. And is why I ended up buying a Sony RX100 rather than another Canon S series camera.

Edited by rich888 on Thursday 4th June 00:30

[nessiemac]

Nothing more to add apart from a pic I took a couple of years ago.

[droopsnoot]

The thing is, buy the camera for what you want to do with it afterwards. There will be lots of very good photos of the Vulcan around - you've only got to look at some of the contributors on here and the quality of the work they produce to see that. So it has to be more about what camera you can get that will do the job, but also be useful afterwards.

Don't forget Pentax either - I know there's a lot of love for Canon and Nikon in a lot of places, but there's some new Pentax models getting very good reviews and I've always been happy with mine. And you can pick up older Pentax-K and M42 lenses that will fit (with an adapter for the M42 mount) for not much money at all, if you want to experiment.

[rich888]

droopsnoot said:

The thing is, buy the camera for what you want to do with it afterwards. There will be lots of very good photos of the Vulcan around - you've only got to look at some of the contributors on here and the quality of the work they produce to see that. So it has to be more about what camera you can get that will do the job, but also be useful afterwards.

Don't forget Pentax either - I know there's a lot of love for Canon and Nikon in a lot of places, but there's some new Pentax models getting very good reviews and I've always been happy with mine. And you can pick up older Pentax-K and M42 lenses that will fit (with an adapter for the M42 mount) for not much money at all, if you want to experiment.

Yes I appreciate what you are saying about what I would be using the camera for afterwards, a mixture of photographing the kids whilst they are still young so we have some decent quality pics of them, they are certainly growing up very fast indeed - Won't be long before they don't want to be seen near their parents, though might still want a blast out in the car!

There are some stunning photographs posted on here and on Flickr of the Vulcan, but it's just not the same as taking your own pics, especially if you take a really good one, hence the question about which zoom lens to use.

I've been looking over the Canon and Nikon range of cameras for several years now and have been reading up on here and various other DSLR focused forums and the amount of knowledge available is staggering, but photographing a static car at a classic car meet is very different to photographing a relatively fast moving aircraft several hundred feet up in the air.

Thanks for the comment about Pentax range of cameras, may certainly be an idea to pick up a used example. Have to say that until recently the battle used to be between Canon and Nikon but now they have a very worthy rival, namely Sony, who have well and truly shaken up the market-place.

But with all this technology to hand, nothing quite beats sheer experience, and unlike photographing cars, I don't get to see many aircraft flying at low level to practice on, which is why I'm hopeful that a few other users might be able to provide a few tips and tricks

[bobs4c]

If you know when and where you are going to take the Vulcan photo, you could hire a good quality lens for that event, plus a couple of days to practice. Buy a body to get familiar with it and the kit lens, then choose the lens to hire - more choice if Canon or Nikon I suspect.

Bob

[droopsnoot]

rich888 said:

but it's just not the same as taking your own pics, especially if you take a really good one, hence the question about which zoom lens to use.

I absolutely agree, but just wanted to emphasise the use AV (after Vulcan).

I bought a Sigma 50-500 zoom with stuff like this, and motorsport, in mind. It's a good lens but to be honest it doesn't often need to zoom out much past 300mm and is very heavy indeed. Hiring a lens is an option, if you have the opportunity I would recommend a lot of practice if you can get to some other air-related stuff before you encounter the Vulcan.

[TheRainMaker]

Buy the body you want, then hire the lens

[moribund]

Also don't discount buying an SLR 2nd hand. New models get better every year but IMHO they reached such a level 5 years ago that I don't see much need to upgrade from my 550D - unless you have specific needs such as very low light.

Edited by moribund on Friday 5th June 08:47

[jmorgan]

^^^^^^
I bought a second hand zoom, 70-300 and it is superb for the money and got some excellent shots of the Vulcan from last year. The old 350 of mine, I will probably upgrade that to a second hand summit or another before RIAT. I figure for me, second hand is not to be sniffed at if you get the right bits. Probably get a 7D Mk I.

Edit. I did buy one with image stabiliser, and the difference off and on is amazing for an f4-5.6. hand held and the auto focus is streets ahead of the non Canon lens I was using. The non Canon missed most of the time. But then I am also purely amateur.


But it (IS) did eat into battery power so I am glad I had a second battery. Something to think about.

Edited by jmorgan on Friday 5th June 15:44

[Dave46]

This Facebook page is very handy for updates/routes on planes inc the Vulcan https://www.facebook.com/EGXWinfogroup

[rich888]

Thank you to everyone that has replied to date, the info has been very useful and given me a few ideas, especially the comments over hiring a lens because I didn't know you could do that, although I might just end up buying a DSLR and a zoom lens, seems like 300mm ish should be up for the job but I'm not going to leap in blind. I've looked at used cameras but there doesn't seem to be a massive difference in price so I'm still debating whether to go new or used.

The retirement of this last Vulcan will be a very sad moment, bit like when Concorde was taken out of service, once its gone its gone. so I want to capture it in all its glory before it is retired.

Ironic thing is that back in the 1980s my dad used to take me to RAF Finingley for the air displays and the Vulcan used to fly past on a regular basis and it used to look sensational compared to all the other aircraft on display, it was like a bat out of hell. In those days I had a crappy little camera with a fixed lens, so just took 5 or 10 pics of a darkened sky with a blurred black blob in the middle - aka the first post on this thread, so want to get it right this time round

[jmorgan]

Got mine through MPB. Forever drooling through the second hand gear.

[postcode]

Couple of mine of 558 this year. All taken using a Nikon D300 and a Sigma 100-300 f/4 lens.


RMT_6287 by Rob Terrace, on Flickr


RMT_6389 by Rob Terrace, on Flickr

[eltawater]

If she does airshows this final year anything like how she flew them yesterday at Throckmorton, you're not going to need a very long lens unless you want some decent turning shots.

I shot this yesterday using a Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 70-200 at a length of 120mm. The shot is completely uncropped so hopefully you can see that even with a shortish lens and a decent bit of cropping, you should be able to get some shots which you are happy with.

DSC_3125 by eltawater, on Flickr

[rich888]

Wow, more fantastic photos of the Vulcan, it would seem that a 300mm zoom should be fine for what I have in mind.

All we need is some decent weather on the day

EDIT: Anyone looking for the dates take a look at:

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/appearances.html

Edited by rich888 on Monday 8th June 11:09

[littleredrooster]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliedelta54/sets/...

Throckmorton pics taken with a Sony NEX-6 and 55-210 Sony kit lens. Vulcan was utterly awesome!

[LC2]

Can we all join in?

Taken with a Canon 1100D and a cheap Sigma 18-250


Vulcan XH558 by Tim White, on Flickr

If I get to see her this year, I'll take a longer lens.

Edited by LC2 on Monday 8th June 20:36