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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[rich888]

LC2 said:

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

Course you can, the more pics and recommendations the better.

As regards to "If I get to see her this year, I'll take a longer lens.", you had better get to see her this year because 2015 may well be the last year the Vulcan flies.

There really have been some gorgeous photographs taken of the Vulcan XH558 by enthusiastic and very talented Pistonheads photographers, and I really would like to be able to take a few half decent photographs myself whilst she is still flying to show to my kids when they get older. I missed out on taking any decent pics of Concorde in flight, so don't intend to make the same mistake with the Vulcan.

I spoke to a couple of keen amateur photographers yesterday who suggested the best place to take the pics might be at the end of the runway as she takes off and banks round, anyone care to comment?

MrChips said:

I'd say go to a shop and try out the Canon and Nikons as for me it was clear which one just felt better in terms of the ergonomics etc which is fairly important given that they can all take a decent picture.

I ended up with a Canon 550d and it's been great. Still learning!

I do have a 55-250mm lens that I haven't used for over a year so pm me if you end up getting a Canon as I would be happy to sell.

I need to get out and use mine some more. Completely off topic but this is my favourite pic i took quite randomly...

Thank you for the advice, will have a look over what Canon and Nikon have to offer, I know what you mean about the feel of the camera. Will also be trying out the Sony and a few other not so well known brands.

As for the off-topic pic, absolutely brilliant

Edited by rich888 on Monday 8th June 23:09

[rich888]

bobs4c said:

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

TheRainMaker said:

Buy the body you want, then hire the lens

Thank you both for the tips about hiring a lens for the day, and I know this might sound like a daft question, but I didn't know you could hire lenses and cameras on a daily basis, I'm based up in Nottinghamshire so any suggestions as to where to hire from would be greatly appreciated.

Alternatively have been viewing the used Nikon and Canon cameras available from MPB Photographic and am now going round and round in trying to decide which configuration will be best!!!

Oh and before I forget, the steady stream of Vulcan pics posted on this thread have been fantastic, keep up the good work guys.

[rich888]

Well, we turned up just after mid-day today to watch the Vulcan take off from Doncaster Airport (Finningley), having viewed Google maps I decided that perhaps the best place to be would be at the end of the runway because I had been led to believe that the Vulcan needed quite a bit of runway to fly, and the recommendations were spot on. And I have to say the take-off was pretty spectacular, the Vulcan is like a bat out of hell, absolutely fantastic to see and hear this awesome aircraft in the flesh, though my young kids thought it was too noisy!!!

I didn't go into the airport for the photos because that would have been too far way, however, there is a country lane called High Common Lane, postcode is DN10 which runs across at the bottom of the runway which the Vulcan accelerated along before taking off so made it much closer. The problem I encountered was that the security fence was quite high, so trying to take photos of the Vulcan as it accelerated down the runway was hampered by the galvanised wire of the perimeter fence, and when it did eventually take off I took a few pics, though only had my trusty RX100 which didn't have a long zoom on it (wife banned me from buying a DSLR for this occasion!). The pics are OK but not worthy of posting on here, just pleased I was able to take a few photographs, and the wife even managed to video the event which was even better considering I plonked the video camera in her hand for the first time ever and told her to point it in the direction the vulcan. The video was bl**dy good

If it's any help, the link to where I stood is:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/High+Common+Ln...

So to anyone travelling over tomorrow to Doncaster Airport tomorrow for the take-off, you have a few choices for positioning, as I mentioned, if you want to take take-off pics then either position yourself at the bottom of the runway on High Common Lane so you're looking down the runway, though bear in mind there is a hedge between the perimeter fence, you and the road, so as the Vulcan flies overhead I suddenly found my camera view blocked and pointing at a hedge just as it started banking left, the take-off happened so quickly so there just wasn't the time to move, might be an idea to position yourself across the road at the bottom of the runway so as the Vulcan takes off and banks round you will have a clear shot whichever way it turns, just make sure you have a decent zoom lens. Alternatively park up at the side near the end of the runway on Old Bawtry Road which runs parallel to the runway and photograph the Vulcan as it takes off and potentially take a few pics as it turns. And bear in mind the sun will be in your sight as it banks round!!!

Have enclosed a few Google Map pics to illustrate the positioning.

And bear in mind that there were loads of other Vulcan enthusiasts parked up on High Common Lane looking out for the ideal place to view the take-off, so allow plenty of time to arrive and set-up, other thing to consider is that if you're travelling northbound there is a lot of congestion at the A614 roundabout at Ollerton which I think is being caused by the A1 closure nearby which is causing chaos, plus Sunday there is a big classic car meet at Thoresby Park.

Hope this helps anyone considering driving up tomorrow to Doncaster Airport to watch the Vulcan take-off or landing.

Edited by rich888 on Saturday 27th June 23:44

[rich888]

Dave46 said:

D5300 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6

DSC_0449_58 by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
DSC_0477_61 by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
DSC_0403_54 by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr

Edited by Dave46 on Sunday 28th June 20:26

Very impressive pics, I can see that I will be able to use the quality of your photographs of the Vulcan as a valid reason to purchase a new or used DSLR and zoom lens...