300mm f2.8 booked!

[InnesUK]

[Ian]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

Well done Sir!

Well, it's big and heavy Which body are you using? I recommend a tripod or a monopod.

If it's a very bright day and you want to use a wide aperture, the lens comes supplied with a drop-in set of ND filters.

Ian

[Zuiko]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

Are you sure of your working distance? If not, would the 90-250mm with 1.4 converter be more flexible? Just a thought.

[Melaka]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

I have no problem hand holding the E5/300mm at 800 ASA when photographing flying birds. IS is usually off. You do have to learn to zoom with your feet rather than a zoom ring! I've not tried much aircraft photography but for wildlife my 300mm gets far more use my 90-250 does. Whatever happens you'll soon realise you are using a stunning piece of kit. You also need to ensure you have the focus limiter set to the right range but for aircraft I imagine you'll want 6m to infinity.

[InnesUK]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

Well done Sir!

Well, it's big and heavy Which body are you using? I recommend a tripod or a monopod.

If it's a very bright day and you want to use a wide aperture, the lens comes supplied with a drop-in set of ND filters.

Ian

I have a tripod but think I will get a monopod that will go to my eye level for more flexability.

The body is a E520. Not top of the range but it will have to do.

From reading up about shooting aircraft I need to centre the metering, centre the AF, switch of IS and get good at panning!

Are you sure of your working distance? If not, would the 90-250mm with 1.4 converter be more flexible? Just a thought.

Having read up about shooting the jets at the loop a prime lens is prefered to a zoom as the prime can focus quicker. Also I want as much light coming into the camera as possible hence the f2.8 but if I put a converter on the zoom lens the min apperture value drops to around f4 I believe? That still may be fine but its all down to what the weather will be doing in the welsh valleys. The E520 noise levels above ISO-400 are quite noticible. I wont be able to shoot in burst mode with the noise filter switched on and will definatly need to shoot in bursts!

I have no problem hand holding the E5/300mm at 800 ASA when photographing flying birds. IS is usually off. You do have to learn to zoom with your feet rather than a zoom ring! I've not tried much aircraft photography but for wildlife my 300mm gets far more use my 90-250 does. Whatever happens you'll soon realise you are using a stunning piece of kit. You also need to ensure you have the focus limiter set to the right range but for aircraft I imagine you'll want 6m to infinity.

Thanks for reminding me about the focus limiter. Thats the next think I need to read up about. I'll see if there is a mannual for the lens to download but is it easy to set?

Oh and here are a couple of pics to give you an idea of the distance:





and if you want to see my shooting position ad what the background will be like then watch this video:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7zHlOi4T4[/ame]

[Melaka]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

On Friday we had a Typhoon flying behind a Spitfire. I think it had some difficulty in going that slowly! Nonetheless it was making one hell of a noise and needless to say I didn't have a camera.

[InnesUK]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

Awesome! The typhoon is my favourite jet. In YouTube type in typhoon Mach loop. The sound it makes as it's approaching reminds me of airwolf! I bet the typhoon you saw was really struggling to go that slow. An unusual combination. Maybe they were practising for the jubilee fly past?

[Melaka]

Re: 300mm f2.8 booked!

Exotic military aricraft are quite common around here and it was probably doing a fly past over Strike Command.