Have you shot at an airshow before? Share a tip in the comments!

If you were shooting photos at f 2.8, why not stop it down a little more instead of using an ND filter? Your lens is probably sharpest at around f4 to f5.6.

Spotters mainly use APS-C cameras. The crop and the weight of the camera itself are key here.

As someone who has shot airshows both on film and digitally, you aren't always going get the shot you want. Shoot slower for props and faster for jets. Always go to both days of the show and make notes from day 1 for day 2. I try to shoot at least one or 2 props at a higher speed side on to get the aircraft sharp and prop blur isn't as important. Shooting at 2.8 isn't necessary as others have said and I'll often shoot in tv mode. Personally I use two bodies with different lenses and settings and usually come away with a reasonable amount of keepers but a good number of misses too!

Use the camera with the better image stabilisation Crop factor of an APS-C will help on the tele end, as with 200mm on FF, you're not gonna get the shots these days where planes are flying ever further from the crowd 200mm will do formations and really big birds, fighters ... not really Centerstage is not always the best spot It's typically where flight is stabilised, though it's where you'll get the opposing cross shots But turning & burning is mostly done near the ends of the display line I usually chose the landing end whenever I had the choice, as it's more of an active scene But if you're going for the air shots, most important is sun position over the entire display time At more crowded airshows you can't move about without losing a good spot along the front crowd line Things happen too fast and the distances are too great to cover quickly So you have to choose and accept you won't get all the shots

Why would you need a f2.8 lens to put the ND filter on top? In aviation, where you want complete plane in focus?

I recently got into aviation photography good to see Anthonys' experience with it as well! Lucky to get a cloudy day brings more life to the photos

I use a 500 f/4 handheld for motorsports and aviation. It is an essential focal length.

Lens is paramount - a 150-600 is your best bet for variety of airframes (small to large) as well as reach if you're not standing at the flight line. Panning control is the next skill to hone. Focus tracking setting for rapid changing subject will accommodate for entering the frame and moving away from the focus point at a constant rate. Exposure compensation can help maintain shutterspeed (i.e. 1/2000 jet, 1/200 prop) in changing sky conditions. Lastly, majority of the gear you see is rented. A great option for top gear without committing extreme budgets for a kit you'll use on occasion.

Thank you❤

Sweet I work in aviation in iqaluit nunavut and the Italian airforce was at my base for the night before heading to an airshow with the c-130 herc i believe they were going to Hamilton and we got awesome videos of them taking off at the same time off the runway ( normally not allowed but it was a special circumstances for them)

This video made me look up air shows, and there's only two this year and one is a month away! Thank you!

My tip? Turn burst mode OFF, all it does is get you off the action. During a two day airshow I will typically shoot max 500 frames, one at a time but I also have minimum 50% retention rate.

I love panning shots, took some last year at the Toronto Air Show. Sadly wont make this year but maybe Cyprus Rally in October.

Great Tips and Tricks! i was the the Quinte Airshow as well, first time using a DSLR, no clue what I was doing. This video (and many of your others) has helped me improve for the future 2 more shows in Ontario. Thanks!

Nice video !🙌

i fw u heavy Anthony

Great video. Would love to see more of that maybe also with video. Especially some in movement sport/moto materials. I still struggle to find a right focus settings and workflow.

I like the ones where the plane is half out the frame 😅I've seen a plane before, so the minimalist angle only focusing on some part of the plane and bringing out the detail, is so refreshing and to me

Nice to see you trying aviation photography! I haven't photographed an airshow yet, but I do photograph airliners at my local airport. I keep my shutter speed at least 1/1000 and aperture at f7.1 for maximum sharpness. I still need to work on my tracking for epic panning shots though!

Nice Shots! My experience with aviation photography sounds crazy, but the best results I've achieved involve turning on shutter priority as well as servo auto focus. Prop planes I've had my shutter at 1/80. Aperture ends up going as high as F18 or F22. ISO stays at 100. I learned these tips from Jim Koepnick who does a majority of the cover photos for Sports Aviation Magazine. These settings produce a sharp image with the right amount of motion blur if you can keep your hands steady! Great video overall!

Just got the R6 mkii and the RF 100-500 ,So looking forward to comparing to my 7D mkii when i visit the International Air tattoo UK in a weeks time, My local RAF base is home to the A400m so i have had plenty of time shooting with a slower shutter speed for the prop blur . usually around the 1/80th to get the full disc blur

9:00 even if the lighting is bad I would experiment with black and white with those because that could make it really interesting

Thanks for sharing, now I don’t feel so bad about missing a bunch of shot of the Lancaster and other props also. Too bad we got rained out for Saturday. Could have been a nice practice day.

Airshow is amazing places to shoot photos!

I'm so exited this airshow is coming to my city soon but it will be a little different

I've been waiting for you to touch on Aviation Photography. I work for an airline. I'd love to have you out some time! Great your content!

I just attended the Traverse City Cherry Festival and took some photos at the air show there with the Blue Angels. I haven’t edited the photos yet but I definitely need to work on taking photos at higher shutter speeds since I was shaky after the surprise flyover! This is exactly the video I needed to inspire me to take a look at my photos! Nice video Anthony!

This video is exactly what I was going through! Earlier this year I went to my first air show with my Canon R5 and 70-200. I was able to walk away with some shots of The Blue Angels that I would love to share with you and receive feedback.

Biggest takeaway is just because you can shoot at f/2.8 doesn’t mean you should. Love to see the improvements though!

yay in time, in 2 months im going on an airshow also those are vapor clouds on the wings and winglets

I think you need a cropped sensor camera like the r7 ..to get that high sutter speed ..the 1.6x ..and the stabilisation

You are the master of all photography ( thank you for doing my idea )

You cam put to f5.6 to get more crips photo and lower shutter speed

Welcome to the world of BIF photographers Anthony! Lol! Everything you said about aircraft photography would easily translate to "Bird in Flight" photography too. I too have the R8 and the R6 Mark II and I love both of them. I also use the Canon RF 100-500mm lens when doing BIF and the issues you mentioned with backlighting and shooting against the sky go hand in hand. I normally go for the electronic shooting mode to avoid the blackout between the FPS, but the tradeoff is possible rolling shutter. Great video Anthony, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hey, awesome video.❤ It was great getting photos with you at the pro fusion expo . which aviation show is this?

Does canon m50 mark i have electronic shutter?

Happened to me. Been to 1 air show. Took over 2 thousand photos. And all were shit. In the screen of the camera they looked good but when i got to the computer, oh boy, if i was wrong. Got few good shots. Almost every photo had a little bit of blurr.

I hope I get the chance to hit up the Internation Airshow this year. It's been years since I last went, and I was running a Canon T3. The best lens I had was probably my 70-300mm for the event. Now I can bring my R7, adapted with a Meike VND with a CPL, I could bring my Sigma 150-600C and my Canon 70-200 f2.8L v2. I hear in the UK that there's a spot between 2 mountains where military aircrafts fly between, and a ton of photographers go up this mountain to get a near leveled shot of F15s, F16s, F35s, F18s, Tornados, C130s, amd so many others.

I've got to get to the Hamilton Air Show next year.

Interesting video thought you would have use that 100-500 again. I recently got the 100-500 after your zoo video and it’s amazing for aviation. For panning you can easily bring your aperture down I was shooting 100/1 at f14 with great results. Also put the lens in mode 2 for panning. Vehicle tracking worked a treat on spitfires 👍🏻

For air jets i would shoot a few with Automatic settings…just in case i am not satisfied with the manual settings i still i get some shots with the canon AI help :)

You don't need a 600mm f4 lens or any prime lens for air shows. An APSC Camera + 70-300 is more than good enough. next best is any FF Camera + the bog standard 150-600. I much prefer using Zooms for air shows than primes. They give me more useable shots, more variety of photos. The only reason to us a Telephoto Prime (Speciality lens) is to get a specific shot. Where you know what you want to get and know exactly where you need to stand to get that photo. IMHO Top end setup for Air shows would be something like an A7rV + sigma 60-600mm, You really don't need more FPS, and you really don't need that 600mm f4 or even a 400mm f2.8.

Been shooting aviation for over 30 years, for props, 1/250 is a good starting point. Frozen props are a cardinal sin in aviation photography.

As an aviation photographer (I now do more video stuff), I can't wait for these ads to be over and watch this video.

Yo what MacBook Pro protective sleeve do you use? I saw it in one video and couldn’t find the brand.

I was there with bleacher seats with my dad - being that close to the runway let me get some nice up close photos of the jets waiting to takeoff (and a photo with F-16 demo pilot Capt. Taylor “FEMA” Hiester, who came to the fence line after his routine to greet the crowd!) but the bleachers did mean I had to miss some shots as when the aircraft approached from over our shoulder, I could line up my shot in advance. Wasn’t as big of a deal for the warbirds, but the jets were too fast to catch with a snap shot.

You need at least 400mm to get better shots of the jets. The 70-200 i use for formation flights or team demos. For jets i use the 600mm. And backlit in front of the sun will make epic pictures when exposed properly. 😉

I love watching your videos. I feel your pain. I love to shoot airshows. They can be quite challenging at times depending on the conditions. Now I'm not a professional photographer but I am wondering why you chose to shoot at F2.8? Most of my best shots were taken between F6.3 and F8. The Polarizing filter definitely helps with getting cleaner cockpit shots. Anyway, keep shooting and enjoy.

I am waiting for you to compare vivo x100 ultra vs your dslr camera.

Where was this airshow? My sister went to one in Bagotville QC not long ago and she showed me similar planes.

I usually have spot metering or center weight metering. (Nikon) lol =O)

why do you use/prefer lrc over lr

part 2 at CIAS airshow in toronto? 😮

im using the EXACT same setup like you, the r6mii with rf 70-200 2.8 i never get it why people use ND filters. i mean if it's too much light for me, i just increase shutter speed. this way i got the f2.8 blurred background and definitely will have sharper photos and more in focus. Aside from trying to blur propellers on a bright sunny day AND wanting blurred background, there's hardly a use for ND. i don't even have an ND. i use a CPL if i need to fix some reflections, even that i almost never use it. UV filters are a scam in my book 📖. ps, im no professional,only enthusiast

“Elephant walk” is the phrase you are looking for.

So, I have been on an Airshow, using my EOS 77D with the Tamron 18-400mm f3.5-6.3. First thing: at that time I was not knowing, what I was doing, so I let my camera in P mode do what it wanted to do, and many shutter speeds were at 1/800th and so too slow - the results were not the best. But also because of the quality and focus speed of the lens. Nowadays I have the Sigma 60-600mm f4.5-6.3 on my EOS 90D and i know (more) what i do. Use 1/1000th as a minimum, aperture set to how much light I have, but most probably f8 to get maximum sharpness. Thats also why you run into the issue of too much light at 1/160th. Stop down to f4 or f5.6, you do not need that open aperture at an airshow. Normally you want to have maximum sharpness. The cones you see at 7:16 is basically fog which occures when air reaches the speed of sound. So this F16 probably was close to breaking the sound barrier. This effect is one of the coolest to get in aviation photography. You can tell if it flies supersonic, if you can not hear the plane before it reaches you. Normally it is forbidden on airshows, due to the massive bang noise you hear when it passes. Yeah...I am kind off into aviation 😉 I would suggest: set your shutterspeed to 1/400th for a good and sharp result. Change it only if you want to get a "puller" (as you did at 11:23), or the not so easy motion blur on propellers. Then try to set the aperture to something between f4 and f8, by looking at the ISO, so it does not reach a number you do not want to have. If you have bad lighting conditions, you will have to use an open aperture, but also a higher ISO, because the rule in sports/actionphotography is to never set your shutterspeed too low. It is also very important, as you have noticed, to move your camera very simmilar to the planes. If you do it too slow or in the opposite direction, you also will get (massive) motion blur. I hope this helps!

Hey Anthony just subscribed, I am likely going to the Athens flying week in September (a airshow) I am also considering getting a camera for a while I want to do the following: Wildlife, Plane spotting and air shows, I am looking at a 7D II with a ef 100-400 ii L and a 70-200 f/2.8 ii L but let me know your thoughts on this.

After this video, you’ll see all the noobs crowding near the even announcers 😂😂

I think you should have talked to those two people you showed in the video.

Don't worry, I have been photographing aircraft for many years, and I still chop the nose or tail off and not get it entered in the frame.

Don’t you have a 100-500? To be honest, the more you get, the better. 200mm, in my opinion, is a bit low for airshow photography. The other thing - if you have good light, for the love of god, don't use an open aperture. When you have a shallow depth of field, sure the nose of the aircraft might be sharp, but then the tail would be blurred (learnt that the hard way with an EF2000 during highway excercise). So, just because you can go as low as 2.8 doesn't mean you should; I like using f/7.1 or f/9 so the whole jet is in focus. During nighttime shows, 2.8 is golden, but apart from that, you should use a more closed-down aperture during the day and direct sunlight. The other thing - don't you have an R5? In aviation photography, the more resolution you have, the better, and the R5 is probably the best camera body for aviation photography. Apart from that, it was very nice seeing you getting into the best, IMO, type of photography.

1/500 is more than enough for jets, just need practice.

That's not the air compressing, when a jet gets the cloud around it like you're showing at 7:25 - It is because it just broke the sound barrier and going faster than the speed of sound.