http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w/011D9256.jpg
is that a J7?

No it's an F-16, not a MiG.

Senna what settings were you using for shooting? Where you locked in to Tv and used EC or where you going manual?

For the most part, I would shoot the jets using aperture priority at f8, for the propeller planes, shutter priority at 1/125sec~1/250sec to blur the propellers. As the 1DsmkIII was so bad with AE, I ended up shooting manually for the most part.

So I guess no one looked at the static displays to see if they had the EA-6B Prowler and C-17 Globemaster? May not be able to see the Prowler in a couple years since the US Navy is phasing them out.

Prowler
http://corrdefense.nace.org/CorrDefe...speedbrake.jpg

Globemaster
http://www.aviationearth.com/Images/C-17_4.jpg

Another easy way to tell the difference between and F-15 and F-18, especially in head- or tail-on shots: the F-15's vertical stabilizers are actually vertical, while the F-18's angle outward at the top.

I went this year, the Globemaster's off limits... :( I didn't bother to see the inside of any other.

A bit late but better than nothing! :D

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/...6af4be1e03.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3434/...de0a64d7fc.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2564/...3282739ac9.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2608/...abc52a3564.jpg

wow i am surprised you used aperture priority for shooting jets. Do you find that there are better results compared to shooting in shutter priority set at 1/1000sec?

Why are you surprised? For jets you just need to set a certain depth of field to keep the plane in focus. Let the camera set the shutter speed. If you shoot on shutter priority set at 1/1000sec, it was so bright that day, that your aperture could go down to f22 or f27, which would make your image less sharp due to diffraction. F5.6 ~ f11 is the sweet spot of any lens - that's where it is the sharpest. Unless I need the depth of field, I never shoot anything at over f16.

With objects moving that fast, you really want to get the most DOF you can, and the only way to assure that is to lock down your aperture - you don't want it dropping if the scene darkens and leaving your plane out of focus.

I found when shooting stock cars, I was actually better off metering off the pavement (a medium grey) and then locking my exposure in manual... there was so much variation in the brightness of the colors of the cars, with everything from all-black to all-white and three dozen levels in between, that my exposure was swinging 2-3 stops through the course of a race... I'd end up with white cars looking grey on a really dark field, and black cars looking grey and speed-smeared on a washed-out field.

I don't imagine planes are much different.

Seems to me "two stops down from wide open" has traditionally been the rule-of-thumb for most lenses' sharpest aperture.

...which is why I wrote f5.6 ~ f11, which would be the sweet spot for most lenses...unless you have a f0.95 or f1.4 lens, in which case f2~f2.8 would the sweet spot. :D

I'll have to try that next year. Thanks!