My SONY did EAA AirVenture 2012

[DonSchap]

In an ongoing attempt to try and capture some superior aerial action, I went to the annual EAA Fly-in at Oshkosh, WI on Saturday, which is basically the "big" airshow. I got a lot more sun than I bargained for... "OUCH!!!" and the incredible burn that goes with it. Regardless, I stood my ground, camera at the ready and took nearly 1500 images, to capture "the spirit" of the show.

Anyway... as usual, the SONY a850 was up to the task, but as I have found out, when using the SONY 70-400 on it, that lens is just devastating to the battery life of the camera. I quickly abandoned the highly-touted SONY lens for the more miserly TAMRON SP AF 200-500mm f/5-6.3 LD




Again, this 19-inch long lens (when fully extended and the lens shield is attached) is a rather nimble-to-handle 42-ounces (12-ounces less than the SONY 70-400) and a heck of a lot easily to manipulate when tracking aircraft and birds. I am darn glad I have kept it and have not retired it.

Anyway... the images:

My "watercolor" interpretation of the "Zero-Attack"

[DonSchap]

The unique aspect of this year's show was "The Night Show", which included Pyrotechnics and lighting of many kinds.

I truly believe this "after" show was the topper and I hope it improves with age.

[kgosden]

Don,

Maybe it is my monitor which has not been calibrated in a while, but most of the airplane shots seem to be a little cool in tone balance. It might just be the predominance of blue sky affecting my sense of color. It seems most noticeable to me on the first one and the panned P51(?) fighter.

I really like the jet takeoff. The long, hot exhaust wake gives it a good sense of motion even with the plane frozen.

[DonSchap]

Thanks for that. One of the aspects of the P-40 "Warhawk" shot is that the entire field was covered in smoke... and I was struggling to pull out the plane. I did not post any P-51 "Mustang" images, although I have a couple. This was from an Attack on Pearl Harbor re-enactment... and the P-51 still had not made the scene back then. P-40s were all they had as land-based fighter groups.

As shot:

Here is the same P-40 taxing back in after the show:

Here's your "P-51" shot... I was being miserly with my resources (B&W stripes were painted on the underside of the plane, so that friendly gunners would not shoot them down during the D-Day invasion):

and here are a couple additional night shots:

(Below) Rocket-powered dragster, streaking to the right (10-second exposure)

This nice part about understanding light and exposure, is being able to "properly" prepare for the shot. While most of the other attendees of the air show may have gotten some part(s) of this run, I captured the entire thing from roaring start to the dead quiet of extinguish. A satisfying capture. Still wish I had a remote flash to capture the tail end of it.

[kgosden]

Haze and smoke would explain it. Thanks for the plane ID on the P-40. I probably would have tried to dig into it on the web to figure out the exact model, but I was more focused on the shot than subject.

[DonSchap]

Well, if you really want the contrast aspect of how much I was dealing with, during this shoot, this kind of spells it out:

CLEAR:




BAD: (about ten minutes later)




I should have used a "smoke filter"

Of course, seeing this will certainly wake you up!

[kgosden]

Might have been fun with an IR enabled camera.

[bascom]

Nice photos. I hope nobody was killed in a crash there this year.

[DonSchap]

I had not heard of anything, but I've been a little out of the loop, so to speak.

[DonSchap]

Oshkosh EAA AirVenture is kind of the "farmer's market" of airplanes and other flying aircraft, as you can almost see everything from the day aviation started to the newest composite aircraft on the planet. One of my personal favorites is the amphibian. Not only does this aircraft make good use of a runway... but, it can land in places many other aircraft simply cannot. I like options.

"Break out your paddles, boys!"