Civilian Aviation

I dropped some family off at London City yesterday morning, and naturally stayed around to take some photos. Firstly some shots from the eastern end of the long stay car park. The sun is generally behind you here, but the raised nature of the edge of the dock the runway is on means that the wheels of anything on the ground are hidden. So only good for airborne shots.

Swiss RJ85 having fun with the gusts:

Swiss International British Aerospace RJ100 by Nick Challoner, on Flickr


Swiss International British Aerospace RJ100 by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

A decent livery in this age of boring white colour schemes:

Alitalia Embraer ERJ-190-100STD by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

After a short while I walked around to the dock to the north of the airfield. Here you're generally shooting into the sun, but the view is excellent.

This chap got a thread from his hi-viz caught on an Embraer 190:

British Airways Cityflyer Embraer ERJ-190-100SR by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

The back-lighting and heat haze are not good, but I like this as an action shot:

British Airways Cityflyer Embraer ERJ-190-100SR by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

No airbridges at City, and there's not much room, so some tight turns are required when manoeuvring on the apron. The noseleg on Embraer E Series aren't vertical, so one tyre really feels the pressure(!) when turning tightly:

British Airways Cityflyer Embraer ERJ170-100STD by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

Q400s have a vertical noseleg, so the tyres don't work quite so hard:

Luxair Bombardier DHC-8-402NG by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

This is how to get a really good view:

CityJet British Aerospace RJ85 by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

A couple of climb-out shots to finish:

British Airways Cityflyer Embraer ERJ-190-100SR by Nick Challoner, on Flickr


Cessna 560XL Citation XLS by Nick Challoner, on Flickr

All shot with a Canon EOS 30D and EF 100-400L lens, shutter priority (1/1000th for flying, 1/500th for on the ground, 1/250th for props), ISO set to give an aperature around f8 (roughly 200-400). C&C welcome.

very nice Nick, the firsr RJ was rocking about a bit wasn't it. As you say the rowers must have had a good view but wouldn't have needed a zoom lens.

Thanks for the info on the different places where they were taken. I must venture about a bit more next time I'm there.

do you always work on shutter priority? I've started using AV and am starting to get the hang of it and I'm pleased with some of my results so far.

andy

very nice shots, like the guy with the thread of his hi viz caught on the plane

the shot of LCYP climb out is very nice

I have got three days two nights at the premier inn docklands booked in a couple of weeks time so should get to spend some time around london city, Plan was friday PM london city, saturday Heathrow and sunday PM back at london city when they reopen but the missus has said she wants to come as well so that will put paid to my plans

buy her an oyster card and give her a credit card and she will enjoy a trip to the west end shops!

more seriously, I'm sure you could convince her to have a nice chinese meal here: http://yi-ban.com/location/

hope you can reach a compromise
andy

andygolfer wrote:buy her an oyster card and give her a credit card and she will enjoy a trip to the west end shops!

more seriously, I'm sure you could convince her to have a nice chinese meal here: http://yi-ban.com/location/

hope you can reach a compromise
andy

I am not giving her My Credit card for a trip up west , My teenage daughter is going to a two day event at the excel with her friend and dad was asked to take them down, so i quickly agreed and plans were made, then the missus got the friday off work and wants to come as well

I did suggest the DLR to Westfield at stratford

There are quite a few overflys into LHR and LCY over Westfields so take your camera!.........

http://www.civilianaviation.co.uk/forum ... 69&t=12845

andygolfer wrote:do you always work on shutter priority? I've started using AV and am starting to get the hang of it and I'm pleased with some of my results so far.

For flying shoots I exclusively use shutter priority. My reasoning is that the pics would almost certainly be ruined if I didn't. For example, if the shutter speed dropped much below 1/1000th when shooting something fast it would probably be blurred, and if the shutter speed increased above 1/320th when shooting props and helis the blades would be frozen. For me it's much better to know the shutter speed is bang on what I need, and I can then accept the aperture wandering a little up or down from the ideal of f8-f11 because that has relatively little effect.

It's a different story for static a/c, family shots, wildlife etc - for those I nearly always use aperture priority and use f8-f11 for the lens sweet-spot unless I need a wide or narrow aperture for a specific reason.

Nice set Nick...

A good all round view of what you can get at City.

Dan