Civilian Aviation

Just managed to catch this leaving while i was at work!









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Thanks for looking

Drew

Drew, are you using manual focus? A lot of the shots appear to be very soft, which is strange considering the weather!

It was on AF mate, i agree something not quite right. Gonna have a little muck around and see what went wrong.

Thanks for helping.

Drew

Hi There

Just a quick thought as to a possible explanation to the softness of your pictures, are you using your lens right at its limit?

No lens is ever at its best right at its extremes, this effect is generally worse at the upper end of the zoom & with len's that sits lower down in the companys product range (its one of the things you get what you pay for!).

Its a simple fix, just use less zoom when taking the picture & crop into the image when editing. With the modern SLR having the quality of sensors they do I've never found a problem doing it!

Its an idea anyway! If it's not the case I'd suggest it would be a good idea to have a look to see if anyone with the same kit was having a problem on the net (if you've not already done so)

HTH

well done drew,nice to see you had the sunshine too.richard

I am using a 55-300mm lens and yes most of the time i zoom in to near the limit. i will try less zoom and more crop in future!!

Thanks for the advice 2.2DME. I thought it was better to fully zoom than try and crop but i give it a go!!

Hope to get to Edinburgh this Sat & Sun mornings so i give it a go.

Cheers

Drew

Just had a quick look at the exif data on the second shot that you posted in this set and I would say that your shutter speed is a bit slow

Exposure programme aperture priority
F stop F/8
Shutter speed 1/125 sec
Focal length 170.0 mm
ISO speed rating 200

if you have got a 300mm lens on and you are hand holding the camera, I would say that 1/125 sec is to slow a shutter speed and there is a good chance that you will get some camera shake

I always try to get a shutter speed higher than the focal length of the lens so if I have got the 100-400 on I try not to shoot below 1/400th of a second and that is on a lens with an image stabiliser on it

I would say have a look at the shutter speed that the camera is setting and try and get it up to around 1/500th of a second

Cheers Mach One!!

All help, and c&c appreciated. Its all part of the learning process and hopefully with more practice my pics will get better!!

Thanks again guys.

Drew

It is always worth having a play with the camera when you are out and about
Set the camera on shutter priority and set the speed to 1/500th or above let the camera set the rest and take a shot, a plane parked on a stand or on the apron is good for this as all three shots will be in the same place with pretty much the same light

Set the camera to aperture priority set f-stop to F/8 and take the same shot you did above

Then put the camera into an auto mode for action or speed and take the same shot again

Compare the three shots and see what combination works best for your camera

As suggested above try your lens at around 250mm and keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera shake and you may see some improvement in sharpness

Also worth getting a monopod for shots at that range as well to reduce camera shake.

what camera do you use?
what setting is it on ie manual, aperture, shutter
wat file format u using JPEG or RAW
i use a D80 with a 70-300mm VR
i use aperture
iso set as low as i can get away with most of the time 100
aperture f4.5

I use aperture f8, iso 200, as low as it can go. using a Pentax K-x with 55-300mm lens. Prob just need to get out there and practice more!!

Thanks again for comments, it gives me some things to try!

Cheers

Drew

am a tool just noticed u put it at the end of your post
are you using raw or JPEG?
do you do any kind of editing to them? if no i could send u a link to a good work flow to use