Never shot an airshow yet, but usually shot planes from the observation deck near my local airport. Most aviation photographers use around F8.0-10 for daytime shots and taking F2.8 for night shots.
your tips were very helpful, I always wondered if my RF 70-200 2.8 could work for aviation. from your results, I'm quite happy. despite you thinking they aren't the best, they really very good to me
Ive not shot an airshow before, but if i was to shoot one using a canon camera ill pair it with the rf 100-500, or any 100-400mm lens and not a 70-200mm, then if you need even more reach get something in the 600mm range, not the expensive 600mm primes but 600mm zooms for versatility. Also you dont need F2.8 at an airshow you are shooting at the sky. When your background is in frame to blur it, just play with your shutter speed, pan with the aircraft and shoot bursts, till you feel you have something good. lastly a lot of those shots where the jets were dark or not centered in frame can be salvaged with a bit of editing and cropping. Thunderbirds preset on AF Thunderbirds nice one!
professional aviation photographer here, some of these tips are good but some easier ones to consider before making your way to your first airshow. 1. Ask where show center is. This will always have speakers in front of it so you can listen but also this is the main point all performers will be aiming for any opposing maneuvers and just in general where 90% of action will be placed at. if no one can answer this question then look at the runway area and see if you can see a large white trailer or series of busses and find the middle among them. 2. Use higher shutter speed than what you think you need. everyone has a preference but this isn't portraits, weddings or family photos. For anything jet related at a minimum you should be at 1/2000 but i prefer to get higher than that at 1/4000 especially if you have a higher MP camera or high pixel density camera. also make sure that you are panning with our subjects. if you intend to get a crossing maneuver than the shutter speed goes up higher as your subjects can be pushing 350-500mph. 3. Shooting wide open is a terrible idea. shooting wide open on the ground where the subjects are closer to you and they are moving at best 15mph when taxing, when we get to shooting in the air certain aircraft fly on certain show lines that have different distances from the crowd. if you are shooting at 400mm or beyond then you want something in he realm of F8. this will make sure the entire plane is in focus if you intend to punch in. 4. 400mm is sometimes not enough. reach is everything in this business and most will max the reach out at 600mm. if you have the option of renting then i recommend the 200-800 as it has the reach and the Fstop to make it happen. a 70-200 will get you nowhere in this business unless its static displays or ground shows. if you are going for some contextual shots to compliment the other shots you get than that is fine but think as long as you can get. 5. Practice makes perfect...sort of. take note of what you shot when you are reviewing your images in between acts. if something looks off or soft then check the settings and see what you can adjust. no one gets it right 100% of the time and external factors like humidity, heat blurs and other factors make it hard to shoot. Don't take photos of planes when they are half way on the approach. instead track and pan and then fire when they are filling the frame the most. this will save you from culling so many unwanted photos.
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.
I did that as well throughout the day! But sometimes even at f5.6 in broad daylight you'll need a few stops of ND to get down to a slow enough shutter speed for max prop blur. It gives you more options if you have one on hand!
@@AnthonyGugliotta Stopping down is the easier option though And far easier to undo and redo as conditions change f2.8 lenses mostly add unnecessary bulk and weight for airshow photography You can't really use f2.8 on the ground either as the subject is way too large to be all sharp, unless you're looking for the flou artistique of shallow DoF
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!
Yup, Axalp 2023 in Switzerland. Shooting choppers in 1/4000 and they looked like shit. When jets come from mountain side to the sky, all metering doesn't know what to do. Like said, wide aperture is not as necessary. Usually planes have very good weather anyways, so will have enough light for smaller/variable apertures. Also 70-200 not enough for this kind of airshow, there are some that would just about right, but for this kind of open space, 400mm minimum, Ideally 600mm. And after all of that, it takes some luck regardless, You dont know when jet fires out the flare, how air is going to form around it. And yet, like most of the people say, sometimes you dont come back with the shot you want.
Eventually hyper focal distance comes into play. Even at f2.8 the plane is so far away for most of the shots I was shooting that the entire plane ends up being in focus anyway. But yes, in some cases dropping to f4 or f8 when planes get close will help get more of it in focus.
The "air effect" you mentioned is not due to air being compressed. The vapor cone is actually caused by the pressure drop, which results from the increase in airspeed. As a result of this phenomenon, the air temperature decreases. If this temperature drops below the saturation point of the air, vapor is formed. I love your vids! Keep on going ♥
Id consider myself a novice, but Ive photographed 10+ airshows, and aviation photography is my primary focus. Aviation photography is its own beast as you have little to no control over lighting, enviornment, and subjects. Instead, its all about using the camera properly. Jets are great for panning practice, if you can follow something as fast and unpredictable as a fighter, you have good skill for tracking a subject. Shoot at the highest shutter speed you can manage when starting, and move it back for a bit of artistry later. Also, be aware that the hot exhaust distortion can make or break photos! Ww2 props are the next step in difficulty. I like to keep my shutter speed around 1/200th, but ive expirimented all the way to 1/40th with acceptable results. Things to note here is to track when they are still approaching. As a plane passes ypu, the change of perspective will mess up your photo, no matter how well you can pan. Stunt props, the big fish in the world of aviation photography. These guys arent nearly as fast as jets, but they are far more maneuverable. They use a lot of smoke in their demos, which looks incredible at high shutter speeds, but they are props which typically ask for longer exposures. My advice? Do both. If you spend 5min at an airshoe, youll start to see the pattern of these performances. Cross center stage for photos, go up and spin around, cross center stage for photos, go up and play with smoke. They fly in a big U. If you have the reach with your lens to photograph at the peaks, shoot high speed up there. They tend to be maneuvering too fast/too far away to achieve clean photos at slow shutter speeds. Once the plane starts descending, they are trying to build speed and must fly smoothly, so switch to more prop style photography. I like to try and get a milky smooth smoke trail at least once a show, but thats not promised. Expirement yall. Youre having fun with planes, dont forget that!
really good to see your honesty about a subject you haven't shot before. the reality is even if you are a seasoned aviation photographer, you get more misses than hits. I will typically shoot with a continuous, single point auto focus. try to stay between F5.6-F11 depending on the lens i'm using. between about 1/640th and 1/1600th for jets and less than 1/320th for props. sometimes with auto iso or a touch of exposure compensation depending on the lighting.
I don’t shoot rapid fire. I shoot one shot at a time. It’s much more important, especially with propeller plans and acrobatic planes to get your pan perfect rather than spray and pray…
I shot airshow for at least 15 years. Major drawback is that you don't have an airshow every weeks, so it's not easy to practice a lot. I do not find prime lenses best for this kind of event since the targets move a lot. A very big prime lense will be "too much" for a big aircraft in front of you. 100mm is a nice number the le lower end of you zoom. 400mm or more is great for the higher end.
Nice video. This is one of the hardest things to learn and I've done all types of photography. It's a challenge each and every time lol and you will have LOTS of throwaways. I just picked up the Sigma 150-600 MM to try out, highly recommend something in this range.
extra reach !! i sometimes use an old d7200 but it works ! ive used a nikkor 500 f4 but really heavy ! still get missed shots due to motion blur and forgetting about prop s an rotors all in the panning!!
Great video...was at that airshow using Panasonic G9Mkii and 50-200mm (yes M4/3rds and its not dead...lol). Was a great show with the CF18, F16, warbirds and Italian team...the whole show was great...not so great was rain out on the Saturday and not using the photo pit pass.
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.
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!
Have done lots of air shows, including a whole bunch of USN Blue Angels and USAF Thunderbirds shows. For gear, nothing is better than APS-C with a zoom lens. My 2024 setup is a Sony A6700 with a Sony 70-350mm (105-525mm 35mm equal). For jets I generally shoot an at a minimum of 1/1000 sec (and usually 1/1,500 to 1/3000 sec) with an aperture of F6-10 (lower side F6 only if needed to get the shutter speed up). The Sony A6700 has fantastic auto-focus and the large zoom range really helps with framing the images. Slower speed aircraft are less demanding and shutter speeds in the 1/400-1/1,000 second and apertures between f8-16 work well.
I can totally relate with this, went to the international air tattoo on Sunday and took around 4k images and I think I got 50-60 great shots… shutter speed is key.. and I had a canon 70-400 lens and next time I will hire a 500-800mm lens..
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
Been doing airshows for a while, 3 so far this year (with a couple being multiple days), it takes a bit to get used to. I use my top wheel for adjusting shutter speed, so I can swap between fast for jets and slow for props to get blur. I preset F stop for lighting for that day, adjust on the fly if clouds come and go using my thumb wheel. Iso is always auto for me, just because of how I shoot. And I saw other people say, go multiple days and that is the best. One day you might have no backdrop and clear blue sky, or greyed out (i had that in moses lake), but the next is perfect puffy clouds. And expect a lot of photos and a good percentage to get thrown out. You'll get settings dialed in over the course of a few shots.
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!
Something I’ve learned (the hard way) is sometimes* built in stabilization is NOT helpful when trying to get motion blur or prop blur. What can happen is the IS will try to counteract the blur you’re trying to achieve and make the whole photo look shaky (shakey?). Turn OFF IS for panning photos. 🤟🏻
Something else to think about when shooting flying aircraft is whether or not to use electronic shutter. I thought the extra fps would be nice during a recent event, but I forgot about the "rolling shutter" phenomenon. It's probably less of an issue with jets, but I noticed a lot of weird distortion on the props of the WW2 aircraft I was photographing, especially when panning. 1/1000 shutter provides great sharpness on the airframes, but is definitely too fast to get motion blur on the props. I've had decent results with 1/250 for good motion blur on the prop and decent sharpness on the airframe (1/160 - 1/320 depending on A/C orientation to the camera; slower side-on and faster head-on). I tend to use auto ISO and manually adjust shutter speed and aperature depending on the type/number of aircraft. If you're fairly new to the genre, I'd recommend trying shutter priority and auto ISO just to minimize the number of variables you have to deal with. Telephoto lenses are definitely preferred. My rig is a Sony A7R4 with a Tamron 18-300 (3.5-6.3).
Experienced Photographer here. So I would amp up my f stop to around f8 to capture the jets better, and i would keep my shutter speed no higher than 1250 for the jets, and no higher than 640 for props, also front row seats are always best.
Yeah, as an Aviation Photographer i can tell you its hard life sometimes xD. Especially with the Sun, variable Lighting conditions and especially at an airshow variable Target speeds, so you basically need to change your shutter speed constantly, and mostly you dont have much time shooting, so you need to nail it.
I would go with AV mode and set it around F8 for jets, for props I’d use TV and definitely not go over 1/320th if you’re starting out. I often shoot as slow as 1/30th with a 500 f4 and a 2x converter handheld, never used an ND filter. Just keep the ISO as low as possible for prop aircraft and panning shots at lower speeds, even use a little exposure compensation if necessary. You can bump up the ISO when shooting jets if you need. For flying shots you really need at least 400mm, more if you can afford it. Aircraft are going to be further away when they are likely to do a manoeuvre that looks more dynamic, but having said that if you’ve only got a 200mm you can still get reasonable shots if you work at it. You’ll always end up with some rubbish photo’s especially if you go for slower shutter speeds but don’t give up and just aim to better yourself each time.
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.
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
Love it !! thats why i have the Nikon P950 lol .. lots of ZOOM #2000mm !! : - ) only problem with that if you burst pics you can zoom in or out till the pics are written on the card : - (
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.
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. 😉
@AnthonyGugliotta It surely depends on the location of the sun but if you can track these planes in front of the sun...you will get bangers if exposed correctly. Not all of them will work although.
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.
Good attempt! It takes awhile to get the meat and potatoes of aviation/airshow photography. First, the highest shutter speed for propellers/helicopters should be 1/250th. Anything higher and its a frozen prop. Even 1/320 isn't great. The wide angles are great for the demonstration teams when flying together with lots of smoke as it makes for the more visually appealing photos. Jets you should shoot at 1/1250th at least. Please don't use an ND fliter. Why put more glass on a lens if you don't need to? That's what editing software is for, haha! Cheers.
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 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.
Like you, I am not a professional air show photographer. But i am a veteran of 20 air shows. Of the 10K+ shots I've taken of prop and jet demonstrations over the years, I'd put my hit rate at about about 1.5% - 2%. Most of mine are exactly like yours - fuzzy, poorly framed or totally out of focus. I lug around a Sigma 150-600 using an EF to RF converter on my Canon R5. The whole rig is extremely heavy and cumbersome which is probably the primary reason for the low hit rate. I've tried monopods, tripods but those were not helpful. So I guess it is what it is.
Could you give tips for shooting planes flying at cruising altitude? Like commercial Airliners? They fly over my house at like 12,000-20,000 ft and I have a Canon rf100-400mm f5.6-8 is usm. I also have a tripod. I have a few shots and they look good cropped but I don't really know what I am doing. Thanks!
The intro is so real lol, at my local airshow I volunteered to do photography for their media, so I had access and was there from 8-10am until 3pm for four days lol Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I averaged 2k photos a day too
6:42 "cool effects" I beleive that is indeed the proper term for that (the white stuff is vapor and the afterburner is afterburner, but F-16s are awesome so you can see it)
7:04 DSLRs are fun! also under the intake there is some air compressing from the high speed and that is absolutely sick. In aviation it is often like in that case where the picture isn't that good, but the plane is super cool so you just have to use it anyways. 1137 is an absolute keeper, just crop it in, again it will look kinda bad, but it is super duper cool (unless that happened on one of the other passes too)
7:26 is SICK! so sad its out of frame, the Viper can definetly move especially when its clean in the demo, the white stuff is called "vapor" and in this case of a high speed pass it is caused from the air compressing, when its just in a turn its just vapor and it is super cool.
I see you're shooting at a low ISO. Even if it becomes slightly more grainy, you could have gained more control over exposure, depth of field and shutter if you brought ISO a couple steps up. I'm no aviation master photographer, just an observation from your video. Not saiying it's the perfect solution, but one to test at least. Also with many (or most?) digital cameras today, you can have custom presets on a dial, so you could actually make a jet-friendly setup on one preset, and prop-friendly setup on another. Different plane incoming? Just rotate the dial and you're up and running with the ideal baseline instantly. I have yet to go to an airshow this year, but I really hope I get to go to one to test Fujifilm 100S II and GF 500mm!
I've shot the Blue Angels in El Centro for years and since you'll be shooting at infinity all day you don't need a large aperture usually f8-11 gives you the best results (sweet spot for most lens's). While airshow center will give you the best head-to-head shots, I prefer picking and end of the flight line for better formation shots since they tend to turn toward the crowd. And if you're at one end you can put on and set a polarizer and a hood for better contrast by keeping the sun off the front glass. Since you'll be covering just one area you won't need to adjust the polarizer that often, but personally I stopped using them so I can scan more sky and not get the variations in the sky they create.
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)
F/11 is better, i even have a C1 shooting mode on my 1dx mark iii and i have a button set to shift the settings to TV Mode 1/1000 for what I call Jet mode. But normal mode is TV at 1/200 for prop. Single point mode focus.
OH GOD, NOOOOO!!!!!! Why does EVERY content creator have to try to be a comedian??? I got as far as 23 seconds, heard the word "rotisserie" and just gave up. Friggin annoying trying to honest get some pointers and have to be subjected to that kind of mentality. No thanks.
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 went to the Blue Angels show in Pensacola with a canon 200-400 and a 1dxii. It was a lot of fun, I got some shots that I’m happy with, but I’d suggest: A 100-400/100-500 will be just fine for 80% of the shots; depending where you’re standing, a 24-105 or a 70-200 are one of the other lenses to consider for when they’re close. You don’t need a mirrorless, you just need a body that can do at least 10fps and can get the shutter to at least 3,000- the original 1dx and an old 100-400 is probably THE best value you’ll ever get for air show or action photography. Next: strongly consider shooting at f/8 or close, set your SS according to the type of plane, and set iso to AUTO, with an upper limit. Practice. Those slower Shitter speeds will take you all morning to get a couple of non-blurry panning shots. There’s another show here in November, hopefully I can apply these corrections
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.
Yes, one big tip, especially if you know the pilots and they want that raw file for printing. do not crop heavy into your image shoot as close to final as you possibly can for maximum resolution. Remember these guys have Airplane hangers 30 x 40 print is “not too big” a lot of these guys. Whereas, for you would even be pushing the limits of medium format and into large format and for digital are medium format territory for maximum print quality
I shot the NY Air Show last weekend, it was my first serious foray in Aviation Photography. Got the idea from a meetup group to go to a site outside of the show itself. Shot with two cameras, my R7 with 150-600mm Tamron at f8 (wanted as much reach using aps-c to get over the airfield which was a couple miles away) on a tripod and my r6 with light 100-500mm at f8 and shot handheld. ISO at auto on both and r6 had a CP filter. I varied my shutterspeed for prop blur...messed up on the r6 during the Thunderbirds because I didn't adjust to higher speed for half of their performance. Being in the approach path with open fields gave a different perspective. Downside was having to use ears and guesswork to predict where planes would appear to lock and track. Bright light, most of the show was at the worst time of day to take pictures, let alone something flying, with sun overhead. The ND filter is a good idea if you are shooting with open apertures or if it is Very bright out. Was fun to push myself in another genre and editing really made everything pop on photos I liked.
I think I saw you at Trenton Airshow, but I didn't know this channel back then... Anyway, it's a good lesson and I also learning how to specialized myself in airshow photography with budget gears.
Just saw this video; I was at the same show at CFB Trenton, back in the cheap seats not the photo pit, and I can absolutely relate to the missed shots and motion blur from trying to pan a jet the same way I pan a bird of prey or larger animal. What a learning experience, and looking forward to trying again at the London Air Show this weekend. 😊
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
I was at an airshow myself the other week. Took the better of 20k photos but I came away with an estimated 50 photos that Im happy with (still editting them) but some of them are absolutely awesome. (Canon R6 with a Sigma 150-500mm)
Hi Anthony, I shoot aviation to and I have an 55-250mm and from an friend of me i learned u need to have 2x the shutter than ur lens max mm so I always have it at 1/500
I love airshows and photographing them is one of the hardest things to 'get right'. Like you say, shutter speed too low, blurry pictures but you want prop blurr, jets high shutter speed but lots of shutter/viewer blanking off. Sky over exposed but the aircraft has too much shadow. I spot meter or partial metering with 1/3 to 2/3 over exposure. But definitely a hard thing to get right. More misses than hits unfortunately.
Two questions. How far away are the planes? What is the acceptable focus range of a 200mm lens set to F11 near infinity? Next airshow I plan to switch off autofocus entirely while the planes are in the air.
The Indian Airforce was performing a multi-day exercise.A jet came super low for some reason using a crop sensor , a 70-300 lens with the shortest SS i could capture a fighter jet which no one could because those were flying super high . The photo is shit but the satisfaction was amazing
I shoot commercial aviation, and sometimes it is not easy to take good photos. I would like to see a video of you going planespotting because it should be easier than this, and it is a really good way to practice. Especially try to get the airplane i frame as accurately as possible because cropping kill detail, at least on my 7d :). Also try to not shoot at f2.8 try to go towards at least f5.6 to f8 so all of the airplanes/ the whole airplane is sharp, it will help a lot! Have fun planespotting :)
Quinte West air show? If so, I got some amazing shots from my back yard. Although I did not get the best angles, most of the high speed passes turned right over my house before hitting the airfield. Was worth it to avoid the crowds.
I will say you don't have to stand right next to where the Narrators are but if you are In airshow center not only can you get great photos but you can hear via speaker whats happening
Me i love beautiful photos shoot where sell in postal card photos like these it good photos shoot too very true.i love these examples these things i take for example.
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.
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!
