Left Image: Canon EOS D30, Tamron 70-210mm f-2.8, Multi-segment metering, 1/250 sec at f-5.6 on aperture priority.

Fast action photography is not going to get faster than this. This is the long lens, fast film, high speed motor drive territory. At an air show you are immediately faced with several problems. Since dealing with extremely fast subjects, there is no time to calculate exposure, change lenses, or look for a better location to shoot from. Be there early and find a good spot. Choose your lens prior to shooting. It is best to have a second or even a third camera ready with a different lens attached to each body. You have to take a reading and lock exposure before the air show starts. The best way to do is by metering the sky. If you are working in an overcast day, the meter can be easily fooled and cause underexposure. In this case find a middle tone subject and take a reading.

Tripods are not that easy to set up in an air show unless you can find a less crowded area. A monopod is good substitute, but unless you have a ball head attached it is difficult to move the camera up or down. I prefer a shoulder stock which allows maximum maneuverability. Aperture priority or shutter priority work better than manual mode since you simply have no time to change settings. Choose the widest f-stop on your lens for the fastest shutter speed. You need a fast ISO setting with digital cameras or fast films, at least ISO 100 if you are working with fast lenses. ISO 200 is a good compromise, and ISO 400 if working in low light. You need 200mm or longer lenses. The faster telephotos come in real handy. In a recent air show, I carried three cameras with an 80-200mm f-2.8, a 300mm f-2.8, and a 400mm f-5.6 lens. I Used Fujichrome Provia ISO 100, and Ektachrome Elite 200 and 400 films with my Maxxum 7 film camera and EOS D30 digital camera. I quickly put away my 300mm. The weight of the lens made it very difficult to use with a shoulder stock. My slower and lighter 400mm f-5.6 used with ISO 400 film allowed tight shots, but the grain of the faster film was visible against the blue sky. Even though more of my shots came out sharper with this combination, I threw away all of them. I just can't stand grain. My Tokina 80-200mm f-2.8 worked flawlessly. I used ISO 100 and 200 with this lens, and the fast f-2.8 aperture let me freeze the action. The zoom allowed quick framing while panning the camera. You need to set your camera on high speed motor drive. Three to five frames per sec should cover everything. My digital SLR was simply no match for the film camera in terms of autofocus and film advance speed. AF cameras with tracking are very useful as they let you concentrate on your subjects and take more sharp images. Carry extra film or large capacity drives for digital cameras and expect to waste lots of frames. It is impossible to take sharp, well exposed, and well composed shots in every frame. I shot eight rolls of films but kept only 15 frames. The rest ended up in the garbage can.



Minolta Maxxum 7, Tokina ATX 80-200mm PRO, exposure not recorded

If you are working with slower telephoto zooms such as a 75-300mm f-5.6 or a 100-400mm f-5.6, use ISO 200 films for faster shutter speeds. If you don't have a second camera body but have another lens you want to use, remove both the front and rear caps from your second lens. Put your lens hood on and carry your lens in a lens case that can be attached to your belt for quick changing. The good thing about air shows is that even if you don't get too many good shots, you can still have fun. Just make sure you don't get a bad sun burn only on one side of your face like I did.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM and Nikon Vibration Reduction (VR) Telephoto Zooms