Waddington 3.30 today (6.5.08)

[popkid]

Popped down to RAF Waddington earlier as I live just behing it and it was a lovely day - on the offchance of seeing a sentry or something. I got rather more than I bargained for.. Was this the practice for the RAF role demonstration? 2 F3's, a GR4, Sentry, 2 x Hawk, Apache and Chinook buzzing around.

Standing at the Westerly approach to the runway in the field, 1x Tornado flat out on the deck, burners lit and wings back. A real good brown pants moment. I could see right down his jet intake as he was diving toward me, below the tree line, off down the runway like an arrow. I am now a little bit deaf and have a suntan.

[ab33t]

wasnt refering to the pilot , more like the plane

[EyesFront]

It's a Tornado - he/she swings both ways....

[Exrigger]

Afraid these are no where near the standard of the guys with proper cameras who know what they are doing, but here is my first attempt with a digital camera.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm286/MLH55/Waddington/034.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm286/MLH55/Waddington/011.jpg





http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm286/MLH55/Waddington/017.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm286/MLH55/Waddington/020.jpg

[Al R]

Especially if they're your first digi shots ExR.. nice one.

Do you have an annoying ever so small delay when you take a shot? That used to really bug me. That bottom one especially though, you've caught it nicely. :D

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!]

After looking at the pictures, I'd say it WAS a 'he' aeroplane.

[Exrigger]

Al R, thanks for the comment, yes it is the first time I have used the camera for anything arial shot wise and it is the delay in shutter operation that had me chopping of parts of aircraft. Getting the zoom right lost me some of the take off shots as by the time I realised where the aircraft was it had gone.

I have read the instructions a bit more and I am going to try something else tomorrow (if I get the chance), I am going to try something called Auto Bracketing.

Anyone notice the Nose leg that did not retract, I did not realise I had caught that.

[stickmonkeytamer]

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee29/STICKMONKEYTAMER/zh101wad3tor_filtered.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee29/STICKMONKEYTAMER/za705lift1_filtered.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee29/STICKMONKEYTAMER/zj219wad1_filtered.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee29/STICKMONKEYTAMER/za373gear1_filtered.jpg

Some photos to keep you all in the picture, so to speak! ZA373 couldn't lift his (or her!) nosewheel...

SMT

[Exrigger]

stickmonkeytamer, now thats what I would like to have achieved but you look like you have a proper camera and know how to use it. Where were you stood?

[MadMart]

Looks like the nose wheel steering hasn't centered again! Get that NSAS testset out again......:bored:

[popkid]

After looking at the pictures, I'd say it WAS a 'he' aeroplane.I agree, the Tornado is a bloke.. Took my Camera this time.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5579.jpg

The blast of this one occurred after he'd gone down the runway:{

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5653.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5644.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5623.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5669.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5705.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/senorgonzalez/IMG_5681.jpg

[Exrigger]

Popkid, again nice pictures, puts mine to shame. I did not get any today as my camera focus problem came back with a vengeance and it is supposed to have been fixed. I found the choreography of the flying and explosions a tad out of synch, hope they do a bit better next time.

Ratty1: Thanks, that explains the good pictures :hmm:, I should of tried standing in the same place.

[howiehowie93]

"ZA373 couldn't lift his (or her!) nosewheel..."

same when I was working on them -- bloody Follow up pot! or what ever it was called!

I was a Sooty on them after all!

Regards
H

[thunderbird7]

Jeez! Remind me to never look at Terminal 5 with any interest ever again!@!

[TEEEJ]

Some snaps from the 7th May practice. Superb flying guys and gals! Congrats to all involved and good luck with the seasons role demo displays. If anyone sees a grass crop circle near the A15 threshold then that was made by me spinning around trying to keep up with the action!

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/TOMMYJO/10954950.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/TOMMYJO/76ba4c20.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/TOMMYJO/1b482353.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/TOMMYJO/c8dacd96.jpg

Some more at the following link.

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/cgi-bin/ukarboard/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=9;t=47410;

Cheers

TJ

[airwaverider]

TJ,

Great shots!!

[UKHABU]

EXRIGGER

I assume your camera is one of the smaller "all in one" Digital cameras.
The "lag" in the system between pressing the release button and the camera actually taking the photo is a well known "fault" of that type of camera.
It is caused generally by the slower speed of the photo sensor cell in comparison to more professional types. It often relates to the actual physical size of the sensor. You cannot do anything about the lag per se but application of a technique can mitigate it.
You basically have to perfect your panning techique ie follow the aircraft from (say) right to left - press shutter release - KEEP FOLLOWING THE AIRCRAFT AFTER PRESSING SHUTTER RELEASE. The bit after pressing shutter release is the important bit. A very smooth pan is the aim - not as easy on a fast jet as it first appears.

POPKID & STICKMONKEYTAMER

Great shots on obviously good gear.
The Chinook/Apache shots are particularily good with IMHO one slight fault - you both suffer from the modern curse of high shutter speeds on cameras - easily 2,000 & 4,000 sec these days.
It's clear the shots were taken with a large aperture (small F number) due to the lack of focus in the background and the almost frozen rotor blades.
if you keep the shutter speed to 250th or below you would get (A) A better depth of field (overcomes some focussing errors) (B) A "feel" of movement in the rotor blades.

[UKHABU]

TEEJ

Great set of shots - I particularily like the second Tornado shot - it has great light on it - thats hard to achieve considering you have no control of where the sun is and the direct/speed of the subject.

What gear was used?

[TEEEJ]

Thanks for the comments.

UKHABU,

I'm using a Nikon D2X with a Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 VR. Some of the shots were taken with a 1.4x teleconverter fitted.

Cheers

TJ