Far East Cynic

Air Show Blues-Part II

Dear Santa Claus,

I really need you (or any other benefactor) to buy me one of these:


And a Zoom Lens please!

Actually, I am told my zoom lense on my SLR would work for one of these-two bad its not here-it is in storage with the rest of the good stuff……….Big mistake.

Important Safety tip-change batteries before going to an air show. I did not and had to use the S.O.’s camera for most of the Blue Angel pix that follow. Because my zoom works better than hers-and you really need a good zoom to get pix like these (Click on the pix to see them better):

Big airplanes look cool at low altitude!

I could use a better lens to take pix of groups. Like this:

There were a few warm up acts to go:

And then these guys came on:


Start ’em up!

The Blues are a publicity concious machine. I always marvel at how the narrator reads the script. Sounds like a retired actor from Topgun.

Which was why I could not wait for these guys to take off:

 

They looked good to me once airborne though:

This was the point at which I had to switch to the S.O.’s camera so the quality drops:

And as they did the Fleur de lis, we thought we would start heading back to the car. Did not do us any good though. It still took a us a while to get on the road home.

God loves the Blue Angels though-it did not rain till after 5 today-but when it did, oh man did the heavens open!

Enjoy! 

  1. Camera woes aside, thank you so much for sharing the pictures! Of course God loves the Blues………….how could he not love Angels? lol You’re so very lucky, yes you are, that this air show is performed in an area where the public is able to walk amongst the aircraft both before and after the show. Up here, while the annual air show is spectacular it’s performed over one of the Great Lakes. Makes for a beautiful setting and many times pilots are able to go full throttle. However, one has to travel some distance to see the aircraft on the ground………..sounds like griping, but isn’t. Just sharing a bit of info from one lover of flying to another. Glad it was a good day for you both.

  2. Get the new Rebel xtsi is believe. Look to bhphotovideo.com. Never had a problem in the years have dealt with them.

    For long lenses try suggest the L series 70-200 f2.8. You will not be sorry.
    For great reviews try steves digicam.

    BTW the air show phots were great.

  3. Great Pics. Suggestion on the Camera choice though. I have the Rebel and I love it but it is considered a “Soccer Mom” camera by the “Professionals” If I could go back and choose again I would have put a few more bucks into it and bought the Canon EOS 40D Digital instead. A much better camera and takes beautiful shots. I currently have the 28-135 mm Lens and it is a great “All Purpose” lens. Would like to invest in some better ones though but am limited because the rebel has a reduced firmware capability in comparison to the 40 D which narrows the ISO range.(this can get complicated when getting high quality lenses because you will not get such a good pic from them because of the firmware limitations) It also has a slower, lower capacity burst mode which can affect control as far as shooting goes. Just a suggestion. My brother is a photographer and I have luckily been able to “Inherit” some of his old lenses when he upgrades. Just something for you to consider when on the hunt for a good camera. If you are going to be upgrading from a regular/traditional “Consumer” camera you may not even notice the transition except for the benefits when upgrading to the Rebel. The rebel is a good camera though and does take great pics. I have no qualms with it’s performance. You definitely might want to get filters, better lens (the one that comes with it is crap) and the “pop up” flash is worthless and makes pictures look horribly white. Would suggest if using flash to opt for something other than the pop up. That is all from the “peanut gallery” in the field of photography HTH!

  4. Thanks-its good food for thought. Can’t buy a camera any time soon though-but I am going to file this away for future reference.