Warbird Information Exchange

What to check in and see if have a new camera yet?

Lynn

I'm ready to buy a Canon 30D with the 100-400 IS lens and maybe the 17-85 IS lens. Just checking prices now. There are a lot of unscrupulous internet vendors for these sorts of things, so I am moving cautiously.

It may be far cheaper to buy a package with the 18-55 non-IS lens and add the 100-400 though. I'm wondering how much less satisfied I would be with that combo. In any case I'll try to negotiate with whatever vendor I choose.

Anytime you walk into a dark aviation museum (that covers about half of them if not more) you just may wish you had the IS. Apparently it gives you an f-stop or two of forgiveness, but I don't have much practice with mine yet.

Mike

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Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

There is talk about a 24-105L lense that is a package with the 30D. I don't know if its a UK thing or what. But you will come to like/enjoy the IS feature. You have choosen well, B&H in NYC have giving me years of great service.

Lynn

Found that the 30D with the 18-55 non-IS lens was available for $1299, or $1399 for the body alone. Can't understand the pricing on that one! I skipped the 17-85 IS lens for now, but did order the 100-400 IS lens for $1389. All are US spec. If all goes well I'll have everything in time to try it out at the Chino Airshow.

Hopefully I'll avoid some of the mechanical difficulties others have been plagued with.

OK, now that I have the 30D and the 100-400 IS lens, what "picture style" (image parameter) settings should I use for ground to air and ground to ground shots?

Any other helpful hints besides fixing the shutter speed for prop blur?

My advice, don't use any style. Shoot RAW, forget jpeg.

Even if you shoot RAW only, there is still a tiny jpeg in the RAW file. This jpeg is what is displayed on your LCD after you take the pic. You need to set up a user defined picture style so that the jpeg you will get is as close to the RAW file as possible. Read the manual and set up a custom picture style, set the parameters as follows,
User Defined 1:
Sharpness 2
Contrast -1
Saturation 0
Color Tone 0
If you don't do this you may see blinking highlights on the LCD, but the RAW file will not have any blown out whites. Say for instance that you like a lot of contrast in your shots, so you set your Picture style Contrast to +3. Well this will not affect the RAW file in any way, but that jpeg on the LCD will probably have a lot of blinking highlights, or blown color channels. This also goes for the 20D. The 20D does not have Picture Styles, but you can set up the parameters for the jpeg.

Now if your not going to shoot RAW and use only jpeg, I don't have suggestions. I have never shot jpegs, just RAW only.

Hope that was not too confusing.

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"I love the smell of racing gas in the morning"
www.timadamsphotography.com

Check out http://fencecheck.com

A photography web page I just found..

Lynn

I just brought a Canon EOS-1D MKIIN tonight to go with my 20D and I'm reading the PDF manual that I downloaded off the Canon web page.
I should be up to speed for "The Thunder of the Year over Michigan" in August. Naturally, I'll need two grown men and a small boy to drag all of this stuff around on the ramp. I brought a back pack to used, but I look like a could climb every mountain.....

Lynn

Question: How do I set my 30D to force the flash? I can't seem to find this in the manual.

Brandon,

On the 20D, there is a small button on the side of the camera (left index finger as you hold the camera normally) which will pop up and activate the flash. It is identified by a small 'flash' symbol.

Probably the same on the 30D.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Mike

PS How did your shots from Chino show turn out?

I have that button, but that only activates the flash for that one shot, right? Or does that keep the flash going indefinitely until you turn it off?

As far as my Chino shots, they looked OK but not spectacular, with a few exceptions. I had the shutter speed a little slow the first day. I speeded it up a bit for the second day, but the weather was overcast so everything had a muddy tone to it. I need to get a couple of filters I think and practice a little more. I don't get much practice though since about the only airshow I go to anymore is Chino.

I really like the 2 Gig CF chip though! Next time I'll take 3 times as many shots. Through the law of averages I should end up with some better shots!

Once you have popped up the flash it is there for every shot until you lock it back down.

Wardie

OK, thanks for the help!

Im looking to maybe buy a SLR, which is the best for the least amount of money?

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The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. - Gus Grissom