The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

I've not been active on the model making side of things for a while as my mother sadly had passed away recently but I know she would not want me to stop for too long.
I already had the tickets for Duxford this year and so I decided to go along with my nephew.
I have to say the show was fantastic on both days although the weather on Saturday was not great for photographs I seemed to had a better success rate then I did on Sunday as the sun was really bright and that made it difficult to get any decent aerial shots.
Still there's always next year, though I may just try a different show for a change as I have been to this one for the last three years.
I also had a new lens, a Sigma 150-600m contemporary which was hand held and boy did I feel it in my arms after the weekend was over, overall I was pleased with the results considering the light that the weather permitted to show.

Really great pictures. Would like to log some dual with the Mig Driver.

Firstly my heartfelt condolences for your loss. Been there many moons ago whem my Mum passed away.
Stunning shots from Dux. Always a stunning show.

All the best.

Greg

Sorry to hear about your Mum. Not a nice thing to lose a parent. Great set of pics. Thanks for sharing.

Nigel

My condolences regarding the loss of your mum, Mark, alas I've lost both parents and it is a very difficult thing to go through. Those are indeed great quality photos and worth the arm ache induced by the long lens! Is there damage to the port tailplane of P-51D 'M' serial no: 472216?

Thanks for the condolences guys and as a family we have very fond and cherished memories of her so although I have had some sad times recently I can honestly say there have been plenty of happy memories to keep me smiling.

ShaunW wrote: Is there damage to the port tailplane of P-51D 'M' serial no: 472216?

Indeed there is Shaun,
The two p-51's were suppose to formate onto the B17 but somehow the sharksmouth P-51 ran into the back of the silver p-51 forcing the silver p-51 to land straight away, the sharksmouth landing a few minutes later though I couldn't see any damage to it at the time. This happened on Saturday so they did not fly on sunday.
Incidently the Bearcat was suppose to display with the Sea Fury on Sunday but it landing almost immediately after take off with it's UC still down but I didn't find out what happened there.
So the photos of all three aircraft are from the incidents.

Sorry to hear about you loss, Mark.

Some great results with the new lens! I have been considering that exact lens for airshow work - can you give us some more thoughts on it, please?

Superb photography Mark. I like the "figures" too.

Excellent photo's Mark. The good thing about Duxford as you will know if the weather is bad you can always pop into a hanger.

lovely photos Mark, I have the 150-500 Sigma and have found it to be a very versatile lens indeed, if a little heavy on the arms as you've found!
My sincere condolences on your loss; it's good to hear that you have plenty of good memories to ease the pain

Thank you guys.

Sunray wrote: The good thing about Duxford as you will know if the weather is bad you can always pop into a hanger.

Oh yes, I did spend some time in the museums as I can never tire of them no matter how many times I have perused them.

PaulBradley wrote: I have been considering that exact lens for airshow work - can you give us some more thoughts on it, please?

Of course I can Paul.
First off I must have seen about 10 or 11 other people with this lens attached either to their Nikon or Canon cameras, in fact there were two standing quite near me on the day so they must be pretty popular.
Secondly I only received this lens a week prior to the airshow so I only had a chance to take some photos once before this of some surfers in my part of the world, the weather then was great as you can see below.
















The above photos were all hand held and the majority of them were between 500-600mm they also have been cropped as I was quite a distance away from some of the surfers, the gannet was a fair distance away also but as you can see the photo came out acceptably sharp.
I did find though at it's full range of 600mm the photos tended to be not as sharp as 500mm and below but it's hardly noticeable to be a problem.
As I said at the beginning of this thread the weight of the lens (3 and a half pounds) is noticeable (connected to a Nikon D5300 with twin battery grip) over a long period of time if hand held but not so for the first couple of hours of constant use so I will try out a monopod perhaps at the next airshow I attend. It may be lighter if a grip is not being used also.
I did at times (because of where I was positioned) with the larger aircraft have trouble fitting them into the frame completely side on and could have done with my 70-300mm lens in those instances but that was only occasional.
The lens is very fast at focusing especially when set from 10m to infinity and there was no hunting that I noticed and just remember to set it back if you are going to take any subjects closer then 10 meters.
I must say that I am very impressed with the results so far and it got me close to the subjects without many failures and there was no fringing in any of the photos so for that alone I would most defiantly recommend this lens for almost everything and it will defiantly be my number 1 lens at airshows now.

I hope you find this useful Paul

Wonderful photos, Mark, those really are great action shots of the surfers. I must say the gannet (bird) has much nicer lines than its aircraft namesake!

Cheers, Mark - a very helpful review! I just need to get a new job and save up my pennies! Hopefully, it won't be too long.

Great photos, thanks for sharing!