Re: Camera equipment


Message posted by Hank on September 20, 2006 at 21:11:20 PST:

I dont think their is an easy or definitive answer. The choice of camera and lenses is really a personal thing. I think it boils down to what the photographer is comfortable with. After thinking about it I realized I have shot Red Flags, and Nellis and all around area 51 with alot of different people and dont remember every seeing the same camera twice except once. The majority of photos on this site have been shot with a digital camera. Their is one person who still shoots film. From what I have seen most aircraft photographers are more concerned with the lenses they use as opposed to the number of megapixels. Unless you are going to enlarge your photos to a large size a 5 megapixel camera is adequate. For me the trick is to fill the frame and I try reach out to get the pilots face and some tail numbers or any other kind of id on the aircraft. Several years ago Joerg had a Olympus C-2100 and he was kind enough to let me play with it while we were in Rachel. I believe its a 2.3 megapixel with a 10x optical zoom. Went home and got one as fast as I could. Loved the zoom. Thats the only time two people had the same camera. He has since gone on to other equipment as I have. I now have a Rebel XT with various lenses. Believe it or not I still grab the Olympus most of the time.
Some of the guys have pretty basic stuff and get really nice photos and others have some pretty exotic equipment. Take a look of the panorama on the opening page and read what Joerg used to get those. Thats from about 23 miles away. When it comes time to make a purchase the depth of ones pockets seems to help make the decision. The digitals are so good today its hard to make a bad decision. Even the low end ones take great pics. This is just a personal opinion but I wouldnt use anything less than a 10x optical zoom. Thats equivalent to about a 350mm lens in 35 mm. I tried a 500 mm Canon zoom two weeks ago and couldnt handle it very well. Maybe it takes practice. All of my cameras have automatic image stabilizers which keep the shake out of a long zoom. Most of my pics on the site are taken full zoom. I saw a Sony 6 megapixel with a 12 times zoom at Staples the other day for $249.00 to get those features at that price is really good. I almost bought it as another backup. Just not sure how many backups a guy needs. A suggestion is to do Ebay searches for exactly what you want and see what pops up. Ive bought most of my stuff on Ebay and have been very satisfied. Not sure if this answered any of your questions, but if it didnt please post some more and we'll do our best to help. I have a feeling that this post will lead to more.
Hank
Moderator


In Reply to: Camera equipment posted by Chuck (CA) on September 20, 2006 at 1:23:25 PST:

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