KFLL 10/24 FedEx night ops (DC10/A310)

Tried my hand at some night action shots, and I have to say I'm not more than 52% disappointed. It's definitely no joke when it comes to the difficulty of shooting 300mm at ISO 1600, f/4 and 1/30th handheld while prefocusing...but I suppose they'll do! Any thoughts or advice on shooting at night like this would be greatly appreciated!!!!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6104/...0e42acb4_o.jpg

got to the location RIGHT as it was rotating so I didn't have a chance to really set up entirely, but it'll do for now. The belly beacon seems to be illuminating the brake dust in this one.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6098/...ec48cfef_o.jpg

You need more light :-)

ISO 6400 minimum, a good 80mm f/1.4 lens and a Gimbal HEad would do wonders for your success rate. Handheld is not gonna be great... but I have tried :tongue: as recently as:

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/photo.../i-kGGwXZj.jpg

That was ISO 6400, f/2.8 and at 200mm not easy to hold the lens steady, too heavy of a mass to keep it smooth on panning. Taxiway was almost completely black to the naked eye. AF on my camera is not that bad under these conditions but you MUST try and use it. Prefocusing at anything larger than f/8 at 200mm will likely result in OOF images... :-(

yeah, i knew the entire plane wasn't going to be lit by any means since they were airborne....i don't think the 30d was meant to perform under those conditions anyway, not that i have the lens-power or ISO ability to handle action shots at night.

Manny, looks liek that IL-68 landed on the van like that 727 in that pickup truck commercial. :)

Phil, yeah, I said that when I first saw it LOL. Mike, the camera will perform poorly indeed. My D3 becomes a total dog so I wouldn't expect much more from any other camera today. But it is "doable"...

also try to do it as EARLY in the night as possible. Maximize available photon activity :cool:

I agree with everything you say except one thing Manny...there's a guy out in Narita who shoots a D3 (granted he uses some heavy-duty glass) and gets SUPERB results even when he's shooting through a fence....he has shots in garbage weather, deep into the night that absolutely blow my mind...check em out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbw1150/with/2835495443/

and Phil you're right, it does look like that lol

Exhibit A:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/...3eb63b28_o.jpg

Not sure if they all come from this spot, but pretty gnarly conditions to shoot from nonetheless.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/...22933552_o.jpg