taking photos help please

[slogen51]

I have to disagree with the previous post. Don't look at Ken Rockwells site for anything other that specs of a lens or camera body. This man gives out terrible advice.
As for using a prime, yes, you do miss out on some shots. I use a 500mm prime and there are shots i just don't get due to the aircraft being too close at times. If its close, i'll go for a cockpit shot, or some other aspect of the aircraft, or if its closer then i just don't shoot at all.

Fair enough but he does earn a living from photography, but judge for yourself, there are plenty of other sites or books you could have suggested instead.

A lens so long that you can only get part of the plane in?

[daggerfan]

Looking at your original post, if you are having focusing issues with your Sigma lens could it be because that lens won't autofocus with a D3200 body? The body doesn't have a motor to drive the lens, and as far as I know, that particular lens doesn't have a focus motor built in. Neither does the £449 secondhand Nikon 80-400 lens mentioned in an earlier reply. You could only focus these two lenses manually with a D3200.

[slogen51]

I use a 55-300 Nikkor af-s DX F4.5 -5.6 its light and cost about £160-200

I have been thinking of getting the Nikkor 70-300 AF-S IF-ED which has better reviews and costs about £420 but to be honest I don't think I would notice any difference when used on my D3300 DX.

The previous message raises an excellent point about auto focus - my advice would be to buy a Nikon AF-S DX lens as these are made for your D3200 DX camera.

You need a AF-S lens on your D3200 to use autofocus , the much maligned Ken Rockwell does publish a lens compatibility matrix

[jaydean]

I have to disagree with the previous post. Don't look at Ken Rockwells site for anything other that specs of a lens or camera body. This man gives out terrible advice.
As for using a prime, yes, you do miss out on some shots. I use a 500mm prime and there are shots i just don't get due to the aircraft being too close at times. If its close, i'll go for a cockpit shot, or some other aspect of the aircraft, or if its closer then i just don't shoot at all.

Fair enough but he does earn a living from photography, but judge for yourself, there are plenty of other sites or books you could have suggested instead.
A lens so long that you can only get part of the plane in?

He's not a photographer, but some kind of engineer. He does earn money from people who read his 'great' reviews of a camera/lens, then click his link to buy said camera/lens. Not really sure what you're getting at with your long lens comment

[Yunglee]

Here's my take; I've owned the Nikon 55-200mm and got it for a holiday in the US as a back up for my Nikon 300mm f4. I sold it as its really not sharp especially at 200mm. I also sold my much loved Nikon 300mm f4 as as good as it is (and I might buy another copy in the future) the lack of zoom is a real pain. Yes you can still get cockpit shots if the aircraft is to close, but if you're faced with a once in a lifetime shot and your to close your screwed...

My main lens now is the Tamron 150-600mm which sells used for a round £625. Is not perfect far from it, and neither is the sigma alternatives, but the range of zoom range gives you a range of options and compositions. Also with the ISO performance on DSLRs f2.8 and f4 lens are less important for low light, but of great for narrow depth of field.

I normally use the Tamron with the Nikon D7200.

I also use a Nikon d5300 with the Nikon 55-300mm. Good combination, but the autofocus is slow and needs good technique/ practice.

My plan is to replace the 55-300 with a faster 70-200mm but largely as I live next to a commercial airport and can get away with a shorter lens for large landing aircraft.

My advice would be to go for a used Tamron 150-600mm or a used Nikon 55-300mm. The problem with the Tamron is that it won't be well balanced on the Nikon d3200. For a while I used the Tamron with the d5300, which worked just...

On Ken Rockwell, I've found his advice interesting and helpful and more often than not right. He seems to have a lot of haters because he does advice buying the latest and most expensive cameras and lens. One good example is that he rates the Nikon 55-300 over the 70-300 in terms of image quality (but not for sports where he rates the 70-300 better). Having previously owned the 70-300 and really not liking the image quality I can say he advice was right, the 55-300 is better but has slower autofocus.

Hope that helps.

PS
My Flickr uploads have tags for the lens used and you can see what the results are like...the Turkish KC-135 is with the nikon d5300 and nikon 55-300.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeadc

[J.Smith]

The 150-600mm lenses from Tamron and Sigma are popular choices. The Sigmas are a little more expensive, but i've seen good results from both

Sigma 150-600 contemporary is a beautiful lens, would definitely recommend it

[J.Smith]

Hi,

I use to use a very cheap Canon 70 - 300 mm non image stabilised lens and could achieve very sharp flying shots.

All the best
Andy

I also used to use a cheap canon 75-300mm non IS lens. Soft wide open, but stopped down to f/9 and it was very sharp

[Two66]

f7, 1/400th shutter speed. ISO 200, focal length 300mm, I think I was on centre spot focusing (maybe dynamic) cant remember. Matrix metering.

Try using a faster shutter speed for fast jets. I'd suggest 800-1000. You might get better results if your panning is not up to scratch. The second one is, which no one on here has mentioned, are you processing your images or are these straight from the camera? Images need to be processed to get the best from them even if you shoot jpeg. Some cropping, straightening, sharpening, contrast etc will make a huge difference.Even if your gear is not top-notch, you'll be amazed at what a little work on Photoshop or Lightroom can do.

P.S. Despite what someone said earlier, DO NOT PUT YOUR CAMERA IN FULL AUTO MODE!

I literally only shoot in full auto, I get some great shots, am I just getting lucky? When an aircraft is coming by I don't want to miss the shot whilst I muck around with camera settings!

[J.Smith]

f7, 1/400th shutter speed. ISO 200, focal length 300mm, I think I was on centre spot focusing (maybe dynamic) cant remember. Matrix metering.

Try using a faster shutter speed for fast jets. I'd suggest 800-1000. You might get better results if your panning is not up to scratch. The second one is, which no one on here has mentioned, are you processing your images or are these straight from the camera? Images need to be processed to get the best from them even if you shoot jpeg. Some cropping, straightening, sharpening, contrast etc will make a huge difference.Even if your gear is not top-notch, you'll be amazed at what a little work on Photoshop or Lightroom can do.

P.S. Despite what someone said earlier, DO NOT PUT YOUR CAMERA IN FULL AUTO MODE!

I literally only shoot in full auto, I get some great shots, am I just getting lucky? When an aircraft is coming by I don't want to miss the shot whilst I muck around with camera settings!

I used to shoot in sports mode all the time for jets. However once I realised how poor quality my original lens was, I started to shoot AV f/9 for everything (and still do despite massively upgrading my gear). (excluding helicopters {TV 1/80th} and propeller aircraft {TV 1/320th} and panning shots {TV 1/60th - 1/160th})

Quality of gear can have a major effect on image quality, if you have top range lenses then chances are shooting on auto will be fine as they will normally be acceptable shooting wide open. However I still wouldn't recommend that. Stop down the lens by a couple of stops and images will appear much sharper (from my experience anyway), and always shoot helicopters and prop aircraft on shutter priority mode.