For the planes in flight, or with any photo really, there are a number of factors that could contribute to the detail and clarity. The lighting conditions, the colors of the subject, camera settings, the sensor's capabilities, etc., so a few photos will not give you the complete picture of what a given lens can do. (no pun intended)

You could probably get a lens with more zoom that was cheaper than the 55-250, and under certain circumstances it may give you more detail, but there are always trade-offs. I use a 100-400mm lens for almost all of my air show photography, and at 400mm, it will probably never be as sharp as a 400mm 2.8 prime. However, my lens is about 1/3 of the price, is smaller and lighter, and lets me drop back to 100mm if I need to get a wider view. I'm trading off image quality for cost savings, convenience, and flexibility.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are many factors in what will get you the image you want, and price is only one of them. What you'd want to do, and it appears are doing somewhat, is find lenses that generally have a good reputation for what you want, and see which ones you're willing to pay for. And don't expect that just because you've bought a more expensive lens that you'll automatically get the photos you want - there's more to factor in, and definitely a learning curve.

yeah I guess I should have prefaced those pictures with the fact that they were taken with an 8 megapixel body and they were my first airshow, so the results were not the best

To me, it just looked like they were backlit, and there's not much that can be done about that.

Good points on the backlight and the old body. Also, I have to say I would certainly be satisfied with those pictures. I just want to see where the difference between a "cheap" telezoom lens like the one I will probably buy and a 1000 Euro one are.
I looked at Ken's website and his photos are superb. But I am not sure I will ever invest the money, time and talent needed for that quality.

BTW I googled a bit more on "startup speed" and one reviewer writes that the camera is ready the moment your finger has moved from the "on" button to the next button and another one ( http://photo.net/equipment/canon/50D/review/ ) writes:


So, it seems that startup speed is no issue at all and also a big impovement on my A710 . Excellent, no more excuses when *I* am slow . I think both the much higher price of the DLSR and the four year that have passed since I bought the A710 make a big difference. BTW, Ken, you also wrote a very helpful post back then.

BTW I watched an interview with the Canon designers and they said most new features are based on the speed of the Digic 4, as otherwise the new features would lead to too slow operation. They said the processing going on with one picture in the Digic 4 would take 10 minutes on a general purpose PC !

There is a fast rule of thumb from earlier days which goes along the lines that to have a chance of a good shot, your shutter speed should be the reciprocal of the (effective) focal length - so, if you're shooting at 1/300 on a Canon crop sensor (1.6x), your shutter speed should be at least 1/480s. The reason for the focal length dependence is that the amount of "wobble" you have while hand holding (or equally shaking around on a tripod) imparts aiming errors, which have much larger on the picture the further you zoom in. Wide angle lenses, with their large angle of view, means that a little shake doesn't affect the detail as much as it would at, say, 500mm.

Stabilisation goes against this old rule of thumb because it compensates the shakes by moving some of the lens elements inside the lens. The upshot of this is that it is possible to get a clean shot of a static object at 300mm with a 1/60s shutter speed. Basically, it makes your life easier. Purists will argue that IS (VR in Nikon parlance) has image quality issues, but these are generally negligible, and is a story for another day.

With regards to detail, getting an expensive lens is only half the battle. If you want to get really crisp shots, you really need to get closer - something that's hard to do in an airshow, unless you know the pilot...

Nice shots, TBD - the canopy on that spitfire is marvelous.

Thanks, that post made me realise that the size of an "artefact" on a picture due to handshake is proportional to the focal length, so that explains why one lens has IS and the other does not.

The new Sony SLT-A77 will be announced Wednesday. You might want to take a look at it. Nikon uses Sony sensors in their cams. I'm selling my A33 and getting the A77.

I bought a T3i/18-55 two weeks ago this Thursday and picked up the 55-250mm on Saturday. It's my first DSLR (I'm coming from an Ollllld S1IS) and I love it. The S1IS taught me enough that the T3i has been a smooth transition. We have an air show this weekend so I'll be able to test the 55-250 there. I pretty much only shoot airplanes or trains.

You really need to go to the Cannon photography forum and read, read, read. http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

My dream camera would be the 5D MkII. They have used it in making theatrical movies, it is that good. I have the best point and shot at the moment, the Cannon G9 but I, like you, feel the need to find out what a real camera can do.

My advice is to buy a used 30d (read the 20d/30d forum at the link provided above). You can buy the body used for 250 to 300 bucks, then buy the best lens you can not afford. Glass is everything right after sensor so spend most of your money on good glass and buy a used older body and the 30d is an EOS body and they are all basically the same layout.

I am back. Just before we went to Berlin, we bought a 550D .

I will probably write some questions on SLR procedures in the next few days, but want to keep this thread on subject (choosing a DSLR) for others that will buy one.
The reasons for the 550 were:
The Canon EOS 500D is older, only has mono audio and video FPS is lower.
The Canon EOS 600D is more expensive for the swivel LCD + feature guide + different material. Nothing important *in my opinion*, so not worth it to me.
The Canon EOS 60D is larger, heavier, and as has been said in the thread, "overkill". It is faster in continuous shooting. But other operations like switching the camera on is "fast enough" on all these cameras, so probably the 60D speed advantage is noticable only seldom.

We bought these accessories:
* 2nd battery, a must-have as I already realised in the few days I am using it.
* In the shop I had to decide between a "carry in front of you" bag and a Rucksack. While it takes a bit of time to get the camera out of the Rucksack and ready to shoot, we liked it instantly and bought it. It is very nice, the compartments fit exactly the camera with either lens,
the other lens and all the "accessories" (caps, 2nd battery, handbook etc). Still it is small enough that when my girlfriend carries it, it looks like she wears the bag and not vice versa .
If needed one can adjust the compartments using velcroed "walls".
* One UV filter for each lens. The shop guy recommended them warmly, partly as a protection for the lenses. As the lens diameters are different, we needed two.
* One SD card. I would guess their price is falling rapidly, when I need the 2nd one, I will buy it.
* A HDMI cable so I can connect to my computer monitor.
* He put some plastic on top of the LCD screen, similar to what I did on my PDA. 5 Euros, so probably worth it.
* A USB2 card reader. I wasn't sure at all I need one and don't think so now, but, again it was 5 Euros, so no biggie.

All in all, with a very cheap telelens, it was 1015 Euros. I went with the advice to get a lens to learn.

We didn't buy a tripod (we simply forgot :o ), so that's probably a purchase in the near future. There are very small and inexpensive ones.
Of course a drawback is you need a table or something to put it on. But if it can hold the EOS plus telelens, I will probably buy it. I can still buy a large one later.
For now, I need to reduce handshake.

I saw on the internet there are remote triggers for as little as 3 dollars, so I will probably buy one. Also I will probably buy an Android in the medium future and
if you buy one with the "USB host" feature, you can control your EOS with it. Also I guess a third option to avoid wobble due to pressing the trigger is the 2 second delay feature of the EOS.

To answer my own remaining questions from the first post:
Buying a Canon DSLR because I have a Canon point and shot is ok, but not that important, as there are many differences, not only due to it being a DSLR.
For example the "Q" button you need to change picture settings on the EOS. Still, knowing the terminology, icons and some concepts probably saves a few hours.
As video is important to me I might very well have chosen a Canon anyway.

As one use of the camera is to learn, I wanted a good and modern body (with many modern features).
For the same reason, I decided on two lenses and am happy, but already in the 3 days I used it there was a situation were I had the wrong lens mounted and was not fast enough in changing lenses to shoot a temporary situation.

TheBigDog was certainly correct when he said "you're about to embark on an exciting transition!"

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I will have a look at that Canon forum, looks like tons of info.