Howdy

I visited Farnborough on Wednesday. To be honest it was not quite the photo opportunity I had expected as the static displays were rammed together like Wheeler December 6th 1941 :p . I like taking close up detail shots of interesting bits on aircraft and this access was severely lacking--not to mention the advertising and placards etc. The main halls were not very interesting outside of the large displays featuring full size Rolls Royce and P&W engines.

The flight display--given that it was a trade day--was somewhat weak and several aircraft aborted or diverted for customer demo's. Flight line photo access IS excellent and I would recommend getting right next to photo cage A for the best shots as the aircraft rotated or were close at that point.

For me the highlight was the Mig-29 and A-380 as I had not seen them flying before. Although all I can really see when I see a PAX jet that large is a 600+ seat horror show with everyone getting to breathe everyone's else's BO on the anticpated long haul flights :p . Then again I do over 100k miles annually and may have a slightly jaded view on civil transport these days (TSA= :rolleyes: )....but I digress...

Click the below link for the thumbnails. I would recommend viewing using the option as they are sized for 1280x1024ish or just enjoy the slideshow. Comments and critique would be appreciated.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=624041

Enjoy

**Edit**I forgot to mention tech details for those that might wish to know. Canon D60 with EF70-200 f4 L and EF17-40 f4 L. Mostly in Tv mode (thanks to the sunny day the higher f-stops (i.e. f11+) showed a bumper crop of dust on my sensor. I am currently deciding which long glass I am going to pick up next as the 70-200mm is fine for rotation/touchdown-range but most ground-to-air shots need a bit more reach. I am currently looking at the "Bigma", adding a Canon 1.4 extender to my current 70-200, or the EF300 F4 L with IS (and 1.4x extender). Any Canon shooters feel free to chime in! The 100-400 is also a possibility as well.

Nice shots Ted! Nice pictures of such a wide variety of aircraft - must have been fun seeing F-18s, Typhoons, Ospreys, Tornadoes, etc., all at the same show.

Nice prop blur on that C-27 Spartan

Very nice mixture of aircraft, I have yet seen a Osprey or a SH demo.

Nice work

Thanks guys. I actually was not overly thrilled with my shooting on the day (I was suffering from some heavy back ache :p ). It was a trip watching the heavies perform stall maneuvers at low altitude and the Mig-29 demo is simply awesome to watch.

Generally speaking the flight display is not as dynamic as a RIAT or similar show; however, the access on a trade day IS excellent. I was ~50m from the runway and most of the action was right overhead. Of course with the flight activities starting after 1400 local time the lighting was tricky and variable...and of course it was sweltering out there (for England >30C is BLAZING).

I also noticed something a bit odd--it appeared that the gray paint scheme on the military aircraft caused some AF issues. I know my D60 is not the fastest; however, it did seem as though the AF sort of "slid around" a bit before locking accurately--probably down to how the sensors function. Anyone else noticed this effect as any aircraft with a contrasting paint scheme caused no problems.