At 02:45 PM 8/23/98 +1000, you wrote:
>>Too bad you're in Plano and not Plains Texas. I'll be going through Plains
>>next month and, after shooting Bryce/Zion/and the the North side of Grand
>>Canyon with only Olympus equip, I'm going to sell it all. The need for
>>1/4000 sec. shutter speed and high speed flash sync is forcing a change.
>>Some of what will be with me follows:
>Why do you need 1/4000 shutter speed? Sorry to pry, but I've never
>understood the need for it. I understand it exists as a by product of the
>higher sync speed.
>Foxy
Usually the 800-3200 speed film is the driving factor. Zoo and Air Show
treks are typical situations. At the zoo G-800/Gold Max is the order of
the day without a tripod to capture the inside shots and freeze motion
without a flash. Walk out of the building and in order to shoot at f4 you
need 1/4000 sec. (re: sunny 16 rule, etc). Having the ability to flash
sync at 1/250 sec. or higher on a bright day can make fill flash work at
the fast end of the lens and still keep the background blurred. Butterfly
and insect wings are dead still at 1/4000 and when following one in the
field a handheld shot usually comes out fine.
Air Shows are the classic example, especially using IR film. 1/4000 sec.
speeds freeze in place the vapor stream off of wingtips travelling 500+ MPH
and with Ilford's SFX 200 film and a Red filter, the trail looks like drops
of black marble. The human eye can't see this which makes the picture all
the more dramatic. Capturing a pilot/plane going through a rolling turn at
5g's means every part of the plane is moving with respect to other surfaces
and this is all going on as it passes you at 300+ MPH.
Even at 1/1000 sec things arn't as sharp as they could be. 1/2000 is
better, but a 4000th is always without blurr, if that's what your after.
Part of the problem at an air show is the number of forces trying to shake
the camera. Surface wind, sound waves from 5-6 jet engines at different
angles and resonances, your oun pulse pounding from the excitement, others
jumping on the same bleachers, etc. I've pretty much given up on a tripod
and ball head when everything is flying. Too much vibration. Try this.
Set the tripod up and pick an item at the end of the field to focus on with
a 500-600mm lens. Now concentrate on objects near the left and right side
of the viewfinder. Watch them closely as 1-2 F15's fly by. Don't get sea
sick. It was worse in the days of the Thunderchiefs and F4's (not N*k*n).
So now its hand held, standing on the grass and borrowing or rent an F4s
(1/8000 sec. shutter) for these special occasions.
In days gone by everything here was shot at f8-f11 but one characteristic
often raised its zonal head. Too many times a plane would be near to the
top of a hill/ridge/mountain and the resulting picture had the contrasting
bright sky and dark hillside taking away from the beauty of the image in
flight. The same holds true for balloon launches. Shooting at f2.8 and
1/4000 sec. blurrs the background enough to soften its unwanted affect.
This requires more attention to focusing but worth the effort.
I'll miss the OM stuff. Twice in the past year I've had it all boxed up
but couldn't bare to part with it. This is really biting the bullet but
the rental bills for the fast cameras are forcing the change.
Hope this wasn't boring, Jim in Delaware
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