Shooting fast moving aircraft

[Brad Neal]

I have been asked to shoot an air show this coming April and I have never worked with fast moving objects with these cameras (500's).

The only requirement is they want it done in HD (1080).

One thing that I have noticed with this camera is that quick pans don't look very good even at 30 fps.

So I am looking for a little help from anyone that has experience with this type of work. Like auto racing, air shows, etc. If you could provide any insight into the setup, I would appreciate it.

Here's what well have:
1 tripod mounted atop a 12 ft platform
1 roving shoulder mount
1 for helicopter work.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brad

[Sumfun]

I've shot a few air shows and race cars before, and I have to say that it takes a little practice to get good shots of fast moving objects. The worst part is when they're crossing right in front of you because you really have to do a fast whip pan. Here's some of what I learned:

1. I shoot 30p, and the pans don't look bad if you can keep your subject fairly stationary in the frame. Most people don't look at the background.
2. Back up a little if possible. That way, you don't have to pan the camera through as wide an angle when the plane flies across your field of view.
3. Zoom out a little as the plane approaches you, then zoom in as it flies away. This will give you a wider field of view when the plane is closest to you, and minimize the chance of losing it from the frame.
4. From a helicopter or chase plane, it's pretty easy to shoot if you can fly right along side your subject. Just remove the lens hood so that there's nothing to catch air.
5. If you're recording ambient audio, set one channel lower than the other, because the planes are really loud when they get close up, but they're not very loud when far away.

Have fun.

[Brad Neal]

Thanks for the info, Sumfun!!

One question regarding aperture settings. Do you find it better to use the auto aperture or do you fiddle with it depending on how much light that you're shooting into?

I can imagine that being a challenge when moving from side light to direct light on faster fly-by's. I'm thinking it may be better to start with the auto setting using the backlight setting.

Oh yea, and what do you typically set the shutter to?

Thanks again,
Brad

[Kenn Christenson]

I'd stay away from auto. You should be able to do a quick exposure check in auto, then, quickly switch to manual. You don't want to whip by the sun, following a plane, and have everything go dark on you. Also, see if you can go to the airport a day or two ahead of time and just practice following aircraft, landing and taking off. You'll be surprised how much better you'll be even after just a little practice.

[dolph2000]

you're folowiing fast moving objects. the point is you 'follow' them, so in fact they stay in same place in youre frame almost all the time. So fast shutter speed is not really necessary exept if you don't want to blur you're background because the background wil move very fast. But you're background will probibly only be sky. I sure want to shoot 60p.
that's way sharper, especially necessary when filming moving object.

[dolph2000]

shutter 150 will be good enough

[Sumfun]

Thanks for the info, Sumfun!!

One question regarding aperture settings. Do you find it better to use the auto aperture or do you fiddle with it depending on how much light that you're shooting into?

I can imagine that being a challenge when moving from side light to direct light on faster fly-by's. I'm thinking it may be better to start with the auto setting using the backlight setting.

Oh yea, and what do you typically set the shutter to?

Thanks again,
Brad

Most of the time I use manual aperture, but there are exceptions. Most air shows happen during mid day, so you don't have much side light. Also, planes come in all different color, so you don't want the exposure to change when you zoom in and out on a plane. But if mixed side or backlighting is a problem, then there's nothing wrong with going to auto. Another situation that may require auto is when the sun goes in and out of the clouds a lot. Just play it by ear.

Usually I leave the shutter at 1/48 or 1/60, but this is personal preference. I like the motion blur of the background during pans. And if you can keep the plane in the frame, then there won't me much blur on the plane.

Someone above recommended practicing at an airport, but I'm not sure this will help. Planes that are landing or taking off are going too slow. At the airshow, you probably won't have any problems following the propeller planes. Even the jets are okay when they do a slow beauty pass. But any faster, and you'll need some skills to keep them in the frame.

Just remember that the most likely place that you will lose the picture is when the plane is right in front of you. This is where the angular velocity on the camera is highest. That's why I suggested backing up and/or zooming out. If you want practice, I would suggest setting up your camera on the side of a highway and follow the cars as they drive by. That's exactly the same motion you'll be doing most of the time at the airshow.

Another problem you might encounter is when planes fly directly overhead. This doesn't happen often, but it's just hard to follow the motion with a tripod.

[Brad Neal]

Thanks for all of the feedback.

Just for the record, I actually have shot this show in the past, just not in HD or with an ENG sized camera. I had (actually still have) Sony PD170's prior to getting my 500's.

A couple more questions...

Would a polarizer filter be of any benefit?

One drawback to this show is that the viewing area faces south, which puts the sun directly in front of the camera in many instances. So I didn't know if possibly a polarizer filter would help anything or not.

Also, would anyone have a preference in terms of which scene preset would work best for this situation, or even custom settings?

Thanks again,
Brad

[hunter richards]

A circular Polarizer will help keep the sky from clipping and help make you a pretty picture! If you were going to have one camera for a wide shot, you might want to consider an ND grad, You can then expose everything in your frame properly.
(0.9 ND might be the right ratio for this)

[SPZ]

Actually I shot some Racing (Formula 3 and World Touring Car Championship) with the HVX- since internally they function much the same way- here are some suggestions concerning fast moving subjects:

1- Fast Shutter Speed- You may be following your subject, but sometimes you might want to get that beautiful still artistic shot with the plane flying by, and a slow shutter speed will ruin that. I shot mainly at 250 shutter, as well as some 120 shutter for blurrier background stuff)

2- Watch out for your shooting mode! Actually, since I was shooting mainly for editing, I shot most everything at Slow motion- 50p at 25pn. For shots that I wanted realism or "normal speed"I would simply speed up to 200% the SLow motion footage, which made it look native 25p. I recorded some 1080i 25p shots with 250 shutter for audio as well as better resolution picture. The audio recorded would then be used on some of the slow motion shots as well as the speed up footage.

Of course, the objective of this shoot was to do an Impressive looking MTV, as well as to gatter quality footage for an International TVC to be aired in 2008. It was not done in order to document the whole event- this would probably require a different approach.