Red Bull Air Races

[limeydal]

Was out today taking some "Brit" Ribnet members out on the Bay So hope Jewels and family had a great day.Lots of sights and wildlife and then came across a familiar RIB . My buddy had landed the "gig" of assisting with the preparation for the Red Bull Air races. They were moving into place rafts, that will hold the inflatable pylons ready for the races next week.

http://redbullairrace.com/

Should be quite a sight with these planes racing around the downtown Bay area.
Hoping to take a couple of days off work and get down there to get some shots.
By the way Jewels; thanks for the fish n'chips

[codprawn]

That's a Nordhavn up front - one of my favourite boats - looks tiny on that ship though!!!

[Tomas]

They lost three pilots in Nevada this past week at the race. That's tough to hear. I hope all goes well in San Diego. The jet class top end course speed was 504 mph!!!

[codprawn]

The Red Bull air race is a bit different to what you are thinking of!!!

http://redbullairrace.com/

Seriously competitive - almost like a cross between aerobatics and racing than a just an air race.

[GuyP]

Originally Posted by codprawn

The Red Bull air race is a bit different to what you are thinking of!!!

http://redbullairrace.com/

Seriously competitive - almost like a cross between aerobatics and racing than a just an air race.

I was watching the London practice runs from the 26th floor of one of the Docklands towers shonw in the link above - seriously impressive aerobatics!

[limeydal]

Just watched the Instanbul Red Bull race on TV trying to get some ideas on how to photograph them. Good grief!! 250mph and twisting and turning through the gates.Think I need to get a larger a larger memory card for the old camera.
Going to be lots of frames of blurred images and missed planes
Looks fun though
Plus a Brit was in the series 2nd place after this race, ( Pul Bonhomme) so adds a little excitement
cheers al

[codprawn]

The worst thing they ever did to cameras was introduce autofocus - I HATE it with a passion and a vengenace.

When using my 35mm gear the 50mm lens hardly needed focusing - just leave it on infinity 99% of the time. With even a 400mm lens once you were further away than say 100yds you didn't need to focus either - just leave it at one setting.

Try following a grey plane against a grey sky and get autofocus to work. Most digi cameras I have used have a manual over ride but it's just not the same.

[limeydal]

Know what you mean
Its funny how with all the "advances" in modern cameras; the majority of pros' go back to basics.
They ignore all the custom shutter and aperture modes and go back to shooting manual exposure.(Especially the sports photographers)
Same with the autofocus.
As you said; too many things to throw it off.

Must admit to relying on auto settings too much and having to learn all over again
Going all manual for the air races; so hope to get a few decent images
Will post a few if I get some.(ifI don't you know I messed up )
cheers Dal

[codprawn]

I wouldn't go so far as to use all manual all the time.

One good trick I learnt was to meter off something grey in colour - kodak make cards for this but the side of a warship does nicely. Lock the settings and then when you aim at the aircraft you get perfect exposure.

I still love my Canon A1 - I just may go back to 35mm slides and get an expensive slide scanner!!!

[jewels]

Originally Posted by limeydal

Was out today taking some "Brit" Ribnet members out on the Bay So hope Jewels and family had a great day.Lots of sights and wildlife and then came across a familiar RIB . My buddy had landed the "gig" of assisting with the preparation for the Red Bull Air races. They were moving into place rafts, that will hold the inflatable pylons ready for the races next week.

http://redbullairrace.com/

Should be quite a sight with these planes racing around the downtown Bay area.
Hoping to take a couple of days off work and get down there to get some shots.
By the way Jewels; thanks for the fish n'chips

A big thank you to Limeydal for a great day out at the weekend in San Diego Bay! Very handy having old school friends who happen to live in California and who happen to own a rib!! Weather was superb....very welcome after our cr*p summer...Must say we were very impressed with the boat ramp (the size of Belgium!!) and just a tad wider than we are used to at Swanwick on the Hamble!! If only!! A bit strange though being out all day and only seeing one other rib!! Your photography exhibition at San Diego Maritime Museum was well worth a visit! We'll be back..J & M