Photography Forum | Good camera to use for plane spotting?

Hi guys-

Got a little situation on my hands- well, not so much situation as general irritance about a certain trip I'm going on.

Let me explain.
Myself and my wonderful girlfriend are going this year to Le Bourget in Paris for the 2009 airshow- I understand the A380 will be there as well as F-22 raptors and such, as well as some very impressive static displays.

The whole holiday is setting us back about £250 each, and I'm afraid my crappy cell phone camera just isn't going to cut it for any kind of photography anymore.

I was wondering what a good camera would cost to start off with practising at LHR- so that we can have some good memories from when we go to Paris in summer.

But, obviously, I'm very hesitant to spend more money on a camera than the actual tickets to Paris.

Is there some kind of camera that would both meet a modest budget (Maybe around £100 or less if at all possible?!? Or is that asking a bit much?)
and still be good enough to take good, detailed pictures of planes both on the ground and in-flight?

I must admit I know very little about cameras myself. Up until now my little 3Megapixel cell phone camera has done good enough for me in capturing pictures of my animals.
But I doubt it could do very well in capturing aircraft on film.

I need help with all of the above.

Can someone offer advice?

Any comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Taiga_Shinjiro

Well-
I just want to take photographs, and more importantly than anything else I want to take photos for my own personal collection.

Depends what kind of pictures you want from the airshow. If its just the static display then just get a point and shoot with 3x zoom and you should be fine, I'd spend a little more than £100 and recommend the Canon Ixus series, good all round camera for general purposes as well.

If you want pics of the air display stuff then you really have to spend a lot more and go the SLR route to stand any kind of chance of getting a good photo.
From experience I can tell you that airshow photography is the most difficult I've tried as everything is actually quite a long way off and with the exception of the A380, the fighters and stuff are very small. You'll also neeed the good relexes of an SLR as everything happens so quickly, a point and shoot or in my opinion something like the Powershot advised above will just not cut it.
If your going the SLR route then you really have to want to take the hobby up a bit more seriously and not just the airshow to justify spending the money.

A better option may be video. You could get a good miniDV digital camcorder when I worked at Jessops about 2 years ago for about £150. They must be cheaper now and they'll produce some good quality video for your memories.

Yeaah-
Found a second-hand camera on eBay thats 4x zoom and 12 megapixels. Keeping an eye on that one but if not I'll just be happy with popping down to Cex and picking out a nice camera for myself and the gf with getting some shots of the static displays and/or taxiing aircraft.

Myself and my gf next to the A380 would be like a dream come true. ^^

...forgive my stupidity, but whats SLR?

If you want to get sharp professional looking photos, get a Canon 1000D with a 70-300mm Sigma lens.

Or if you are just starting out, get a Fuji S9600.

If your lucky you may get a good second hand canon 350d for not much more that what your looking to spend with a standard 17-55 mm lens. Very good starter slr digital camera.

I'm still using mine Pete - and will 'till it breaks - its a fine camera, even now.

My wife has just bought a Samsung NV15 10mp with 3x Optical Zoom - a great little point & shoot for less than £80 - recommended.

I'm no expert just have a point & press, but with the point & press the reaction time between you pressing the button & the camera taking the shot can be a second or 2, so they are no good for moving objects. SLR is Single Lens Reflex. With a point & press using the viewfinder you look through 2 lenses in line on the top of the camera .With SLR you look into the viewfinder but see out through the actual lens that is taking the pic, so in the days of manual focus you could focus the camera to exactly how you wanted the picture to be.
H.T.H.
Terry

SLR is single lens reflex, basically the cameras where you can fit diffreent lenses to them. The main advantage though is their reaction speed which is far quicker than a compact camera. The Canon 1000D and 350D mentioned above are both SLRs and you'd need at least a 300mm lens to go with it.

It looks doubtful I'll be attending Paris this year as seats on the holiday we were looking at are now very nearly booked and its seems we won't have enough money in time to even secure a deposit.
I don't suppose anyone knows the cheapest package deal to Le Bourget airshow (Paris) this coming June?

If not, we're pretty much stranded. lol until 2011, at the very least.

Thanks for everyones help though. I'll still be needing a camera to spot around Heathrow. ^^

I still use my 350D and it's a great camera. I'm not planning to buy a new one until it eventually breaks on me.

I'm now the proud owner of a Nikon Coolpix L16 which I might just take to MAN tomorrow and have a bash with.

It's got zoom and video and everything I need in a neat little camera.

Now it looks like your not going,you have plenty of time to save up for a really good camera.Most manufacturers perform the same at entry or semi pro level,just be prepared to spend more money on your lens than the actual camera body itself.
Tango

Turns out we're still going- paid the deposits for the holiday already so its certain we're going ^^

Is the Olympus e420 a good starter SLR?

Is it good for what you want? That is really all that counts

Olympus are a good brand, they have their drawbacks like any other manufacturer but they are a quality optical brand and widely used.

The biggest issue is lenses. Expect to pay a bit more and not have such a wide selection available as they us a slightly different system, but if you buy the twin lens pack then you should have a good starter camera.

I know its asking a bit much

but after a good camera that will be good for both static objects and moving aircraft...

what brand of camera has the widest selection of lenses, then?

Canon or Nikon.

Canon 350D + 75-300mm III USM would be good imo...

Can get new 350Ds with CF card, battery, case, mini tripod + cleaning kit for £260 on eBay

Have to agree, at the moment the people doing the best entry level cameras are Canon.

Nikon dropped the ball a bit with a lens interchangeability issue. A Canon 350, 400 or 450D are all great entry level cameras.

Couldn't agree more. I used to work at Jessops where there was always a good Canon V Nikon debate going on. I'm firmly in the Canon corner!

Never used a Nikon so can't really say...

But its quite clear Canon is the superior camera... ;)

Sam

Have ended up buying a FujiFilm FinePix s9500.

Seemed to have "alright" reviews.
I'll see what I can do with it.

did you get it for a good price? It isnt a bad camera to start with, just a bit inflexible as it's an all-in-one design.

Fuji have replaced it recently with something I personally don't think looks as sturdy so the older model may indeed be a better buy. Watch out for a slight blue cast to the pictures though. It's caused by Fuji's fairly unique way of making their sensors and is easily corrected.

Picked it up for just over £100- good price?

Can you elaborate on the whole blue cast and how to correct for that problem?

Fujis sometimes produce pictures that are a little "heavy" on the blues, and the picture can have a slight blue tint.

It's easily corrected in imaging software, you just compensate for it by taking the blue channel down a fraction or pushing the other two channels up.

On the plus side, nothing does shading like a Fuji for the money. brilliant for capturing and displaying detail.

^_^

Think the price was good? I'm just using it for amateur photography, and im sure a few will end up on FaceBook lol.....nothing airliners.net worthy or anything at all.

Long as I can get a decent photo i'm happy.

IIRC when it first came out the S9500 was almost five hundred quid in some places.

Foxy 'learnt his trade' with one. It isn't a bad starter camera at all and I still see plenty of them up at the AVP as it's a popular camera. Fujinon glass is also good quality so it's got a decent onboard lens setup.

It is a good starter camera from where to eventually move onwards and upwards. They are called Bridge cameras as that's what they are, a bridge between ordinary point and shoot and the world of the more complex DSLR.

My first ever camera was a fuji (not a S9500 tho). Great sturdy cameras which you can learn a lot off.

I've still got my S5500, it's the "house" camera we use. We have three now, the Nikon Coolpix as a pocket camera and the Fuji for when we want something a bit better.

Oh and that D300 thing but everyone thinks I am a cock because it's a Nikon.

i could comment on that last post but your,fingers crossed,taking us down to heathrow so i shall remain quiet !!
Tango

yet another new camera from canon...
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canoneos500d/
looks like a 50d without the 6FPS but with HD video.
a combo of 50d and 5dmk2?
Tango

Just recieved the s9500 today and am rather impressed with it, been playing around with it etc....

What settings are generally important when photographing aircraft? I was assuming high shutter speed, etc?
ISO? exposure? ?????

Anyone mind giving a (relative) newbie like me a few pointers? ^^"

Depends on what weather your shooting in....

For sunny conditions i'd recommend Aperture priority mode, F8, ISO100

Sam

Aperture is important. The higher the number the better the depth of field, so more of the image is in focus.

ISO is sensitivity of the camera. High ISO helps with faster shutter speed, but can introduce noise the higher you go. 100 is a good setting and in most cameras 200 is perfectly acceptable (it's the default setting in many Nikon cameras).

Finally, stop asking questions here and get your arse out and practice. It's the only way to learn. Camera handling and getting comfortable with it are the first steps, everything else is mere detail. Go walk through a park with it and shoot pictures of different scenes and activity, and experiment with settings.

If you are shooting action shots, try for a shutter speed above 1/300 sec. If you can't get that, due to lighting, drop your aperture down a bit. That's the link speed and aperture have, the higher the aperture number then you trade off with some loss of shutter speed.

Use your camera in aperture priority mode. Set it at f8 as Hampo suggests and experiment, as it's a great setting to use on a sunny day.

im pretty sure most of the people here were pretty clueless when we got our first decent cameras(i know i was!!) you will learn by your mistakes,so get out and shoot,thats the beauty of digital,you see the results instantly,if you dont like it,delete it.
Tango