Lots and lots of \"grey on grey\" pics, with a few pretty red and yellow on grey ones.

[viper]

Thanks guys, and no I\'m not a professional photographer; I have a loong way to go until I\'m considered a pro Aircraft Photographer there are alot more amateurs out there that are far better than me!!!!!

Altho I may consider going pro early if someone would buy me a Nikon D2x (?3000) and a Nikkor 200-400 VR lens (approx ?5000) please

Vips

[joeb]

In what way does a pro differ with you then - in terms of the style -. Do they have better composition or so?

[viper]

It\'s not really style, its the old addage \"its not what you know, its who you know\" they get passes to get much closer to the action, and the closer you are the better your images/composition is.

It\'s also a factor that they can afford much much better equipment then mine. My gear is worth ?1600 and thats a low-end DSLR and 2 lenses. The pro\'s use Canon 1Ds and Nikon D2x series cameras which cost serious money and the extremely high quality glass costing in the multiple thousands of pounds. When in comparison, my lens that I take flying shots with cost ?700.

Vips

[joeb]

Well that\'s just great, pro\'s get all the nice things then..

But what\'s so special about their gear then, as it\'s so much more expensive than what you have.

BTW, 1600 pounds is still a LOT of money to me

[viper]

Whats special? Ok...

Much more accurate and faster autofocus systems.... my camera has 5 points at where the camera can focus on a target. These cover the center area and are quite broad so hard to get precision on small items in close-up work. Whereas cameras like the D2X have 11 focus points covering the entire frame.

Also resolution and noise, there is less digital noise in an image from a more powerful sensor; also, more detail is captured and its easier to print the image.

And now the lenses....
The quality of the glass in a lens effects the overall image quality. You can get moire (funny geometric patterns), CA (purple fringing on objects), and a general softness from lens glass that isnt 100% perfect or coated. My lens is a soft lens (hence the heavy amounts of USM filter) but otherwise gives excellent images. More expensive images also incorporate Vibration Reduction systems. These stop the dreaded \"camera shake\" blurring at slower shutter speeds. I wished my lens had it. To capture prop aircraft with blurred blades I have to drop my shutter speed to 1/200sec which with such a heavy lens the slightest movement blurs the shot, so trying to pan smooth is a nightmare.

Hope that explains the difference... and here\'s 2 sample shots both have had no post-processing and are their original sizes....

My camera (Nikon D70)
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_revi...80_nef.jpg

Nikons top of the range camera (Nikon D2x)
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_revi...C_0351.JPG


Vips