Thunderbirds...

[I_Fly]

flying in their first airshow after losing an aircraft last fall. This was taken at the Ft. Smith, Arkansas airshow, hosted by my Air Guard unit, the 188th Fighter Wing. They flew a 5 ship show, with only one solo aircraft. It's not as good as their usual 6 ship show but at least they made it. It was really cool, as last year was the 50th anniversary of the Thunderbirds AND my unit celebrated their 50th anniversary last year also.

I was able to volunteer to augment the photo shop and help "document" the airshow. Which means they gave me a camera, a Nikon D1, and a 512MB CF card and turned me loose. I shot several hundred pictures, cussed the D1 a lot for being too slow to shoot aircraft and really cemented my desire for a Canon 1D to replace my A2.

Anyway, this shot is almost straight out of the camera. It was resized for the web and I cloned out some dust spots (the sensor was horribly dirty).

Enjoy,
Troy

[Photo-John]

Niiiiiice!

First photo on the new ViewFinder, I think? Congratulations and thanks for being the first.

It's a nice photo, too. And you're getting sucked into digital, huh? My first AF camera was an A2E. The 1D is a whole other world. It's the Formula One race car of cameras. And you do know they just announced the EOS 1D Mark II, right?

John

[I_Fly]

You're partly to blame for some of the $$ I've spent recently. I've examined your photos and read what you've said about the 1D and decided it would be just what I needed for the type of shooting I do most of the time. I believe it was you that said some really positive things about Breezebrowser and I've also purchased it. I have to say I really like both the camera and the software!!

When the price started dropping on the 1D, I figured Canon was preparing to "replace" it in their lineup. I just figured I'd take advantage of a well matured product that had most of the kinks worked out of it, as I did the same with the A2. Bought it right after Canon discontinued it and everyone was discounting it to get rid of their stock. I've shot a lot of pictures with the A2 and still really like it. I was never unhappy about my decision to buy it. So far, feel the same about getting the 1D!

Might as well throw another pic in the fire, here's a shot of one of our pilots. This was his last flight in an F-16. He's taxiied through the water salute from the fire department and was waiting for the ground crew to "safe" his bird. Gave this "salute" to the crowd waiting for him to exit the aircraft. An interesting shot, as it was backlit and I wasn't sure how the dang Nikon was metering. It's very interesting to shoot an event with a camera so different from what you're used to!!

Troy

[Tooter]

Well, it's going to take a little bit getting use to this - but I'll make it. Great shot and I am glad they started flying again. Just a few hundred shots??? I found that my lens made a big difference when shooting at the shows. I have one slow and one fast and it took me a while before I figured that out. Once I changed lenses, it was all better from there. Also, I purchased a 1gb card and made the mistake of not getting the faster one, which makes a big difference for me. I can only shoot so many in a row, then have to wait for them to write to the card. By then the show is over. Someday I'll upgrade. Sorry your experience with the D1 wasn't good for you......(I love my D100 though).

[I_Fly]

totally bad. It's just an older, slow, digital slr, not really suited for my shooting style. I did like not having to change rolls, being able to download the files and look at my shots reasonably quickly, being able to look and check my composition on certain shots. It really cemented my desire to get a digital.

My loving wife conspired with the rest of our family (parents, siblings, pets, etc) to scrounge up enough to buy me a Canon Eos 1D which I love! Can't hardly wait until the next airshow to see what I can get. It was a package deal that came with a Lexar 1gb 40x card. I rarely have to wait for the buffer to clear. I bought a backup 256 Lexar 40x and plan on eventually getting a couple more as I can afford to.

There's an interesting picture of what appears to be a genuine shot of the T'bird pilot ejecting during last fall's accident. It was the winner on Avweb's picture of the week (www.avweb.com/potw/) this past week.

I always look forward to seeing your shots, so you need to post a couple!

Troy

Well, it's going to take a little bit getting use to this - but I'll make it. Great shot and I am glad they started flying again. Just a few hundred shots??? I found that my lens made a big difference when shooting at the shows. I have one slow and one fast and it took me a while before I figured that out. Once I changed lenses, it was all better from there. Also, I purchased a 1gb card and made the mistake of not getting the faster one, which makes a big difference for me. I can only shoot so many in a row, then have to wait for them to write to the card. By then the show is over. Someday I'll upgrade. Sorry your experience with the D1 wasn't good for you......(I love my D100 though).